大阪南地 富田小石

About this photo

She sits in a kimono with thin stripes, holding a single white flower at her fingertips. Her hair is a traditional style, gathered softly at the back. This photo is from the album Kyoto Osaka Imayo Bijin Fuzoku (Beauties of Today in Kyoto and Osaka, 1903), and the name of the hanamachi (geisha district), "Osaka Nanchi," is written under it.

Nanchi was a hanamachi that spread around Dotonbori in Osaka. Soemoncho, Kuroemoncho, Yaguramachi, Sakamachi and Namba Shinchi together were called the Nanchi Gokagai (Five Hanamachi of Nanchi). It began in the early Edo period, south of the Dotonbori River, when theaters were built along the south side of Dotonbori street and theater teahouses lined the north side.

Nanchi declined from the period of rapid economic growth, and as the town names changed, every name except Soemoncho disappeared. As of 2010, only one ochaya teahouse was said to remain.

Glossary