It is very curious to note that Japan was not the only country where shady “bath-houses� were to be found. In a German book by Wilhelm Rudeck, entitled “Geschichte der Oeffentlichen Sittlichkeit In Deutschland,� it is stated that “bath-honses� were plentiful. Early in the morning a horn announced that everything was ready, and men, women and maids undressed at home and went nearly naked to the bath-houses, where the attendants were mostly girls who had a very liberal idea of their duties. The tubs in many cases were large enough for two, and a board was laid across, upon which food and drink was served to the bathers, who were not compelled to produce a marriage certificate. In the castles of the knights, the ladies often attended on the male guests in the bath and vice versa, and in bathing resorts, such at Wiesbaden, for instance, Frau Venus seems to have reigned supreme. A very free illustration, reproduced from an old volume, shows a row of tubs with a long board laid across them, upon which food and drink is served, and there are other illustrations, reproduced from old cuts, of some more than merely suggestive scenes, which we must presume were nothing out of the common in bath-houses.
On the 27th day of the 11th month of the same year (January 11th, 1657) the elders and monthly managers (月行� = tsuki-gy�-ji) of the Yoshiwara repaired to the Treasury office at Asakusa and received the sum granted by the authorities to defray the expenses of removal: at the same time they applied to the officials to be allowed to remain in the Yoshiwara during the next three or four months, promising to complete the removal by the following April.
The request being a reasonable one, it was granted, and the removal was postponed until the fourth month, but on the 2nd March 1657 (Meireki 3 nen, Sh�gwatsu, 18 nichi) Hi-no-to-tori (cycle of the Water Fowl) that disastrous fire known as the “Furisode kwaji� (fire of the long-sleeved garment) broke out in the Hom-my�ji (temple) at Maru-yama in Hong� and raged through the city of Yedo during three days and three nights burning everything before it.[8] The fire swept away a large portion of the city and gutted the Yoshiwara completely, so there was no further excuse left for not moving forthwith. The head-man of the Yoshiwara was again summoned to the Bugy�’s office and ordered to take advantage of the fire to carry out the removal without further delay.
In May 1657 Ishigaya Sh�gen, Kamio Lord of Bizen, and Sone Genzaemon proceeded to Nihon-dsutsumi to inspect the site of the new quarter, and while the houses were being built and prepared temporary shanties called “Koya-gake� (�屋掛 = a temporarily built shed or house) were erected in the neighbourhood of Sanya and Imado, and in these (and also in private houses which were hired for the purpose) the loathsome trade was carried on as usual.
In September 1657, the new brothels were completed and the “profession� crowded into the “Shin-Yoshiwara.�
The “Shin-Yoshiwara� (new Yoshiwara) was so named in contra-distinction to “Moto-Yoshiwara� (former Yoshiwara). It is situated at a place formerly known as Senzoku-mura and is only a few ch� distant from the Asakusa-ji (temple).
There is a hill (or rather slope) leading down from the Nihon-dsutsumi on the way to the Shin-Yoshiwara which is called “Emon-zaka� or “Dress(ing) Hill,� because it is supposed that visitors to the gay quarter began to adjust their garments and smarten themselves up in passing along this road. Another account states that the name was taken from the Emon-zaka of Ky�to.
The road leading from Emon-zaka to the Yoshiwara is known as Gojikken-machi. Tradition says that there was a servant named Koheiji in the employ of Sh�ji Jinyemon (the founder of the quarter) and that he advised his master to construct the road in three curved lines as this was considered more tasteful than one constructed in a plain line. Another tradition says that the road was constructed in that way in accordance with the commands of Kamio Lord of Bizen, but, at any rate, it is certain that the plan of the road was conceived by some person gifted with a (from a Japanese point of view) poetical imagination. On either side of the curved section of roadway twenty-five tea-houses (cha-ya) were built, making a total of fifty houses (go-jik-ken), hence the popular name “Go-jik-ken-michi� (fifty house street) or “Go-jik-ken-machi� (fifty house town). At the end of the road stood a gateway which formed the entrance of the Yoshiwara, and the vicinity of this gateway was known as the Ōmon-guchi (entrance to the great gate). The gate itself was called the Ō-mon (great gateway). Having passed through the Ō-mon, the visitor would find himself within the precincts of the “Shin-Yoshiwara.�
The Shin-Yoshiwara was about half as large again as the old place (Moto-Yoshiwara), measuring about 3 ch� (1074 feet) from North to South, and 2 ch� (716 feet) from East to West, and therefore embracing nearly 18 acres of land. The enclosure was surrounded by a kind of moat, and the streets within were laid out something in the shape of the Chinese character 田 (ta = a ricefield). As will be seen from the plan of the Shin-Yoshiwara annexed, Nakano-ch� goes through the centre while Yedo-ch� (It-ch�-me and Ni-ch�-me), Sumi-ch�, and Ky�-machi (It-ch�-me and Ni-ch�-me) branch out to right and left on either side. As was the case with the Moto-Yoshiwara, another street was added for the convenience of “Age-ya,� and called “Ageya-machi.�[9] This street was situated opposite Sumi-ch�, to the right of the Naka-no-ch� when facing Suid�-jiri.