During the Edo period, the Shimabara district in Kyoto was made mainly of Okiya geisha houses (where geisha and taiyu lived) and Ageya, luxury restaurants specialized in sophisticated parties, with geisha and taiyu singing, dancing and performing tea ceremonies.

The largest and most important Ageya was Sumiya, a stylish establishment frequented by the most important personalities of the era. Sumiya is the only such building that survived in its original form, and can be visited now, a beautiful museum of a long gone epoch.

Sumiya, Shimabara, Kyoto

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: View from the Mount Hakodate Observatory