Metropolis - Yoshiwara

Crowd at the entrance of Metropolis' Yoshiwara nightclub, exiting at the instigation of the evil Maria, after a night of debauchery. Source: Still photograph from the film.

Berlin's Yoshiwara

The Yoshiwara of Thea von Harbou's 1926 novel Metropolis was a nightclub run by September, a man of unidentified Asian extraction. It was here that Georgy was tempted and fell under the spell of the drug Maohee. As a result he failed to meet up with Freder and Josephat and help them in their quest to locate Maria, who had been kidnapped by Rotwang. For this he eventually died, taking a knife to the heart that was meant for Freder, during a scuffle with a group of workers, spurred on by the inflammatory rhetoric of the evil Maria doppelganger.

Yoshiwara advertisement, Metropolis, 1927.

The Yoshiwara of Fritz Lang's 1927 film was the embodiment of von Harbou's text, with input from the design team working on the film. The result was a series of sets aiming to convey the atmosphere of a modern Berlin nightclub, with ornate oriental features and an entrance suggestive of the sexual pleasure to be had inside. Unfortunately, views of Fritz Lang's Yoshiwara were largely excised from prints of the film following the initial Berlin screening, and have only been seen recently as a result of the 2008 discovery of a near complete, though damaged print of Lang's original director's cut. Some views also survive in still photographs, suggesting the extent of the location's use in filming. In one such photograph (illustrated above), an exterior shot of Yoshiwara is seen, with crowds running down the stairs. In another photograph (illustrated below), we see Georgy walking forlornly down the stairs early in the morning, after a night of partying.

Georgy walking dejectedly down the stairs of Yoshiwara, early morning, with a cleaner to the left of him sweeping the stairs.

In a third image, from the Pollock Collection at the National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, Australia, there is a discussion with a character who may represent September, the owner of Yoshiwara. Film of some of these scenes is now available, though any of Georgy in Yoshiwara do not survive, though the 2008 footage does include a brief montage of activities within the club. As a result, it seems likely that Lang did not include footage of Georgy and September in the club within his final cut.

Yoshiwara was also the scene of much activity and depravity by the evil Maria - the transformed robot. It was here that she drove men crazy with lust, giving rise to murder and suicide. Once again, many of the original scenes involving her and the crowd in Yoshiwara were censored out of post-Berlin versions of the film, and have only recently been seen in the South American print.

Tokyo's Yoshiwara

The original Yoshiwara was the red-light district of Tokyo, Japan. It was formally created in 1617 by Ieyasu, first of the Tokugawa shoguns. Following earthquakes and fires, it moved in 1657 to a location near the Asakusa temple and survived there until 1959. Within its walls were legalised brothels, bath-houses, entertainment venues and premises where geisha would perform their rituals.

Utagawa Toyokuni I, 吉原仲の町花魁道中 [Courtesans Promenading on the Nakanochō in Yoshiwara], woodblock print, circa 1795.

For some 250 years Japan was closed to the outside world, however after 1853 the Americans opened the country up to trade and visitation. Sailors naturally gravitated towards the Yoshiwara precinct, and stories of its delights began to appear in the foreign press. From that time pornographic woodblock prints known as shunga also began to circulate in Europe, and the Metropolis design team would have been aware of this. Lang and Harbou were collectors of Asiatic art, including Japanese woodblocks.

Fritz Lang claimed that at one point he visited Japan. This most likely occurred between 1911-3 when he travelled the world, visiting North Africa, Turkey, Asia Minor, and Bali. At the time he worked as a travel artist, painting postcards, travel scenes, and advertisements. As a result of these experiences, he developed a passion for oriental folk and culture, and some of this was reflected in his films, with the Yoshiwara facade possibly one of his touches.

Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou in their Berlin apartment, circa 1925.

The character of September and the experiences caused by the drug Maohee were likely also based on events in Lang's own life during these travels, and the subsequent drug-filled nightclubs of Berlin following the end of World War I in 1918.

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Bibliography

De Becker, J.E., The Nightless, City, or the History of the Yoshiwara Yukawku. By an English Student of Sociology, Z.P. Maruya & Co., Yokohama, 1899, 8vo, 442p.

----, The Sexual Life of Japan, being an exhaustive study of The Nightless City, or the History of the Yoshiwara Yukawku, American Anthropological Society, c.1900, 386p.

Longstreet, Stephen & Ethel, Yoshiwara: City of the Senses, David McKay, 1970, 225p. Historical study of the noted Tokyo brothel district, illustrated by masters of the Japanese print.

----, Yoshiwara: the pleasure quarters of old Tokyo, Yenbooks, Tokyo, 1988, 225p.

-----, Geishas and the Floating World: Inside Tokyo's Yoshiwara Pleasure District, Tuttle, 2020, 224p.

Mahoee, Metropolis - Paper Dragon [blog], n.d.

Matsumoto, Tadashige, The Yoshiwara – Two Japanese Love Stories, Walker, London, 1920s, 308p. Covers the exploits of Denkichi and O-Sen, and those of O-Tami and Hichisaburo.

Metropolis, Metropolis - Paper Dragon [blog], n.d.

Moore, Donald D., Yoshiwara, iUniverse Incorporated, 2003, 230p.

Preuschen, Hermione von, Yoshiwara. Von Freudenhaus des Lebens [Yoshiwara. The Joy-house of Life], Janke, Berlin, 1920, 195p. Reprinted Berlin, 2017.

Seigle, Cecillia Segawa, Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1993.

Tresmin–Trémolières, Dr. (Dr. Bruno Sklarek and Dr. Iwan Bloch), Yoshiwara. Die Liebesstadt der Japaner, Sexualpsychologische Bibliothek Erster Serie, Louis Marcus, Berlin, 1910, 292p. Documents the entertainment and prostitution practices of Japan.

Yoshiwara (Geisha-liedjes), Broch, Brussel & Manteau, 1942, 62p.

Yoshiwara's House of Sin, Metropolis - Paper Dragon [blog], n.d.

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First published: 1 July 2010
Last updated: 16 November 2018
Michael Organ, Australia