In this episode we head to a can't miss area of Tokyo
Asakusa is a well-known neighborhood
Tokyo may be one of the world's most advanced cities but here
things slow down a little
Three areas to know are
the central Asakusa area with SENSOJI temple
The Tokyo Skytree
and Yoshiwara
In the north
The historical home of Tokyo's pleasure quarters
We start right here at Asakusa's most famous
intersection
So here we are at Asakusa
This is the old area of Tokyo
You can see behind me KAMINARIMON and
SENSOJI and over here this Skytree the newest addition to the Tokyo skyline
and to help me out with this report is Grigoris
Who's been in Japan for how many years
Have been Japan six years
Six years
Because what is your
fascination with Asakusa?
I had a thing for Japan since I was a kid
and I had a thing for SHITAMACHI
The east part of Tokyo
also since I was a kid
So Asakusa seems like a natural fit
I think Asakusa is a lot more than just SENSOJI
and this area, right?
It actually is. Well, for the most part it's SENSOJI temple
It's been the actual focus for 1.5 millennial
But there's also lots of other stuff
around here like
Yoshiwara
Yoshiwara!
Right is look which is what
we're focusing on today OIRAN DOCHU
OIRAN DOCHU yes
What do people need to know about that?
well, the Yoshiwara was the pleasure culture
of EDO
and the
They were several houses and it's house has it on its own
Prostitutes and courtesans .Well they were..
and
They were artists, they were entertainers, and they were all kinds of things
But OIRAN weren't GEISHAs
Here's almost
all you need to now
First can you tell a GEISHA from OIRAN
Maybe not
The first thing we notice are the white faces
well, Here's a GEISHA
Her KIMONO is stylish
But simplistic
Beautiful hair pulled back
GEISHA cover their feet TABI socks
From behind you can see the OBI
It's tied this way
GEISHA apprentices have several levels
But their OBI is tied loose like this
By the way
Men could also be GEISHA
I bet you didn't know that
GEISHAs were strictly entertainers skilled in song
dance and playing instruments
Now here's a beautiful lady
She's a high-level OIRAN
More specifically
a TAIYU
how can we tell?
She's wrapped in many elaborately colored layers of silk
extravaganct!
The real celebrities of Tokyo
Her hair is decorated with all sorts of ornaments
a GEISHA would never do that
Top OIRAN were skilled in all forms a art
Look!
Her feet Bare
This drop demands why
Also walked in high GETA sandals
Japanese version of stiletto heels
From behind you can see just how elaborate
an OIRAN looks
Do you think you can tell them apart now
A GEISHA
and OIRAN
Get it right
Grigoris had more amazing facts to tell us about OIRAN
and Every Day
It had parades of
its top courtesans, top OIRAN in street s of YOSHIWARA
I guess what you're saying is OIRAN
in the EDO period were like the movie stars
yeah, exactly
You can see them in woodblock prints by
UTAMARO
For the most part they are famous OIRAN
from that day
They were pretty expensive. Freakishly expensive actually
The OIRAN expensive?
yeah
Wow!
One night with the OIRAN
was about
one year salary for a normal person
But it wasn't that easy right? You actually had to be accepted by OIRAN
That's what a lot of people don't know it wasn't just pay the money and
have fun
Specially top OIRAN, the TAYU
The ones we will see in the video on
under the umbrella
Right
You had to be introduced
and she had the right to....deny
The OIRAN were really special ladies around town
Let's go to a re-creation of one of their DOCHU
or parades through the Yoshiwara
A lot of preparation is needed
Every part of the OIRAN that was exposed
had to be covered in white
Including the feet
The faces were immaculately painted
They were then fitted with padded undergarments before the KIMONO
OIRAN-KIMONO we're more colorful than the geishas for a reason
They wanted to attract more attention for business
and that glamour was very good for business
The KIMONO is held in place with the rope before being tight with the first
OBI
And then a second one
It's really tight
And an outer layer
with more padding
TAYU
The top-ranked OIRAN
had even more elaborate layers
The wig
When she wears this
You can never miss her walking down the street
It takes skill to put one on correctly
The TAYU wigs are the heaviest
Attention to every detail
Everything had to be perfect to attract as much praise and attention on the streets
Surrounded by OIRAN
It's really quite an "only in Japan" site
Can you tell the highest-ranked TAYU from the other courtesans?
The TAYU has a front drape call MANAITA
To add another layer to the silk
She may be carrying as many as
five layers of KIMONO
underneath
The woman in charge is Yoko Okita
She has learned the traditional ways of the OIRAN
and make sure every little detail is just like it was during the EDO period
Prostitution was outlawed in 1958
and with that the OIRAN culture has started to fade
There are very few who
have been around to see a real
OIRAN DOCHU
Let's ask Okita SENSEI
Her thoughts
and why the OIRAN DOCHU is important to the neighborhood today
After talking with Okita SENSEI
I understood just how much preparation went into this annual event
The OIRAN DOCHU would not be possible without Okita SENSEI's
extensive experience
The event gets bigger and bigger every year
and this year they have live musicians and singers
rather than recording
Let's move ahead to the event
I have trouble walking around in normal GETA
But these? They're towers!
This make sure the OIRAN is the highest one in the
procession
You can see those bare feet
Lovely
One foot in front of the other
The TAYU had a very distinctive walking style
sweeping the put out in 8 pattern
It's called the SOTO-HACHI-MOJI
In the front are dancers and musicians
with masks of foxes
or KITSUNE
The fox symbolizes INARI
The patron deity of the Yoshiwara
You can throw them coins wrapped in paper
and they'll feed it to SHI SHI or lions
The KANABO-HIKI or night watchmen carry metal sticks
They clank on the streets to attract the attention of the crowd
There are the TEKOMAI-GEISHA with men's hairstyles and clothing
CHOCHIN-MOCHI carry a lantern
with the TAYU's name
They're also her servants called KAMURO
She supported by an assistant called KATAKASHI-NO-OTOKOSHU
Holding the umbrella is the KASAMOCHI-NO-OTOKOSHU
In the back are the apprentice OIRAN called
FURISODE SHINZO
So that's the procession
in a nutshell
It goes on for about 400 meters to the stage
where the OIRAN show the crowd how customers were served
Grigoris took me into a special tree at the old Yoshiwara gate
It's a willow
They call that the MIKAERI YANAGI
Okay
yeah
Which means they're looking back willow
That willow was this
was Symbol of courtesans and GEISHA
And this is the last thing that the people leaving Yoshiwara
Would see
On the on the way out
Tokyo and Yoshiwara has changed a lot
But the traditions live on handed down from one generation to the next
When you're in Asakusa
Look around
Even look up
You might find yourself standing in the shade of history