J.E. De Becker 
Nightless City 
Or the History of the Yoshiwara Yukwaku

Organized sex in Japan has always been big business, and nowhere was it more politely offered than in the Yoshiwara Yukwaku (red light district) of Tokyo.


The appeal of the Yoshiwara was its women, all the surroundings being a frame for display of their charms. The
Nightless City provides us with a fascinating picture of a ‘floating world’ that was as transient as a butterfly. Today its teahouses, establishments of assignation, geisha, courtesans, customers, pimps, love magic, laws, sayings, loves, and hates have vanished. This book, however, is a substantial monument to this remarkable place and its remarkable people.


This fabulous book, containing fifty revealing maps and illustrations, is a pioneer social study of a Meiji community which lived close to traditional ways and according to the rules of the profession of pleasure. It is rich in folklore, magical charms, ceremonial, social rules, standards of dress, class stratification, and the rewards and punishments of the Yoshiwara.


Yoshiwara had such an honored place in Japanese tradition, that its passing, in 1957, was regretted and lamented by many–Japanese and foreigners alike.