New Beauties of the Yoshiwara
(Yoshiwara Keisei) Shin Bijin Awase Jihitsu Kagami (New Beauties of the Yoshiwara in the Mirror of their own Script) Artist Kitao Masanobu (Santô Kyôden)
(Japanese, 1761–1816), Publisher Tsutaya Jûzaburô (Kôshodô) (Japanese) 1784 (Tenmei 4)
The Yoshiwara Yūkaku was created in the city of Edo,
near what is today known as Nihonbashi, near the start of the busy Tōkaidō that leads to western Kyoto in western Japan.
In 1656, due to the need for space as the city grew, the government decided to relocate Yoshiwara and plans were made to move the district to its present location north of Asakusa on the outskirts of the city. The old Yoshiwara district burned down (along with much of the city) in the Great fire of Meireki of 1657; it was rebuilt in the new location,
when it was renamed Shin Yoshiwara (New Yoshiwara), the old location being called Moto Yoshiwara (Original Yoshiwara); eventually the "Shin" was dropped,
and the new district became known simply as Yoshiwara. Yoshiwara was home to some 1,750 women in the 18th century, with records of some 3,000 women from all over Japan at one time. The area had over 9,000 women in 1893, many of whom suffered from syphilis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshiwara
The Hour of the Dragon (Tatsu no koku), from the series A Yoshiwara Clock (Yoshiwara tokei)
Artist Utagawa Kuniaki II (Japanese, 1835–1888), 1861 (Man'en 2/Bunkyû 1)
