Kenji Mizoguchi’s film Sisters of the Gion and Higuchi Ichiyo’s short story “Child’s Play” both depict life in the pleasure quarters. While the former takes place in post-World War II Japan, and the latter is set in the midst of the Meiji period, the pleasure quarters play a fundamental role in both. Through analysis of these works, we see that the quarters are not just a physical location, but a place that encompasses the lives of those who live in or near them.
Sisters of the Gion’s lead character Omocha dominates the film with her radical views toward society. She is educated and bluntly scoffs at the traditional Japanese concept of giri, claiming that it is just a word men use to confuse women. Her attitude toward men, whom she sees as “enemies,” stands in direct opposition to her sister’s unending loyalty to her patron. Indeed, her understanding of the power dynamics between men and women seems starkly modern, and her attempts to manipulate men for her own gain is a blatant reversal of the traditional relationship between a geisha and her customer. Hardly submissive, as one…show more content… Yoshiwara is split into the main street and the back street, and the main characters are split along those lines as well. The split is fundamentally a class distinction, with the wealthy Shota heading the main-street gang, and the fireman’s son Chōkichi leading the back-street gang. The first incident of note occurs when Chōkichi’s attempt to attack Shota results in Sangorō taking the blow instead. In many ways, this incident demonstrates the relationship between place and identity, as the characters’ friends are defined in a large part by where they live. Indeed, several of the characters are introduced not just by their name, but where they are from: “Nobu of Ryūge Temple” and “Midori of the Daikokuya” (268), for example. Sangorō, who is from the back-street but also friends with Shota, is the only exception, and he is roundly beaten for
