Japan: 'Holiday of Cherry Blossoms at Naka-no-chô in the Yoshiwara'. Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 12 October 1858), 1837. Yoshiwara (吉原) was a famous Akasen district (red-light district) in Edo, Japan. In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. These districts were Shimabara for Kyōto (1640), Shinmachi for Ōsaka (1624-1644) and Yoshiwara for Edo (1617).

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Size: 5250px × 3351px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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