Yujo (prostitute) (遊女)
Yujo or Asobime was a prostitute who did sexual service to men at yukaku (prostitute quarters) or a posting station, and the meaning of yujo is generally considered 'a woman who has her guest make merry.'
Naming
The naming of 'yujo' had existed since old times, and it originally referred to the women in general who were engaged in the performing arts, so it did not necessarily mean prostitute only. For example, the Sarashina Nikki (Sarashina Diary) has a description in which a traveling party including the author in her girlhood appreciated singing of yujo in the lodging at the foot of Mt. Ashigara.
See the following 'the history of yujo' for further information.
Various namings
There have been many names referring to yujo since ancient times; in old "Manyoshu" (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), it was called ukareme, and in the Heian period it became asobi instead.
During the medieval period, they were called kugutsume, shirabyoshi, keisei, or joro.
In the early-modern times, the names such as joro, yukun, shogi appeared.
Tayu was a courtesan of the highest rank. This was especially called Oiran in the Yoshiwara yukaku (red-light district) in Edo for a while.
Yuna, a woman who worked for a bathhouse, and meshimori onna, a woman who worked for a inn were more lowbrow prostitute. Other than these, there were tsujigimi and yotaka, women who walked the streets.
The history of yujo
The main work of yujo from the Nara through the Heian periods was to spread the art for amusement in synthesis of Buddhism and Shinto, and later it gradually came to spread the art for amusement only.
In Japan, it is a matter of course that matrilineal marriage lasted until the early Kamakura period, but as succession in the male line became common, a man hardly came to visit his spouse's family, but came to have his own residence as a second house. As a result, a new class of women who served such second house on condition that they had a sexual act with their master came into existence. This formed a big turning point for putting a sexual act itself on the market from the equivalent sexual act for fertility and family prosperity, which had lasted since the primitive period.
Until then, there had been an order in which property belonged to the wife's family, and ikai (court rank) was handed down in the husband's family, but the system broke down. It is exactly this period of time when women who lost a support for independence became a 'prostitute' for living.
Asobime was distinguished from such women, and they performed a sexual act as a part of light accomplishments. Then they heightened a sexual act itself to the art of amusement, and yujo, as a professional group of prostitutes, was established.
Prostitute is commonly called the oldest profession in the world, and Japanese yujo also existed since old times. As well as prostitutes in a sanctuary in various foreign countries, Japanese yujo once sang and danced in the shrine, serving a god as a shrine maiden. However, it is considered that later they came to leave the shrine and wander around various areas, singing and dancing at the posting station and a harbor, meanwhile they also sold sexual acts. On the one hand, there are some scholars who think that yujo had something to do with 'gijo' (music-playing women) in 'Naikyobo,' a training center of Imperial dancing and music.
In "Manyoshu," they appeared as 'ukareme.'
During the Heian period, the word, 'yujo,' came into existence, and especially yujo in Eguchi and Kanzaki region (Amagasaki City), which had flourished for water transport of Osaka Bay and Yodo-gawa Water System, were known. OE no Masafusa, a writer who lived in the Heian period, wrote "Yujo ki" (a document about prostitutes). Around the same time, women who prostituted themselves at shukueki (relay station) were called kugutsume. During the Kamakura period, yujo such as shirabyoshi and shukushuku no yukun appeared, but both Kamakura and Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) exercised strict control over yujo and collected taxes.
In the early-modern times, prostitute houses were gathered in one place in the city and yukaku was formed. In 1584, during the reign of Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI, the first yukaku was built at the north bank of the present Dotonbori-gawa River in Osaka. Five years later (1589), yukaku was established at Kyoto Yanagimachi. In 1612, the Tokugawa bakufu built Yoshiwara yukaku near Ningyo-cho, Nihonbashi in Edo. During the first half of the 17th century, yukaku in Osaka was moved to Shinmachi (Shinmachi yukaku), and Kyoto Yanagimachi yukaku was to Shujakano (Shimabara yukaku); besides Yoshiwara yukaku was moved to near Nihonzutsumi, Asakusa in the end. Although Shimabara, Shinmachi, and Yoshiwara were three big yukaku (there is also an opinion that Nagasaki Maruyama and Ise Furuichi are included instead of Osaka Shinmachi), there were twenty and more licensed yukaku all over Japan, and prostitutes called meshimori onna were at each post stations.
In 1873, the emancipation of prostitute act was issued, but it was only claimed in theory that prostitutes worked by their free will, and the actual condition that they were in the circumstances of being over head and ears in debt was not changed. In 1946, yukaku were abolished by order of the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ) and red-light districts appeared instead, but Anti-Prostitution Law went into effect in 1958 and they also disappeared temporarily. Then a part of them revived as 'Turkish bath' (the present massage parlor called soap land), which has lasted until today. A few ryokan, Japanese-style inns, also have the same kind of service apart from lodging business. Moreover, it was before the Medieval period when the naming of yujo was common.
The details of work
Generally speaking, they entertained male guests at a banquet with their arts for amusement including dancing, and depending on the period and location of industry, they sometimes offered sexual service that involved sex in accordance with a request of the guest. A part of yujo in the Edo period were women who had been sold from a pander, but most of the high ranking yujo were born to a red-light district or the family of light accomplishments; of such girls, those who were bright and beautiful since they were young were trained as kaburo (child attendants of prostitutes). Most of them went into service for about ten years, and when their terms were up, they were set free. Though, there were many yujo who were redeemed and got married or kept by a man; there were also some yujo who became yarite (female managers) or nuiko (literally, a girl who sews), spending their whole life in the red-light district.
However, it is said that Tayu in Shimabara was not yujo but geigi because they did not have sexual relationships with their guests.
A name in Shin Yoshiwara (a red-light district)
Oiran
(Grown-up yujo who applied tooth black but did not paint brows.)
Tayu (yukaku) (The highest ranking prostitute died a natural death during the Horeki era (1753-1764).)
Koshi joro (the second highest rank of prostitute)
Sancha joro (lower-ranking prostitute)
Yobidashi (during the Horeki era, they were the highest ranking prostitute, but died a natural death at the end of Bunsei era (1818-1829).)
Chusan (prostitute who died a natural death at the end of Bunsei era (1818-1829.)
Tsukemawashi
Heya mochi (junior prostitute to zashiki mochi)
Zashiki mochi
Kashi joro
Tsubone joro
Others
(Yujo who were in training; they did not apply tooth black.)
Shinzo (apprentice prostitute)
Banto shinzo (a caretaker for oiran)
Furisode shinzo (prostitute in training)
Hikikomi (withdrawn) shinzo
Tsubone joro
Kaburo
Hikikomi kaburo
Oiran dochu (oiran made processions)
Today yujo does not exist legally, but a part of yukaku's tradition has been preserved as tourism resources, which can be seen in a tourist bus tour that operates on a fixed schedule, or at Japanese style theme parks and festivals all over Japan.
Museums
At Antique Kimono Museum Japan, many kimono which were worn in the oiran dochu processions from the Edo to the Meiji periods are displayed
A tourist bus that operates on a fixed schedule
Hato bus (a limited period?)
Japanese style theme park
Edo Wonderland (Nikko City)
Festival
*See also Jidai Gyoretsu.
Mid-April: Bunsui Sakura Matsuri Festival (Tsubame City)
Mid-April: Hamo Sakura Matsuri Festival (Sado City)
May 2 to 4: Festival of Late Emperor (Shimonoseki City)
May 5: Kanbutsu-e (ceremony held to commemorate Buddha's birthday) at Eigen-ji Temple (Sakato City)
Early June: Shinagawa-jinja Shriine, Reitai-sai Festival (Shinagawa Ward)
Mid-October: Osu Daido-chonin-sai Festival (Naka ward, Nagoya City (Nagoya City))
November 3: Tokyo Jidai Matsuri Festival (Taito Ward)
Early November: Oiso Shukuba Festival (Oiso Town)