The Shinmachi in Osaka and Shimabara in Kyoto arose shortly after Edo's Yoshiwara, all three established by the Tokugawa shogunate, alongside the theatre districts, to centralize and control these entertainment districts. The pleasure quarters quickly came to be centers of popular culture in general, and the refined world of the courtesans began to attract literati types, along with artists and writers. This can be demonstrated in the way the pleasure districts in Edo and Kamigata figured prominently in plays that became popular particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries such as Brilliance and Bravado, Message of Love, Five Great Powers, Ise Dances and Taihei Chronicles. Female and male prostitutes also became the subjects of popular fiction, songs, pictorial art, and even travel guides. A dance style called kamigata uta also emerged, which was associated with the renowned geisha hanamachi of Gion. As was the case with ukiyo-e, the theatre, and other aspects of popular culture, the pleasure districts (yukaku) of Kamigata were markedly different from those in Edo, in culture and style, if not in organization and administration. For instance, Kamigata's yukaku had a more creative atmosphere than the pleasure districts that thrived in Edo because this city was more heavily regulated on account of its status as a political center dominated by warriors and their families. References Lane, Richard. (1978). Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ; OCLC 5246796 External links Kabuki21.com Kansai region Kabuki Ukiyo-e