For the Yoshiwara nightclub in the 1927 Fritz Lang film see Metropolis.

For the locality in Mumbai, see Oshiwara

Yoshiwara (吉原) was a famous yūkaku(遊廓、遊郭, pleasure district, red-light district) in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, Japan.

In the early 17th century, there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka. To counter this, an order of Tokugawa Hidetada of the Tokugawa shogunate restricted prostitution to designated city districts. These districts were Shimabara for Kyōto (1640), Shinmachi for Ōsaka (1624–1644) and Yoshiwara for Edo (1617). A leading motive for the establishment of these districts was the Tokugawa shogunate attempt to prevent the nouveau riche chōnin (townsmen) from engaging in political intrigue.