The Validity of Debts.
At present, debts contracted by prostitutes are held to be valid and legally recoverable, although contracts binding women to serve in brothels in consideration of a loan would probably be held illegal. The leading case on the question is Ōkuma Kin (and two others) v. Watanabe Mase decided in the First Civil Division of the Supreme Court of Japan (Case “O� 398 of 1901) on the 6th February, 1902. The principles enunciated are thus stated in the digests:—“Prostitution being a publicly recognized business, it is not in the least contrary to public order or good morals for a prostitute to enter into an agreement with her creditors to devote the profits arising from her own business to the satisfaction of her debt towards them.� It is the writer’s strong opinion that the Judges have committed a very serious blunder in interpreting the law as stated above, as they appear to have overlooked the distinct intention of the legislature. Prostitution, even in Japan, is not intended to be authorized as a legitimate business, and, while it is tolerated by the law, this toleration is the outcome of a desire to control and regulate the evil for considerations of public policy. Public and personal safety require a constant inspection, and Japanese experience has shown that such inspection can be best enforced when the brothels are all gathered together in one central locality, but to dignify the infamous and ruinous calling by placing it upon a level with other permitted callings is tantamount to protecting the business itself by affording the security of the law to persons engaged in earning money by means of leading and encouraging a notoriously profligate course of life. There can be no doubt but that the Japanese system is excellent so far as it goes, but for the courts to virtually hold that the mere fact that brothel-keepers and prostitutes are tolerated and taxed entitles them to be ranked as ordinary worthy citizens, and their disgusting transactions protected by the Imperial laws, suggests a somewhat loose idea of morality in the Judges, and a wrong perception of the proper status of a class of persons whose professed business is to foster vice and pander to the libidinous desires of the multitude. Eradicate the evil we cannot, regulate it we can and ought, but surely the law goes far enough when it imposes certain obligations upon the unholy trade without going to the length of upholding claims based upon what is—no matter how plausibly you argue it—an immoral consideration!
Yar�.
“Peccatum illud horribile, inter Christianos non nominandum.�
The subject is so horribly repulsive and distasteful that the writer would have preferred to close his eyes to the existence of this awful phase of human depravity and pass it by in silence, but friends, in whose judgment he places entire confidence, have pointed out that the very nature of this work demands at least a passing allusion to one terrible form of venery which prevailed in Japan in the later Middle Ages.
In the early part of the Yedo period (commenced 1587,) traces of the surviving customs of the preceding civil wars lingered on, and as unnatural practices (which had grown up in armed camps) had been introduced into the metropolis, and were rife in the city, there were, of course depraved persons who provided accommodation to gratify the infamous tastes of the times. Among the play-actors were a number of vicious and wholly abandoned characters who did not hesitate to pander to their patrons and submit to outrageous physical indignities for hire.
After the performance of theatrical representations in the province of Idzumo, female actors became all the rage, and, as society was corrupted and injured in consequence, the authorities forbade actresses to appear on the stage in future. This interdiction brought young men-actors into vogue, and the performances of these handsome looking young fellows also fascinated and charmed the minds of the public and captivated a large class of voluptuaries. The fearful evil which subsequently developed having become prevalent, male actors were also prohibited in the 1st year of Sh�-� (1652), but in the 2nd year of the same period (1653) in accordance with the petition of certain persons, permission was granted for dramatic performances to be held under the name of mono-mané-ky�gen-zukushi (various comic plays).
“Yar�.�
Warned by experience, and in order to prevent the recurrence of the vicious practice, the authorities caused all actors to shave the hair above their foreheads, and the cognomen of “wakashu� (“lad�) was officially changed into that of yar� (“a low fellow�). To circumvent the law and nullify its operation, actors who took the part of women wore towels arranged so as to conceal their shaven pates, and, hitting upon a further expedient, wore hats made of floss silk or purple crêpe. The prepossessing appearance of these men so greatly outrivalled the beauty of real women that, far from the regulations effecting any reform, the habit of enjoying unnatural pleasure spread through the city. Following the trend of prevailing tastes, games known as “yaro-karuta� (cards with figures of yar� upon them), and yar�-sugoroku (yar� backgammon) were invented and hawked around for sale, while some enterprising people manufactured pictures of yar� for sale and others published a hy�ban-ki (Notes and criticism) about them. To such an extreme did the craze run that some insensate fanatics even went so far as to present votive tablets to shrines and temples bearing representations of these disgusting yar�!
The resorts of this vile fraternity were in Yedo (T�ky�), Negimachi; in Ky�to, Miyagawa-machi; and in Ōsaka, D�tonbori. The houses in which yar� were kept were colloquially known as “Kodomo-ya� (children’s houses). These establishments hired and offered to their patrons the services of attractive boys much in the same manner as the regular brothels dealt in women. The youths were taught various accomplishments, and after they had become proficient as actors they were placed on the stage. Those who performed in plays were styled butai-ko (stage children), those who only waited at entertainments were called kagema, and those who travelled about the country were known as tobi-ko (jumping or “flying� children).
It was chiefly members of the military class and priests who came to houses of assignation (age-ya) and engaged these young men, but their services were also requisitioned by not a few women. At first the lads only appeared at banquets as pages in waiting on the guests, danced for the amusement of the company, and were engaged by enthusiastic patrons in the ordinary way, but eventually their exclusive business led them to become as familiar with their guests as ordinary female prostitutes. They aped the style of females, blackened their teeth with ohaguro (like the women of those times), and gave themselves languid effeminate airs in imitation of the fair sex. Originally they dressed in a distinctive costume, and their get-up was known as wakashu-sugata (young man style), but gradually their mode of dress underwent a change, and in the Meiwa and An-ei periods (1704 to 1780) they attired themselves in graceful garments dyed in rich designs, adopted long flowing sleeves such as were worn by females, wore wide girdles around their waists, and did their hair up woman-fashion.
In the Genroku period (1688 to 1703) the common practice of the vice had declined, but the custom of hiring yar� was as popular as that of hiring courtesans, and in the Meiwa and An-ei periods (1704 to 1780) it had reached its zenith. At that time there were as many as ten places in Yedo where yar� could be hired—namely in Yoshi-ch�, Kobiki-ch�, Hateh�-bori in Kanda, in the grounds of the Shrine of Yushima Tenjin (!), in front of the Shimmei Shrine (!) in Shiba near the Hirakawa Tenjin Shrine (!) in K�jimachi, near the Hachiman Shrine (!) at Ichi-ga-ya, etc. The number of yar� carrying on their infamous calling in the city was two hundred and thirty at this period.
Before long, nature either began to assert itself or the laws against the vice passed in Kwansei period (1789 to 1800) were severely applied, for in the Temp� period (1830 to 1843) only four places remained where yar� could be found.[68] Of these Yushima was patronized most extensively, but only twenty-two lads were kept there. In the 13th year of Temp� (1842), in the time of Ieyoshi, the 12th Tokugawa Shogun, the vice was utterly rooted out in consequence of searching reforms instituted by Midzuno Tadakuni, Lord of Ichizen, and from that year unnatural sexuality ceased almost entirely in Yedo. In the Kwan-ei period (1624 to 1643) a number of so-called “incense-dealers� (K�gu-uri) appeared in Yedo who offered unnatural services to their customers, and by the era of Genroku (1688 to 1703) the business was firmly established and the practice prevailed far and wide. Beautifully dressed, handsome, and effeminate looking young men wandered through the city carrying about with them various kinds of incense in kiri-wood boxes wrapped in light-blue silk cloths, and, under the guise of selling incense, wormed their way into the mansions of the nobility and gentry, but in course of time the custom was abolished. In those days it was quite general for lewd and abandoned women to hire actors and indulge in immoral pleasure. Such women, when they attended a play, would call actors to the tea-houses and there enjoy themselves with the players in the same way that male libertines were wont to call courtesans.
The above description of yar� is condensed from the Nikon-Fuzoku-Shi (日本風俗�), but the writer desires to add that the literature of the Genroku period, as typified in several ancient volumes in his possession, clearly reveal the fact that the vice was practised quite openly, and apparently without any sense of shame, in the 17th century. Curious readers are referred to the Danshoku Ō-kagami (published in 1687) and the Danshoku Ki-no-me-dzuke (published in 1703) as specimens of this precious literature.[69]
The Grave of a Courtesan.
