A postcard showing a Tayū (the highest rank of courtesan) from Kyoto's Shimabara pleasure quarters, writing a poem on a tanzaku (poem slip). Tayū were masters of traditional arts like calligraphy, poetry composition, dance, singing and are identifiable by the red triangle-shaped fold on their right collar.

Whilst the rank of Tayū went extinct in other parts of Japan by the end of the 18th century, Tayū survived in Shimabra in Kyoto until the 20th century.