Yes and no. If I recall my Japanese history courses from a decade ago, geisha also lived in walled-off red light districts known as the “land of falling noses,” due to the horrific rates of STIs, and weren’t allowed to leave unless their contract was bought by a wealthy sponsor.
Related to the courtesan historical parallel, there are also the Japanese geisha, they were not prostitutes but women of the arts that normally had a sponsor who would request their services (serving tea, playing music, dancing, etc) and they in turn sponsored merchants whose goods they deemed good enough and it was a great honor to be sponsored by geisha (it also attracted more costumers I supose) but the Venetian courtesans seem closer to the Braavosi ones :)
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