From Kakushibaijo to Inbaionna; the Transformation of the View of Prostitution in Transition from Early Modern to Modern Age

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19H01314
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03020:Japanese history-related
• Research Institution: National Museum of Japanese History
• Principal Investigator: Yokoyama Yuriko 国立歴史民俗博物館, 大学共同利用機関等の部局等, 名誉教授 (20458657)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 廣川 和花 専修大学, 文学部, 教授 (10513096) ; 森田 朋子 中部大学, 人文学部, 教授 (80293108)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 近代移行期 / 売春観 / 検梅 / 遊廓 / 芸娼妓解放令 / 遊女

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Yujo Release Act, enacted in 1872 (Meiji 5), changed in the view of prostitution. In Edo period prostitutes were considered as women forced to sell sex by brothels through human trafficking, however in Meiji era, under the Release Act, they were characterized as licentious women who sold herself with their own will. In this project we clarified Yujo Release Act as a "redefinition of prostitution" in the beginning of Meiji era and found out that the redefinition was caused by the domestic and the international conditions. Furthermore, we showed the reality of brothels, customers and selling women(prostitutes) who were forced into sexual activities through actual human trafficking contrary to the Act. It can be understood that this conclusion produces a model to analyze the modern transformation from the perspective of continuity and discontinuity.

Free Research Field

日本近世史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、身分制の論理に従って形成された近世の性売買システムが、「売春の再定義」以降の警察と医療施策による新たな管理体制に転換される過程に着目し、性売女性の主体的側面にも留意しつつ、日本における性売買の近世から近代への変容を明らかにした。これは、近世近代移行期の買売春の具体的な実態解明を通して、解放令を一片の紙切れとしてその意義を軽視してきた従来の見解を刷新するものである。また、展示による研究成果の社会的還元にも注力し、遊廓や遊女を無批判に美化する一般的風潮に対し、歴史的事実をふまえることの重要性を提起するものとなった。