Occupational Groups and the Regulation of Prostitution: The Case of 18th-Century Osaka

Early modern Japanese society was composed of various different occupational groups. These groups organized around a common trade, and sought official recognition from feudal authorities in order to protect certain exclusive rights; those groups that successfully received recognition provided status-specific tribute in exchange for protection from outside competition. This incentivized the various occupational groups to police for any unauthorized activities, and also made them essential to the early modern state’s efforts to govern society.

In this presentation, I will elaborate on the policy of ruling through occupational groups by focusing on the regulation of prostitution in early modern Osaka. Between 1600 and 1868, prostitution in Osaka was illegal outside of one licensed brothel district in an area called Shinmachi. In exchange for the right to operate brothels, the Osaka city authorities tasked the brothel-owners association of Shinmachi with policing for unauthorized prostitution. However, this policy saw a major change in 1694 when so-called “tea houses” were given tacit permission to host sex workers under the euphemism of “tea-serving girls.” At this time, the tea-house operators formed into a self-regulating occupational group, and were tasked by the city authorities with regulating prostitution in Osaka. Thus, from 1694 on, the Osaka city government utilized two occupational groups – the brother-owners association and the tea-house organizations – to regulate prostitution. To demonstrate the logic by which this system operated, I will focus on incidents involving the prosecution of unauthorized prostitution by these two occupational groups. This presentation will discuss the place of women within urban occupational groups, as well as the gendered nature of early modern rule.