大阪新町 升ゆ

About this photo

She has a large shawl with long fringe draped around her back and spreads it with one hand to shoulder height. Her kimono has vertical stripes and her obi a fine pattern. Her hair is done in a Japanese style with a large mage (topknot), and she looks straight ahead. The name under the photo reads "Osaka Shinmachi, Masuyu."

The photo album Kyoto Osaka Imayo Bijin Fuzoku (Beauties of Today in Kyoto and Osaka, 1903) also includes women of Shinmachi in Osaka. Shinmachi is Osaka's oldest geisha district. In 1616 (Genna 2), the year after the Summer Siege of Osaka, a request was made to open a pleasure quarter, and in 1627 (Kan'ei 4) a new town was opened, gathering in one place the houses of courtesans that had been scattered around the city. Because it lay west of the castle town, it was also called "Nishi" (West), and it flourished as one of the great pleasure quarters, alongside Yoshiwara in Edo and Shimabara in Kyoto. Yugiri Dayu (tayu was the highest rank of courtesan), who moved here from Shimabara, is still remembered as the heroine of the kabuki play Kuruwa Bunsho (Love Letter from the Licensed Quarter).

Glossary