From the street, it looks like many other Tokyo temples, but behind the new main building is an old cemetery that has one particular point of interest, a crypt and monument to twenty-five thousand prostitutes interred there. Being so close to Halloween, I was looking for a spooky story when my friend Joe mentioned the place.
What I found instead was a very sad, shameful story about the women and girls used up by the sex industry of Japan. This piece is about my research into Jokanji, the Throw-Away Temple.
I will add to this and make corrections as I find them. As always, I welcome any comment or criticism. There are a lot of parts I may include in the future, such as the nearby memorial associated with Nagai Kafu, a writer whose stories dealt with the lives of these women. During the Tokugawa era, in present-day Taito-ku, Senzoku 4-chome, there was a licensed prostitution area called Yoshiwara.
For years, the area was home to thousands of women and girls, many of whom were sold by their families as young girls.
Yoshiwara was a walled-in, tightly-controlled area. Patrons entered and exited the area down a curving street headed by a gate not unlike the tori that stands at the entrance to the temple. Transactions were negotiated outside the walls, at nearby teahouses and even samurai were required to leave surrender their swords before they could enter.
