MeijiShowa License all the photos on this site at our boutique photo agency for vintage photographs, illustrations and maps of Japan between the s and s Meiji, Taisho, early Showa. At the height of their popularity, Maruyama and neighboring Yoriai counted no less than 54 brothels with prostitutes. The popularity can easily be deduced from the number of women employed by Kinbaro in this image.
Two prostitutes stand at the entrance of Kinbaro, while another twenty are on the balcony. There were probably more. After the Russo-Japanese War , however, times became increasingly difficult in Nagasaki. By Taisho 14 , Kinbaro employed only 15 prostitutes and neighbor Tamashimatei just A zoom-in uncovers a surprise: at least three men and several children.
Maruyama and Yoriai were especially popular with the many sailors that visited Nagasaki. They just finished long and often dangerous journeys and it showed in their behavior. A naval surgeon attached to the U. Iroquois, who arrived in Nagasaki in October Meiji 1 , has left us a revealing account of this behavior.
In short, the whole is one carnival of sin and iniquity, the passions of both sexes amused to the highest pitch. Deshima also: Dejima ; 2. Nakashimagawa; 3. Yoriai; 4. Retrieved on Naval Surgeon: Revolt in Japan, Indiana University Press, In , Japan opened its doors to the outside world for the first time in more than years.
It set in motion a truly astounding transformation. As fate would have it, photography had just been invented. As the old country vanished and a new one was born, daring photographers took photos.
