THE RED-light District
With their dismal economic situation, some samurai began to frequent the red-light districts of Japan's cities for relief, most famously the one in Edo. As Marcia Yonemoto of the University of Colorado at Boulder explains, this was, strictly speaking, illegal: "Technically, the pleasure quarters were enclaves for commoners. Samurai were banned on the grounds that they were supposed to be upright, moral, and frugal characters with no time for crass indulgences" (Yonemoto 3).
Samurai ignored the shogunate's warnings to keep away from courtesans; when entering the district, they would often disguise themselves by leaving their swords at home and concealing their faces behind wide straw hats. Due to their already dire circumstances and the high cost of prostitutes, many samurai were eventually left penniless.
Samurai ignored the shogunate's warnings to keep away from courtesans; when entering the district, they would often disguise themselves by leaving their swords at home and concealing their faces behind wide straw hats. Due to their already dire circumstances and the high cost of prostitutes, many samurai were eventually left penniless.
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