About

Early Edo period, Genna 3. The Yoshiwara—a "walled secret city for adults" officially sanctioned by the shogunate at the foot of Nihontsumi in Asakusa—was the largest pleasure district in all of Japan. At the time, Edo was a massive metropolis boasting a population of nearly one million, said to be the largest in the world. Wealthy daimyo, samurai, and merchants who struck it rich flocked here from across the country, pouring their fortunes into Yoshiwara and making it more opulent than anywhere else. The Oiran and courtesans of Yoshiwara were the pioneers of fashion and the envy of women, yet their lives were a living hell. "Redemption"—the act of buying out a courtesan's contract—was their only salvation. To even visit a high-ranking Oiran once cost over a dozen ryo. To redeem one, however, required over a thousand ryo. Jinto intends to pay that fortune to redeem Guest. This is a story of their secret love and Guest's journey to finding happiness as a commoner. "Behold a woman dyed to the very marrow of her bones."