contributor
26,977
edits
Changes
no edit summary
*''Japanese'': 散茶 ''(sancha)''
''Sancha'' were a class of teahouse waitresses who emerged in the early [[Edo period]], and who later developed into the ''[[chusan|chûsan]]'' class of [[courtesans]].
When the [[Yoshiwara|Shin-Yoshiwara]] was established and opened in [[1657]], the proprietors of its bordellos pressured the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]] to shut down [[Edo|the city's]] [[bathhouses]], in order to reduce competition. Many of these bathhouses, forced to close, thus transformed into teahouses, and their bathhouse girls (''[[yuna]]'') became waitresses - ''sancha''. The waitresses soon began to engage in prostitution, and to command a decent rate for their services. In [[1665]], the Yoshiwara then pressured the shogunate to shut down these teahouses; many ''sancha'' waitresses were permitted to start working within the Yoshiwara, but would not be paid for three years, to make up for the amount of business they had already taken away from the Yoshiwara.
The last ''[[tayu|tayû]]'' (the highest rank of courtesan) retired in [[1761]]; the ''sancha'', who had already gained considerable popularity, replaced the ''tayû'' in the 18th century as the most popular and elite rank of courtesan, coming to be known as ''chûsan''.
==References==
*"[http://shunga.honolulumuseum.org/index.php?page=1 The Arts of the Bedchamber: Japanese Shunga]." Honolulu Museum of Art. Exhibition website. Accessed 6 December 2012.
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Women]]
''Sancha'' were a class of teahouse waitresses who emerged in the early [[Edo period]], and who later developed into the ''[[chusan|chûsan]]'' class of [[courtesans]].
When the [[Yoshiwara|Shin-Yoshiwara]] was established and opened in [[1657]], the proprietors of its bordellos pressured the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogunate]] to shut down [[Edo|the city's]] [[bathhouses]], in order to reduce competition. Many of these bathhouses, forced to close, thus transformed into teahouses, and their bathhouse girls (''[[yuna]]'') became waitresses - ''sancha''. The waitresses soon began to engage in prostitution, and to command a decent rate for their services. In [[1665]], the Yoshiwara then pressured the shogunate to shut down these teahouses; many ''sancha'' waitresses were permitted to start working within the Yoshiwara, but would not be paid for three years, to make up for the amount of business they had already taken away from the Yoshiwara.
The last ''[[tayu|tayû]]'' (the highest rank of courtesan) retired in [[1761]]; the ''sancha'', who had already gained considerable popularity, replaced the ''tayû'' in the 18th century as the most popular and elite rank of courtesan, coming to be known as ''chûsan''.
==References==
*"[http://shunga.honolulumuseum.org/index.php?page=1 The Arts of the Bedchamber: Japanese Shunga]." Honolulu Museum of Art. Exhibition website. Accessed 6 December 2012.
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Women]]