Nihonbashi Nakasu

Mitsumata, a short distance from the Yoshiwara pleasure district, had long been a popular spot for entertainment.

In any case, by 1771, Nakasu had become popular enough, and crowded with enough restaurants and teahouses, that the shogunate decided to create an artificial landfill jutting out into the river.

There gradually appeared many more places of entertainment, and "by 1779, there were eighteen restaurants (some catering exclusively to daimyo deputies), ninety-three teahouses, fourteen boathouses, and at least twenty-seven geisha.

A number of proprietors of Yoshiwara establishments were allowed to set up shop in Nakasu temporarily, and for a few years, the area truly flourished.

Courtesans plied their trade, free of the complex and burdensome rituals and procedures of the Yoshiwara, and their young attendants were able to experience a bit more of a normal childhood.