Of the Reason Why Going to the Yoshiwara was Called “Ch� ye yuku.�
In the “Yoshiwara Ō-kagami,� (�原大鑑 “Great Mirror of the Yoshiwara�) it is mentioned that the origin of the common expression in former days of “Ch� ye yuku� (going to Ch�)—meaning “going to the Yoshiwara�—was as follows: Formerly the streets of the Yoshiwara were laid out in the shape of a cross, but afterwards one of the entrances was closed, changing the cross into a shape like that of the Chinese character “Ch�� (�), hence the saying. In later times this expression was changed, and nowadays people speak of going to the Yoshiwara as “naka ye yuku� (to go inside).