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Yoshiwara (吉原) was a famous yūkaku (red-light district) in Edo, present-day Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1617, Yoshiwara was one of three licensed and well-known red-light districts created during the early 17th century by the Tokugawa shogunate, alongside Shimabara in Kyoto in 1640[1] and Shinmachi in Osaka.[1]
Created by the shogunate to curtail the tastes of and sequester the nouveau riche chōnin (merchant) classes, the entertainment offered in Yoshiwara, alongside other licensed districts, would eventually originate geisha, who would become known as the fashionable companions of the chōnin classes and simultaneously cause the demise of oiran, the upper-class courtesans of the red-light districts.