The official recorded history of high-society prostitution and pleasure in Japan leaves much to the imagination, but a new exhibit at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum attempts to piece together a visual tapestry of the Yoshiwara pleasure district outside of Tokyo during Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868). Journalist Lisa Hix explores the rigid hierarchical schema of the industry, the societal influence of the courtesans, their romantic and somewhat bizarre traditions as well as the inaccurate depictions of the courtesans through the male-created art that still remains from the period.
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