Yūjo and Art
Fashion
In the Edo period, prostitutes were the fashion leaders. They were the ones who created new hairstyles and invented new ways of dreessing up. Commoners learned through arts and literature such as Tose Kamoji Hinagata [当世かもじ雛形] to emulate their style [1].
Hair Style
Before the yūjo became popular among commoners, women simply tied their hair and let it down (taregami or subekarashi [垂髪]). When the yūjo became fashion icons, women started to put their hair up and the ways they arrange it had become diverse. Yūjo usually had two tortoiseshell combs which the common women were so eager to have. One for combing their hair, and the other for their customer [2].
Tattoo
While there are many assumptions about the origin of tattoos in Japan, there is one saying that tattoos became popular in Japan as there was a record that yūjo used tattoos to express their devotion to their customers. The yūjo and the customers carved each other's names on their bodies in the sense of swearing eternal love [3].
FUN FACT: Yūjo's tattoo culture that showed devotion to customers has a lot in common with today's Japanese notion of tattoos. Tattoos are also used by members of the Yakuza (Japanese gang members) to prove their loyalty to their organization. Like yūjo showing devotion to their regular customers through tattoos, yakuza's tattoos in modern time Japan also show their sacrifice for the organization
Arts
Ukiyo-e
Yūjo, the bearers of the culture in the Edo period, were depicted in many of Bijinga arts in the Edo period. It has been said that the common women tried to imitate what yūjo wore.
Much of what is known about Edo period fashion comes from the interpretation of Ukiyoe and Bijinga so by observing those arts, commoners learned the trendy fashion at that time [4].
Yūjo were the figures whom commoners looked up to.
Shunga
Shunga: The publication of uncensored reproductions of sexually explicit Ukiyo-e prints and paintings [5]
There are mainly three interpreted purposes of shunga: masturbatory imagery for males, laughing pictures, and advertisements for sexual workers. The production of shunga contributed to the economy of prostitution in Edo as several shunga prints introduced information about depicted sex workers and functioned as advertising posters [6].
[1] Suehisa, Mariko. & Mitsui, Hideki 2005, p.1
[2] Kurihara, Juju, 2020
[3] Why are tattoos considered a taboo in Japan? , 2018
[4] Ellis, James, 2019, p.709
[5] Berry Paul, 2004, p.7
[6] Berry Paul, 2004, p.10