Japan: Prostitutes line a balcony in the Yoshiwara Red Light District, Tokyo. Photo by Kusakabe Kimbei (1841-1934), c. 1895. 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. These districts were Shimabara for Kyōto (1640), Shinmachi for Ōsaka (1624-1644) and Yoshiwara for Edo (1617).

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Size: 5400px × 3366px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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