Japan: A view of Nakanocho, the main street of Edo's Yoshiwara Red Light District. Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Okumura Masanobu (1686 - 13 March 1764), c. 1740. Yoshiwara (吉原) was a famous Akasen district (red-light district) in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, 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.

---

Size: 5200px × 3383px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1740, 18th, akasen, art, arts, asia, asian, block, business, century, courtesan, desire, district, east, edo, fashion, floating, historical, history, human, image, images, japan, japanese, kimono, light, masanobu, nakanocho, objects, oiran, okumura, period, picture, pictures, print, prostitute, prostitution, red, red-light, sex, sexuality, style, tayu, trade, ukiyo-, water, wood, woodblock, woodcut, world, yoshiwara