Envisioning Yoshiwara in print: virtual travel, flawless beauty and the male gaze

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Japanstudies (BA)

Melenhorst, Juliette (2024)

Envisioning Yoshiwara in print: virtual travel, flawless beauty and the male gaze

Bachelor thesis | Japanstudies (BA)

This thesis discusses the question as to how Yoshiwara was envisioned as a virtual place of escape in prints of the Edo-period (1603-1867). This is done through visual analysis of woodblock prints as primary sources, and information and arguments of academic literature as secondary sources. Overwhelmed by the strict Tokugawa society and the many calamities ravaging the city, the people of Edo could find a place of escape in the concept of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters depicted in print. The practice of gayū (travelling whilst laying down) and the concepts of tsū (refinement) and iki (an urban aesthetic), are essential to this understanding.