#shimabara

The Rainbow Kamome ferry cruising towards Kumamoto.

Yujo (Courtesan) - Ito Shinsui, 1912

The Art Of Refusing Patrons

Conversation, music, spiritualism, aesthetics, the Tayuu had a wealth of talents and gifts. They were considered supernatural beauties, bewitching castle-topplers, superstars across the land. But all these things are relative, are they not? Some Tayuu would cater to very niche interests, some others would be more universally prolific, and then we know of some who went down in history for their magic sex appeal or dainty feet. There is no barometer, there is no standard. All that ever mattered was her appeal to the men around her.

First and foremost to the owners of her contract, who would predict a shiny future from her babyface. Then from the aging patrons of her older sisters in the ageya, who would invest in the child's education, forming her path in a passive way. And when she started budding into adolescence, she would be deemed desirable after years of grooming. Legends and accounts have it, that the Tayuu would have acquired a catalog of talents and attributes unique to her or representative of her house, her name-line or current trends. She wore them like her expensive garments and over the top accessories. It set her apart from the noble wife, dutifully working towards her husbands financial success. From the obedient daughter, a pawn in bigger game. From the saintly mother, sacrificing her years to her sons, for the sake of the tribe. The Tayuu was not expected to sacrifice, work or go without, quite on the contrary, she was simply expected to be.

This made her the ideal woman. She was equal to the privileged man as he too was only expected to be and then to die in honor. And honor and pride are the main catalysts in the particular artform, which we will explore here.

A Long Tradition

In my posts about Tayuu, I tend to describe their existence as something like a cultural lighting in a bottle. A cumulation of societal circumstances that made this very small ripple in culture, big and yet tiny in historical context. But the phenomenon of Tayuu culture has been a long time in the making and gone through some incarnations over the centuries: From Asobi over the Shirabyoshi to the Tayuu, all were performers of the nobles in Kyoto. We will be only touching briefly on how there is a direct line to be drawn from the Shirabyoshi specifically to Tayuu traditions.

Shirabyoshi usually came of prestigious backgrounds, sometimes of noble or samurai lineages, persuaded into (or sometimes very willingly pursuing the trend of) training in dance, poetry and social games. They didn't operate from an okiya but led a transient life, called upon to entertain at events, which were usually spiritual or religious in nature. Their stay was dependent on how much entertainment value they provided for the lord and his large court. Even though Shirabyoshi were all the rage for a while, eagerly anticipated by ladies and lords alike, as their popularity grew, so did their numbers. Too many of these girls were trying to get into the palaces, some more talented than others. At one point the biggest houses had something akin to what we would call a "casting couch" today, where rigorous vetting excluded undereducated Shirabyoshi and sent them away.

But once inside the palaces, their ambition was to stay as long as possible, as they usually had no place to call home outside of the walls. So naturally two strategies emerged for the savvy Shirabyoshi: Cultivate her art and capture the attention of her audience that way, or become a Courtesan to a noble. Better yet, have his child and nestle in somehow, hoping that the prestige of the child's father would rub off on her. The most successful girls ticked all boxes. As history does, some rare Shirabyoshi managed to become highly demanded artists and they actually refused patrons. But let's face it, this was not the norm and as time passed, became even more rare.

One can see some parallels to Tayuu in that these artistic entertainers blurred the lines between business and pleasure as a way to bind themselves to men of influence. Also in that both Shirabyoshi and Tayuu travelled to the imperial palaces as specialists of their craft. But where they differ greatly is that the Tayuu's ability to refuse her patrons added to her prestige, while the Shirabyoshi would never have turned down a liaison when advantageous. She was her own boss and somewhat liberated, but also needed to fend for herself. During the romantic Heian era, this lifestyle had blossomed but in the following Muromachi era, the status of women particularly within the elite warrior class changed, due to emerging primogeniture and patriarchal, Confucian, and Buddhist influences that deemed women "impure". This would ingrain itself in Japanese culture for good.

Some centuries passed and with the advent of the pleasure quarters, the Tayuu got webbed into a finely tuned machine that upheld a whole industry. So the question is: How much say did a Tayuu really have to refuse?

Examples in Media And Real Life

Sano Jirozaemon Murdering A Courtesan - Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1886

Yatsuhashi

Yatsuhashi Oiran was a real person who was brutally murdered by a jealous patron in 1683 in the Yoshiwara. The Kabuki play “Kagotsurube Sato no Eizame” (The Bewitched Sword) is based on her life. But it is framed from the murderers perspective of course. Jirozaemon, a country merchant that had come to some wealth, falls in love at first sight with Yatsuhashi, during her parade in the Yoshiwara. His open mouthed, smallpox scarred face elicits a mocking smile from the majestic Oiran but later in the play, we see that Jirozaemon has managed to buy himself into her regular company at the Tachibanaya and was in talks of redeeming her contract for her to become his mistress. She rejects his offer, as her lover Einojo pressures her to do so, fearing her feelings for Jirozaemon were growing. Some months later, Jirozaemon returns to Edo, having left after the rejection, and he visits the Tachibanaya once more. An apologetic Yatsuhashi begs him for forgiveness once they are alone. He softly hands her a cup of sake to make amends. As she hesitates to accept, he states it will be her last drink and thrusts his sword into her, killing her in one blow.

The public ist meant to sympathize with Jirozaemon, as he was of their shared merchant class while the Oiran was known to not give them the time of day. And even though the murderer is framed as a wronged, well meaning country merchant, manipulated by gangsters of the seedy pleasure quarters, I find Yatsuhashi's story to be exceptionally tragic. One can see that the fate of an Oiran was to cultivate relationships with people she might have rejected at face value but then talked into entertaining by her boss. Then the man she loved, Einojo, who was certainly not going to buy her out of her contract, clearly put his needs before hers, as losing her to Jirozaemon would have granted her a secure life outside of debt to a brothel. And finally, as Yatsuhashi played her only card, openly rejecting someone without even giving any explanation or derogating him, she is punished with burning rage. She was let down by every man in this story and she had no escape.

Nishigiki

In 1810, one Nishigiki dared to refuse a customer so vehemently that it sealed her fate according to the book "Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868" where we get some insight into methods of torture of Yuujo. It's widely known, that some inhabitants of the Yoshiwara served their terms as convicted prostitutes so we do get a wide variety of women, from refined to rough and ready. Torture and murder were very much a part of village life and no one would bat an eye at the news of another girl getting her comeuppance in one way or another. Refusing a patron was certainly up there in the top reasons for punishment, along with stealing and fleeing through the gates.

I can't seem to find more on the martered Nishigiki, safe to say from the timeline, she was not a Tayuu but rather an Oiran. We can deduct that her case wasn't a big deal and simply got lost in the records. Just another girl that didn't make it.

I did manage to find a lineage of the myouseki in the Yoshiwara though. One very famous Nishigiki Oiran was immortalized by Isoda Koryuusai in 1776, which might or might not be the one we're looking for. It's not very likely though, as by the 1810s this Kishigiki would be in her 50ies and long past her prime to be able to refuse any Danna. Harunobu had not one but two Nishigiki as muses during the 1770ies. Then there is the 1830ies Nishigiki in full Oiran mode. So it's safe to say that the name was rather popular even after one of them faced a gruesome end. There is even a Nishigiki in kabuki and bunraku, whose contract is being negotiated over in the play. The protagonist is forced to come up with 200 ryo (something along 20–80 million modern Japanese yen), an unheard of amount, keeping in mind that a low-ranking samurai might earn only 3 ryo annually. It's so jarring to see one Nishigiki getting murdered for refusing a patron, while another Nishigiki is worth a lifetime's earnings.

From what we know of the rapid decline of Tayuu culture in the early 1800s, the battered Nishigiki was probably one of the very last women who dared to refuse a patron. The retribution was swift and brutal. Tayuu and certainly Oiran were not irreplaceable superstars any longer.

Takao II

When discussing superstars, we cannot go without mentioning the famous Takao II of the Yoshiwara. Date Tsunamune, the young daimyo of Mutsu, decided to buy her contract, which was immensely costly due to her unprecedented popularity as a Tayuu in the pleasure quarters. Her boss ludicrously asked for her weight in gold. As the patron obliged, Takao's sleeves were secretly weighted down with lead, causing her weight to increase to some 70kg. Nevertheless, the contract was bought and a devastated Takao was sent on her way to become the daimyo's mistress in his estates. Poor Takao tried to drown herself in her despair, leaping from the boat she was being shipped in, this being one story. Another version cites that when she refused her new master, her fingers were broken one by one, a day at a time. After the 10th day of rejection, Tsunamune murdered her with his blade.

So, exactly where was her right to refuse a patron? If not THE great Takao, who else might have had the pull to reject an undesirable suitor? Where does this idea come from that these girls, teenagers essentially groomed into sexual servitude, would have had the wherewithal to say: "no, i don't wanna".

Reading Between The Lines Of Tayuu Propaganda

These examples are obviously very extreme, hence all the legends and media around tragic heroines. Oftentimes kabuki and bunraku playwriters used the Courtesan to demonstrate that there is virtue to be found in the most rotten milieu, be it in the form of a stoic and devoted whore, or a lowly John saving up a year's wages to get a hug from a famous Oiran. Among all these tales of love suicides and murders, there were many, many rituals and steps that went beforehand. Lest we forget that the pleasure quarters was built upon rules and laws designed to control the money flow. The art of refusing patrons was very much a tool to get interests up and make or break a popular Courtesan. But we also try and view these rules and regulations in a different light.

In the early years of the pleasure quarters, visitors were of the samurai class, visiting with retainers and associates. Even feudal lords would grace the district and bring with them their retinue. As we know, the merchant class found unprecedented social mobility around this time, replacing the samurai as the purchasing powerhouse. The growing masses found that even though they had the funds, there were degrees of accessibility to more successful ranks of women. They got blocked from mixing with higher class women. Noble Patrons profited from a more luxurious experience that made them feel superior to the lower classes, the brothels gained reputation and prestige through association with the ruling classes. But we are still talking about a tiny pool of people affected in this, as even during its golden age, Tayuu were counted in double digits among the two thousand working girls in the Yoshiwara. So here and there, some admissions for very rich merchants were made to see Tayuu and Oiran. But the culture clash was inevitable.

Just as often as Oiran and Tayuu tradition gets blurred into one another, there is one main factor that separates them: Location.

About Mawashi And That Pesky Contract

There used to be Tayuu in the Yoshiwara, and those were the top rank of Oiran, or the top rank of any given ranking system. At some point, the last Tayuu of the Yoshiwara extinguished and there were only Oiran left. Tayuu in the Shimabara and the Yoshiwara were groomed and educated from childhood to fit the mold. BUT in the Yoshiwara, there were cases of Courtesans rising up to Tayuu rank out of the blue. In Kyoto though, they stuck to the tradition of growing a Tayuu. There is no chance in hell, that a merchant of any kind would have had access to a Tayuu in Kyoto in all earnestness. Just because she was already "promised" to some patron that had invested in her education via her Onesan. So the concept of "refusing a patron" would have been inevitable, as she was ideally already locked into a patronage from the very start of her career, the patron only chomping at the bit for the girl to come of age. Raising a Tayuu was a big deal, a big investment and a big part of high culture in Kyoto.

Now if a new Tayuu had one or two (or even more) interested Danna waiting for her to "open shop", she was essentially already refusing patrons by default. The okiya would see to it, that the girl got to officially meet her patron through the three-meeting rituals we keep reading about everywhere, the one the Oiran hijacked as a means to bleed the patron dry. This is where the myth of "refusing first timers" comes from. And it made sense in Kyoto, where even the most money minded okiya would protect their assets by introducing them to trusted clients before sending them off to far away estates.

Just like the Shirabyoshi before her, the Tayuu would make her way to her Danna's place but she had a whole circus of attendants in tow: Kamuro, Shinzo, her secretary, her lantern bearer, sitting in a palanquin or carriage etc. This was pricey and the costs needed to be negotiated in advance, naturally this was not an impulse buy for a first timer. Same with the Oiran Dochu later on. This was too high a risk to simply offer on credit and the bosses of ageya and okiya knew this very well. They wanted the big fish.

When a deal was negotiated for a Tayuu's exclusive or semi-exclusive patronage with a client, it was not to buy her out quite yet. The girl was kept in the okiya and worked by hosting her patrons, educating herself and educating the new generation of Kamuro, paying off her investment and debt. Her life was paid at least once or many times over if she had a few insanely rich patrons but it was never enough. So even a kept Tayuu might have had days where she might have refused her Danna right?

Again we need to look into the dynamics of noble culture in Kyoto and how different it was from Yoshiwara.

If an Oiran was booked many days or even weeks in advance, may it be by loyal patrons or persistent and rich first-timers, would that be considered a refusal if she simply had no time? When a popular girl was double or triple booked, she would simply not attend her meeting with one patron in favor of another and send a sick note. Or she would meet that one rich guy and slip out to write letters for the other dude waiting. One very common trick was to send the ugliest Shinzo in to keep him entertained. While the rules stated that the Shinzo was off limits, it usually was her initiation into entertaining a patron one on one. And it would have been considered bad manners to complain about the Oiran being AWOL just as much as not paying for that Shinzo's unrequested services. By the way, this trick with sending in the Shinzo was called Mawashi and the Shinzo was then the Mawashikata. The custom had been established among lower ranked whores, who needed to work many Johns simultaneously, jumping from futon to futon. Sure, this angered the clients, but it was just the game of booking a popular girl. Even if she just showed up for a short while, you had the bragging rights. This custom made its way up the ranks to the Oiran over time as efficiency grew more important for them too.

Let's imagine how Kyoto's fine elite would have dealt with rejection. The type of Tayuu you mingled with was representative of your own refinement. If you were important and wealthy enough, she would not let you jump through unnecessary hoops. But just as well, she would meet her patrons at eye level to some degree, as was expected. A good Tayuu would never be as rude as to leave her patron waiting and if she did, an elegant daimyo would never make a scene. He would never let any hint of unsophistication slip, as this grave faux-pas would lead to refusal of services. He would handle her with more care than most women would have dared to dream of experiencing at that time because she was not his belonging, like a wife or a daughter, but rather a service provided by an okiya.

Since we're discussing real people and real emotions though, it's not as black and white of course. Nonetheless, the Tayuu's experience was unlike anything any other woman in Japanese society would have known and made for a rather comfortable and desirable lifestyle.

Honor and Dignity Of The Samurai

So if everything was so cozy and comfy, how did we get all these stories of patrons harming the Courtesans after experiencing rejection? For this we touch on the subject of the importance of honor as a cornerstone of samurai life. Among the vital values imbedded into their identity were dignity and self-restraint just as much as saving face through honor. Just as much as a Courtesan hurling herself from a boat into the river seems a bit excessive, it was representative of her samurai ideal. Just as much would the samurai rather kill her by his own blade for insulting him. As she was a woman, there was no duel to preface this settling of scores. She was already considered beneath him by Confucian teachings, what difference would it had made if she was dead or alive. Certainly there was no coming back or reconciliation. It was simply not how things worked. A Courtesan mingling in these circles already knew what was in store for her, it was part of daily life.

Whose Right Is It Anyway?

Essentially, the art of refusing a patron was privy to the brothel owners only. It was never the right or the privilege of the Tayuu nor the Oiran. She was only an instrument, a toy, she was merchandise. The irony of attributing the "right to refuse customers" to a Tayuu that never got to choose her patrons in the first place is cruel. A girl working in a brothel or okiya would be either disciplined or tortured into meeting the man that brought the most profit for her house. If she was bought out, she was now her new husband's doll to destroy at will. Her death would not have caused a scandal big enough to warrant more than a slap on the wrist for her samurai murderer. And the story of Jirozaemon, who got so welcomed into the teahouse just to kill the girl he had fallen in lust with, is a great example of how money did the vetting.

For the girl's owners, refusing a client was about the coin, for the girls it was a matter of life and death. I often think about how we trust our guts when meeting new people, but the Courtesans didn't have that privilege. They had already grown up desensitized to the leering gaze, to the screams of pain in the walls, to the blood on the tatami. In this sense Tayuu would be considered the epitome of the perfect woman because she was majestic yet submissive. And the submission started with the owner of her contract, who did all the thinking for her. She might have had the forum to interject as opposed to the working girls next door that couldn't catch a break, running from one mattress to another while wiping on the way with their tucked in paper rolls. But what difference would her word have made?

One can see how it might have been a point of contention for the affected men in the story. Of course from their point of view, this was an alien concept, something to make a huge fuss about because it was a rejection of men. Through the lens of Confucian ideals, this was a hard pill to swallow. But it's also very interesting that the art of rejecting patrons was attributed to the girls and not their bosses ultimately. This game was for men to suppress other men while suppressing women

A Monument Bearing Chiyojo's Haiku At Kukencho Cherry Blossoms at Night - Matsukawa Hanzan (1818-1882)

The Tayuu And The Merchant -

A Story About The Tayuu Of Osaka

Osaka is a city of merchants. Vibrant, industrious, rough and ready. Not as refined as stuffy old Kyoto, nor as polished as high and mighty Tokyo. Osaka embraces anyone and everyone and prosperity is just around the corner of one of its famous canals. The ideal breeding ground for a quiet revolution, where the underdog had the last laugh. This particular underdog story isn't about the Tayuu though. It's about the group of people that caused her demise: The merchants.

Hello again @bahandingbulawan

Thank you for the ask. I think a comprehensive list on Tayuu kanzashi is definitely a great idea though it needs the appropriate amount of research and time. I find kanzashi specially interesting for their symbolism so i would love to go into that one day.

Bonten with Birabira attached you say? I don't really know if i have ever noticed that. Maybe you could provide a pic?

Sadly i don't know about the "basket" like strip but i do remember having wondered about it before. It's very unique. Though i do know that the checkered Ichimatsu pattern is strongly linked to the Genroku styles. The two colored checkered pattern has been used for way longer but it must have been very widespread during the Genroku period (1688 - 1704) and was popularized by Kabuki's Ichimatsu Sanogawa (佐野川 市松; 1722 – 1762) in plays set that time:

Toshusai Sharaku - Woodblock print ca. 1794-1795

The Actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu I performing the spear dance - Torii Kiyohiro, 1751–1761

So maybe this Tayuu was going for maximum Genroku-ness. Sadly i don't really know if it has a specific name (i mean it probably has) and what it might be. If anyone wants to chime in, please feel free!

Hello Anon

One of my favorite posts centered around the different Arts of Tayuu and i'm still convinced that some of the greatest Courtesans throughout the ages, regardless of the pass times du jour, were mainly curators of entertainment for their patrons. Tayuu were groomed to represent the ideal woman for the elite and even though trends come and go, individualism (mainly the patron's individualism of course) could influence what a particular Tayuu became famous for.

The 1702 edition of "Yuri-sama Taiko", a Yoshiwara review and guide book ranks only 5 Tayuu among around 2000 working girls in the quarters. They were rare enough, their services being reserved and cultivated for the upper echelons. Apart from that, if a patron managed to get past the 3 introductory banquets, he would bind himself to that Tayuu exclusively. Still, she would have the option of catering to many more, it was considered bad taste to have too many patrons. A wise Tayuu would find a way to keep her circles small and sweet. So what was she expected to offer her niche patrons:

There are some "basic" Arts like Tea ceremony, poetry and dance, chess, obvious skills needed to physically entertain a party. Then things like calligraphy, painting and flower arranging would be part of their basic training so they could communicate with their patrons through different means: Letters, paintings, the setting of the ozashiki etc. But it was also for them to communicate their sophistication by distinguishing quality while being on the pulse of the cultural landscape, being the trendsetters they were. We know from prints, that Tayuu and Oiran liked to be painted doing cerebral activities like writing, painting and reading letters, so less performative accomplishments.

The Courtesan Hanaōgi of the Ōgiya Brothel (Ōgiya Hanaōgi), from the series Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters as Six Floral Immortals - Chōbunsai Eishi, ca. 1794

What about Astrology?

Japanese culture has a deep tradition of fortune-telling and divination, including Chinese-influenced animal zodiacs and horoscope systems, which would have been part of the cultural fabric that even educated Courtesans like Tayuu might have encountered or utilized for understanding people and events, though their primary focus was on arts, not professional astrology. So just how you wouldn't exactly book a Tayuu to read your palm, it was a tool for her to express her learnedness. Studying solar, lunar, and planetary movements as one manifestation of the natural order, or what might be called the “law of heaven”, was institutionalized in China through Taoism and Buddhism.

In China, astrology had the highest official status, calendar-making the next, and timekeeping and divination the lowest, whereas in Japan it was the other way around. As in China, the Director of the Japanese Institute of Divination (Onmyō no kami) was obliged to submit to the emperor a sealed report of astronomical or geophysical abnormalities. So naturally a Tayuu, present at court, would be keen to keep up with this interest as well. During the Tayuu's golden hour in the 1700s, Astronomy was starting to go out of fashion in favor of more western sciences but the influence through Buddhist traditions remains popular to this day as can still be observed in the modern Karyukai as well.

Hour of the Sheep (Hitsuji no koku), from the series "Twelve Hours in Yoshiwara (Seiro juni toki tsuzuki)" - Kitagawa Utamaro, ca. 1790ies

Hi there @fl3shisthelaw

Thank you for the pic. I must admit i was a bit confused at first too. I have seen this pic of course, it's on rotation in the public domain. But i have never examined it closer and i'm happy i get the chance to now!

What i did first is examine the model: She has some hints of Tayuu aesthetics: Red beaded bira kanzashi, turned collar, Tayu koma Geta.

Then there is a lot of Oiran about her too: The bekko kanzashi, the padded Uchikake, the Waterfal obi.

So what i did is reverse google search and i came to this source:

Not sure if it's the original but you get to see the whole picture.

So the source add the info that she is a courtesan and in kanji it would be marked as 遊女 and if you search for that it will take you to the Oiran searches. Kanji for Oiran is 花魁 and Tayuu is 太夫.

So we're at a dead end essentially but i have two theories.

Either we're talking about an Oiran or we're talking about an Osaka Tayuu. I'm not entirely sure about the latter as i have been a bit out of the loop with deep research so i don't want to lean into wild speculation. To stay on the safe side i would suggest we're looking at a Tayuu but i'm not convinced entirely. Please feel free to chime in!

Thank you @bahandingbulawan

For sending this in. It was quite interesting to see the two different Tayuu interacting with their surroundings. Some things i noted were the presence of the Hanaguruma, the flower chariot at the beginning of the procession. These chariots carrying exquisite vessels of Ikebana creations are displays of virtues like poetic sensibilities, wealth, romantic prowess and imperial connections: All very Tayuu-coded. One could argue it was like a version of a Tayuu herself, a stand-in so to speak to elongate the procession and add more spiritual weight to it.

The first Tayuu looked very focused to me, and also very meticulous in her walking, trucking along like a well oiled machine. The second Tayuu seemed a bit more flustered to me, her Hikifune was clearly doing her best to keep this boat afloat. This Tayuu looked like she was struggling a bit with her volume while the helper kept fussing and arranging. Interesting to note also that each Kamuro has her own handler as well. Which i wasn't aware of was so common. It's quite normal to see modern Hikifune gently nudge Kamuro during the dochu as they clearly don't get a lot of routine these days. But i would have imagined Kamuro of yore to have more practice. Maybe it was also a question of keeping these girls safe and focused too. A lot was invested in these little princesses so they needed to keep from mingling too much with the crowd. Just a guess though.

Also something that i found a bit strange was the sheer amount of Bekko kanzashi worn by both Tayuu. I have two theories: Either it was just the fashion of the moment between the Tayuu to go all out and more "Yoshiwara"-style. Or it was a question of occasion where the dress code was "More is more".

If anyone knows exactly if the gentlemen in the Haori and (bowler?)-hats are something like handlers, bodyguards or simply rude spectators of the parade barging on through, feel free to chime in.

Hope youre doing well

Hello Anon

Thank you for sending it it! I haven't been keeping up with Aoi so i was struck by how she changed and matured into a more vibrant Tayuu as represented in these pics!

She looks so confident in her role, sporting the Yoshino mage and an uchikake with a dominant phoenix and peony motif. On the one hand the Yoshino mage can be considered one of the most important Tayuu hairstyles, being an homage to the great Yoshino Tayuu. On the other hand the uchikake sports deep and energetic colors like red, green and black. The latter was historically reserved for the most financially successful Oiran of the Yoshiwara. This in combination with the prominent and traditional Tayuu red, the entry ticket to the royal palaces, states: "I'm at my best" which i hope is true for Aoi!

While the peony has been considered the "King of Flowers", the Chinese phoenix has been connected with the Japanese Empress for millennia: It's been said to descend from heaven in time of need to relieve distress and dreaming of a phoenix was a good omen and so it was connected to the passive yet powerful role of royal women.

If we examine this through the lens of the Tayuu, there are actually a few parallels. While Empresses were expected to live secluded, spiritually active lives as crown jewels of an empire, so the Tayuu were considered the most precious flowers in the Hanamachi, only equal to the men and the arts they devoted themselves too. Tayuu lived secluded too, either learning or practicing. Even though it all was in service to men, the Empress was headed in the exact same direction. It was no surprise that the most powerful leaders needed an equal partner to converse with- As royal women were not expected to share their knowledge with men, so the Tayuu filled this gap. As some Empresses donated to temples and defined their spirituality through alliance with them, so emulated the Tayuu.

These pics were taken in November at the Tayuu Dochu in Jocho-Ji Temple in Kyoto. A few notes on that: The most famous Tayuu Dochu is usually in April and it is a privilege of the Wachigaiya Tayuu to pay their respects to Yoshino Tayuu II (she was the financier of the famous red Mon of the grounds) during this ceremony. Historically there would have been three annual Dochu: The Cherryblossom Parade in April, as still upheld today, The Parade for Irises in summer and then the autumn parade to celebrate the Chrysanthemums. The autumn flower is also considered an imperial flower, it is the symbol of Japan to this day, again linking the Tayuu to royalist symbolism.

It's an interesting note that this temple is an intersecting scene for all Tayuu of Kyoto. Aoi has been paying her respects for years here, just as well as it being a hotspot to see Wachigaiya Tayuu out in the flesh. In a sense it's incredibly fitting for Aoi to flaunt off her seniority in the ranks of Tayuu and also her financial pull in a place where a legendary Tayuu left her spiritual marks through her generosity. Hopefully we get to see many more appearances on these grounds!