Kagai (the red-light district) and the Landscape:On the Changes of Geisha Girls, the Craftsmen and the River in Yoshicho , Nihonbashi

Ryoko SHIOTSUKI

Surveyied the history of Yoshicho which is famous as a red-light district in Nihonbashi,Tokyo, this paper considers the relation between Yoshicho and the craftsmen, thechanges of the town based on interviews of the samisen store master and the barber whohave been resident in this area.Yoshicho where the licensed pleasure quarter Yoshiwara was built in the Edo erabecame the place in which many geisha girls resided even after Yoshiwara wastransferred, because of being close to a playhouse. As a red-light district, Yoshichoreached to a prosperous period at Meiji and Taisho era, and it continued until thebeginning of Showa 30s (1955). The craftsmen of Yoshicho played the important roles inthe pleasure quarter, maintaining the relationship for coexistence and co-prosperity withthe town. The barbershop also supported geisha girls' daily life, as a pair of public bath.Because of the modernization begun in Meiji Era, the Sumida River has been polluted.Under the rapid economic growth after World War 2, construction of the highway andthe skyscraper, installation of the tide embankment made red-light district Yoshichodecline. Yoshicho has been functioned as the historic town which contained diversityand theatrical nature, as one of the public resorts reflecting the change of city, valued thenatural landscape with the spatiality of the river.Considering the future of Yoshicho, we should realize its history and make an efforttowards the reproduction of the landscape including the river.

Kagai (the red-light district) and the Landscape:On the Changes of Geisha Girls, the Craftsmen and the River in Yoshicho , Nihonbashi

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