Prostitutes of Japan of the XIX century

In the Land of the Rising Sun, since ancient times, there have been many professional courtesans-geisha, and prostitutes-oiran, relations with which were built on a purely commercial basis: "you pay money – you get sex."

Japan was "opened" to the world in the 1850s, but for many decades after that, the future economic superpower remained a very poor country. Few people now remember that "export prostitution" was an important source of foreign currency for the Japanese budget throughout the second half of the 19th century: around 1900, when business reached its peak, transfers from Japanese prostitutes working abroad were the third most important source of foreign exchange earnings for the country.

Japanese young ladies of easy virtue, known as " karayuki-san "(that is, "gone abroad"), worked all over Asia, from Sydney to Vladivostok, from Shanghai to Singapore. They usually worked in brothels that were owned by the Japanese, and often did not know the local languages at all. A common occurrence, by the way, were such Japanese establishments on the territory of the Russian Far East (Anton Pavlovich Chekhov himself visited one of them and highly appreciated the quality of sexual services offered by Japanese specialists).

1870-1880s. Oiran

1870. Kayo was the most famous Maiko (geisha student) during the early Meiji period in the Kyoto area

1880. A prostitute on her free day

1890–1895. # 9 Brothel in Yokohama

1890–1895. # 9 Brothel in Yokohama

1890–1900. Cage with prostitutes

1890–1900. Prostitutes behind bars in an unknown brothel

1890. A cage with prostitutes – the lowest level of the brothel system

1890. Prostitute of brothel No. 9, Kanagawa

1890. Prostitutes of the brothel No. 9

1890. Prostitutes of the No. 9 brothel in Kagagawa

1890. Six prostitutes on call waiting for clients

1892–1895. Prostitutes of the No. 9 Brothel in Kanagawa

1892–1895. Prostitutes of the Nektarin No. 9 brothel in Kanagawa city at the entrance to the institution

1895–1915. Prostitutes behind bars in an unknown brothel

1895. A brothel. Cherry Blossom in Yokohama

1895. Prostitutes of brothel No. 9, Kanagawa

1897. Prostitutes have a day off. Yoshiwara Quarter

1899. Prostitutes waiting for clients

1899. Photo of a prostitute from a brothel photo album

1900-05. Oiran Parade

1900-1915 Oiran

1905. Genroku-style tea Ceremony

1906. O-Sana San, geisha of Yoshi-cho district in Tokyo

1908. Tokyo's famous geisha O-Hana-san in a visiting dress

1908. Maiko (geisha's apprentice)

1908. Shinbashi Geisha Dance Festival

1909. Oiran

1909. Oiran procession in Shimabara (Kyoto district)

1909. Six maiko

1910. Eight Maiko show off their darari no obi

1910. Kamogawa Geisha

1910. Maiko (geisha's apprentice)

1913. Otomaru Geisha from Shinbashi

Oiran

Prostitutes of the brothel No. 9 in Kanagawa on the weekend

Prostitutes of the brothel No. 9

Prostitutes of the No. 9 brothel in Yokohama

The most famous oirans