For centuries, Yoshiwara was the famed pleasure center of Tokyo. An erotic world unmatched by the West was created by beautiful courtesans, geishas, dancers, actors and artists. To this "floating world" came the hedonists and the sensual pleasure hunters of old Japan. A hotbed of art and creativity, it also saw the enslavement of countless women, sold or driven into the sex trade.

Yoshiwara traces the rise and fall of this city within a city, a sanctioned preserve of teahouses and brothels that was not abolished until 1958, sketching a vivid portrait of social and sexual mores in Japan's capital.