Chapter One
japan before the geisha
High-class Courtesans and the Culture of Desire
Because they fall we love them— the cherry blossoms. In this floating world,
does anything endure?
Ariwara no Narihira (823-880)1
s
The City of Purple Hills and Crystal Streams
More than a thousand years ago, long before geisha were even thought of, Kyoto
was the center of an extraordinarily effete, decadent, and promiscuous culture
which transformed love into an art form and beauty into a cult. Centuries later,
when pleasure quarters were built where men could transcend their everyday lives
and imagine themselves noblemen of leisure, the courtesans and geisha modeled
the dreams which they sold on the romantic culture of the Heian princes.
The Heian period lasted from 794 to 1195, the time of the Vikings, King Canute,
and William the Conqueror. It began with the construction of a beautiful new
capital in an auspicious location, a wide bowl-shaped valley surrounded by
tree-clad hills, with sparkling rivers bordering it to each side. The official
name was Heian-kyo, the Capital of Peace and Tranquility. Poets called it the
City of Purple Hill ... read full excerpt from: Women of the Pleasure Quarters ebook
