Asakusa is a well-known neighborhood

Tokyo may be one of the world's most advanced cities but here

things slow down a little

Three areas to know are

the central Asakusa area with SENSOJI temple

The Tokyo Skytree

and Yoshiwara

In the north

The historical home of Tokyo's pleasure quarters

We start right here at Asakusa's most famous

intersection

So here we are at Asakusa

This is the old area of Tokyo

You can see behind me KAMINARIMON and

SENSOJI and over here this Skytree the newest addition to the Tokyo skyline

and to help me out with this report is Grigoris

Who's been in Japan for how many years

Have been Japan six years

Six years

Because what is your

fascination with Asakusa?

I had a thing for Japan since I was a kid

and I had a thing for SHITAMACHI

The east part of Tokyo

also since I was a kid

So Asakusa seems like a natural fit

I think Asakusa is a lot more than just SENSOJI

and this area, right?

It actually is. Well, for the most part it's SENSOJI temple

It's been the actual focus for 1.5 millennial

But there's also lots of other stuff

around here like

Yoshiwara

Yoshiwara!

Right is look which is what

we're focusing on today OIRAN DOCHU

OIRAN DOCHU yes

What do people need to know about that?

well, the Yoshiwara was the pleasure culture

of EDO

and the

They were several houses and it's house has it on its own

Prostitutes and courtesans .Well they were..

and

They were artists, they were entertainers, and they were all kinds of things

But OIRAN weren't GEISHAs

Here's almost

all you need to now

First can you tell a GEISHA from OIRAN

Maybe not

The first thing we notice are the white faces

well, Here's a GEISHA

Her KIMONO is stylish

But simplistic

Beautiful hair pulled back

GEISHA cover their feet TABI socks

From behind you can see the OBI

It's tied this way

GEISHA apprentices have several levels

But their OBI is tied loose like this

By the way

Men could also be GEISHA

I bet you didn't know that

GEISHAs were strictly entertainers skilled in song

dance and playing instruments

Now here's a beautiful lady

She's a high-level OIRAN

More specifically

a TAIYU

how can we tell?

She's wrapped in many elaborately colored layers of silk

extravaganct!

The real celebrities of Tokyo

Her hair is decorated with all sorts of ornaments

a GEISHA would never do that

Top OIRAN were skilled in all forms a art

Look!

Her feet Bare

This drop demands why

Also walked in high GETA sandals

Japanese version of stiletto heels

From behind you can see just how elaborate

an OIRAN looks

Do you think you can tell them apart now

A GEISHA

and OIRAN

Get it right

Grigoris had more amazing facts to tell us about OIRAN

and Every Day

It had parades of

its top courtesans, top OIRAN in street s of YOSHIWARA

I guess what you're saying is OIRAN

in the EDO period were like the movie stars

yeah, exactly

You can see them in woodblock prints by

UTAMARO

For the most part they are famous OIRAN

from that day

They were pretty expensive. Freakishly expensive actually

The OIRAN expensive?

yeah

Wow!

One night with the OIRAN

was about

one year salary for a normal person

But it wasn't that easy right? You actually had to be accepted by OIRAN

That's what a lot of people don't know it wasn't just pay the money and

have fun

Specially top OIRAN, the TAYU

The ones we will see in the video on

under the umbrella

Right

You had to be introduced

and she had the right to....deny

The OIRAN were really special ladies around town

Let's go to a re-creation of one of their DOCHU

or parades through the Yoshiwara

A lot of preparation is needed

Every part of the OIRAN that was exposed

had to be covered in white

Including the feet

The faces were immaculately painted

They were then fitted with padded undergarments before the KIMONO

OIRAN-KIMONO we're more colorful than the geishas for a reason

They wanted to attract more attention for business

and that glamour was very good for business

The KIMONO is held in place with the rope before being tight with the first

OBI

And then a second one

It's really tight

And an outer layer

with more padding

TAYU

The top-ranked OIRAN

had even more elaborate layers

The wig

When she wears this

You can never miss her walking down the street

It takes skill to put one on correctly

The TAYU wigs are the heaviest

Attention to every detail

Everything had to be perfect to attract as much praise and attention on the streets

Surrounded by OIRAN

It's really quite an "only in Japan" site

Can you tell the highest-ranked TAYU from the other courtesans?

The TAYU has a front drape call MANAITA

To add another layer to the silk

She may be carrying as many as

five layers of KIMONO

underneath

The woman in charge is Yoko Okita

She has learned the traditional ways of the OIRAN

and make sure every little detail is just like it was during the EDO period

Prostitution was outlawed in 1958

and with that the OIRAN culture has started to fade

There are very few who

have been around to see a real

OIRAN DOCHU

Let's ask Okita SENSEI

Her thoughts

and why the OIRAN DOCHU is important to the neighborhood today

After talking with Okita SENSEI

I understood just how much preparation went into this annual event

The OIRAN DOCHU would not be possible without Okita SENSEI's

extensive experience

The event gets bigger and bigger every year

and this year they have live musicians and singers

rather than recording

Let's move ahead to the event

I have trouble walking around in normal GETA

But these? They're towers!

This make sure the OIRAN is the highest one in the

procession

You can see those bare feet

Lovely

One foot in front of the other

The TAYU had a very distinctive walking style

sweeping the put out in 8 pattern

It's called the SOTO-HACHI-MOJI

In the front are dancers and musicians

with masks of foxes

or KITSUNE

The fox symbolizes INARI

The patron deity of the Yoshiwara

You can throw them coins wrapped in paper

and they'll feed it to SHI SHI or lions

The KANABO-HIKI or night watchmen carry metal sticks

They clank on the streets to attract the attention of the crowd

There are the TEKOMAI-GEISHA with men's hairstyles and clothing

CHOCHIN-MOCHI carry a lantern

with the TAYU's name

They're also her servants called KAMURO

She supported by an assistant called KATAKASHI-NO-OTOKOSHU

Holding the umbrella is the KASAMOCHI-NO-OTOKOSHU

In the back are the apprentice OIRAN called

FURISODE SHINZO

So that's the procession

in a nutshell

It goes on for about 400 meters to the stage

where the OIRAN show the crowd how customers were served

Grigoris took me into a special tree at the old Yoshiwara gate

It's a willow

They call that the MIKAERI YANAGI

Okay

yeah

Which means they're looking back willow

That willow was this

was Symbol of courtesans and GEISHA

And this is the last thing that the people leaving Yoshiwara

Would see

On the on the way out

Tokyo and Yoshiwara has changed a lot

But the traditions live on handed down from one generation to the next

When you're in Asakusa

Look around

Even look up

You might find yourself standing in the shade of history