Changes

Historian [[Amy Stanley]] argues that this set of attitudes in Edo period Japan represents an ironic reversal from many feminists' attitudes today regarding prostitution. Whereas many feminists today might celebrate a woman's agency, her freedom and power to choose to do what she wishes with her body, it was that self-same agency that made Edo period prostitutes the object of stigma.

Historian [[Amy Stanley]] argues that this set of attitudes in Edo period Japan represents an ironic reversal from many feminists' attitudes today regarding prostitution. Whereas many feminists today might celebrate a woman's agency, her freedom and power to choose to do what she wishes with her body, it was that self-same agency that made Edo period prostitutes the object of stigma.

In the 17th century, prostitution was concentrated chiefly in urban centers, as those cities emerged and grew into some of the largest in the world. The shogunate established licensed quarters in several of the major cities, restricting licensed, legal prostitution to designated areas including the Yoshiwara in Edo, the [[Shimabara (Kyoto)|Shimabara]] in Kyoto, and the [[Maruyama]] district in Nagasaki. All other prostitution in those cities was considered illegal, and was occasionally powerfully suppressed, but continued nevertheless. Unlicensed prostitutes in Edo were known as ''kakushi baijo'' ("hidden prostitutes") or simply as ''baita'' (whores), and included women who solicited clients along the riverbanks, or met them out on riverboats. Many of these women were of the most marginal sections of society, and led this life because they had no other choice; they included the daughters of outcastes, prostitutes who had fallen out of more stable brothel work because of their age, illness, or for other reasons, and women who worked for gangsters, gamblers, and the like, often paying a very considerable portion of their proceeds to their pimps.

In the 17th century, prostitution was concentrated chiefly in urban centers, as those cities emerged and grew into some of the largest in the world. As merchants and others moved to the cities for work, and as the cities also became centers of samurai activity, severe gender imbalances emerged. In the 1730s, Edo may have had as many as 175 men for each 100 women, among the commoner class alone; other cities may have had similar ratios, and in Edo in particular the ratio among the samurai class would have been even more imbalanced. Demand among this disproportionately male population, combined with the widespread belief that sexual release was required for good health, led to the flourishing of prostitution in many of the big cities.<ref>Gary Leupp, ''Interracial Intimacy in Japan: Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900'', A&C Black (2003), 102.</ref>

 

The shogunate established licensed quarters in several of the major cities, restricting licensed, legal prostitution to designated areas including the Yoshiwara in Edo, the [[Shimabara (Kyoto)|Shimabara]] in Kyoto, and the [[Maruyama]] district in Nagasaki. All other prostitution in those cities was considered illegal, and was occasionally powerfully suppressed, but continued nevertheless. Unlicensed prostitutes in Edo were known as ''kakushi baijo'' ("hidden prostitutes") or simply as ''baita'' (whores), and included women who solicited clients along the riverbanks, or met them out on riverboats. Many of these women were of the most marginal sections of society, and led this life because they had no other choice; they included the daughters of outcastes, prostitutes who had fallen out of more stable brothel work because of their age, illness, or for other reasons, and women who worked for gangsters, gamblers, and the like, often paying a very considerable portion of their proceeds to their pimps.

Many others operated out of unlicensed districts known in Edo as ''okabasho'' ("hill places"), and in Osaka as ''shima'' ("islands"). In Edo, such places numbered around twenty-seven at the end of the Edo period, and included brothels near the approaches to [[Eko-in|Ekô-in]] in the Honjô neighborhood and to [[Nezu Shrine]], and areas surrounding [[Eitai-ji]] in [[Fukagawa]] and [[Yanaka Tenno-ji|Kannô-ji]] in Yanaka, among others. Four additional neighborhoods in Edo were home to male prostitution, and female prostitution was actively at four post-stations on highways leading out of the city (Naitô Shinjuku, Itabashi, Senju, and [[Shinagawa]]). Temple and shrine magistrates (''[[jisha bugyo|jisha bugyô]]'') generally looked the other way when prostitution took place within their jurisdictions, as it helped attract pilgrims, and therefore donations. ''[[Dochu bugyo|Dôchû bugyô]]'' who oversaw the post-stations allowed brothels to operate in their jurisdictions as well, for similar reasons of economic benefit. Further, girls operating out of post-stations, and at teahouses near temples and shrines, though somewhat ambiguous in their status, could at least (unlike streetwalkers, who could not be pinned down) be identified with a set place of residence, and hierarchical authorities (i.e. under the innkeeper, post-station officials or the temple or shrine itself, and the requisite ''bugyô'' magistrates).

Many others operated out of unlicensed districts known in Edo as ''okabasho'' ("hill places"), and in Osaka as ''shima'' ("islands"). In Edo, such places numbered around twenty-seven at the end of the Edo period, and included brothels near the approaches to [[Eko-in|Ekô-in]] in the Honjô neighborhood and to [[Nezu Shrine]], and areas surrounding [[Eitai-ji]] in [[Fukagawa]] and [[Yanaka Tenno-ji|Kannô-ji]] in Yanaka, among others. Four additional neighborhoods in Edo were home to male prostitution, and female prostitution was actively at four post-stations on highways leading out of the city (Naitô Shinjuku, Itabashi, Senju, and [[Shinagawa]]). Temple and shrine magistrates (''[[jisha bugyo|jisha bugyô]]'') generally looked the other way when prostitution took place within their jurisdictions, as it helped attract pilgrims, and therefore donations. ''[[Dochu bugyo|Dôchû bugyô]]'' who oversaw the post-stations allowed brothels to operate in their jurisdictions as well, for similar reasons of economic benefit. Further, girls operating out of post-stations, and at teahouses near temples and shrines, though somewhat ambiguous in their status, could at least (unlike streetwalkers, who could not be pinned down) be identified with a set place of residence, and hierarchical authorities (i.e. under the innkeeper, post-station officials or the temple or shrine itself, and the requisite ''bugyô'' magistrates).