Episode 12: In the Floating World: The Yoshiwara District, 1617 to 1958

Warning, this episode will talk extensively about Prostitution and other themes of a sexual nature.The story of the Edo/Tokyo’s main Red Light District from 1617 to 1958, its history, influence on art and the lives of the women who lived there.Episode Icon: A courtesan promenading under cherry trees of the Yoshiwara, accompanied by her child attendant. Colour woodcut by Yoshitora, 1859. Iconographic Collections Keywords: Yoshitora, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.Links to photos associated with the episode...Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ARbsKkNUg/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DI2NYK8IvpZ/?igsh=eHB2YWUyYnc5Mmgz Recommended further reading…​De Becker, J.E. The Sexual Life of Japan, Being an Exhaustive Study of the Nightless City or “History of the Yoshiwara Yukwaku” (First published in 1899 and revised in the 1900s).​Longstreet, Ethel and Stephen, ‘Geishas and the Floating World, Inside Tokyo’s Yoshiwara Pleasure District, (North Clarendon, Vermont, 2020). ​Ryōko, Matsuba, ‘Shunga and the Floating World: The Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarter’ in Clark, Timothy, Gerstle, C. Andrew, Ishigami, Aki, Yano, Akiko, (eds.), ‘Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art’, (London, 2013).Break Music: Sakura, Sakura by Steffen Schmidt on PremiumBeat by Shutterstock, https://www.premiumbeat.com (Purchased with license on the 23/04/2025)Beginning and closing theme, ‘Classical Orchestral Dvorak Serenade Waltz Strings Music, provided by mrqwertz on https://www.pond5.com (Purchased with license on the 01/06/2024)