We feel considerable reluctance to take up the question of licensed prostitution, it is too delicate in its nature and complicated in its bearings to be a proper subject for journalistic discussions which are unavoidably brief and incomplete and which, in the case of questions like this, are particularly liable to become the source of misunderstandings and misleading inferences. However, having already ventured some remarks in connection with a recent communication on this subject, we cannot very well refuse to take cognizance of some of the points raised by the two other correspondents whose letters are published in another column.
“Adjutor� says:—“That the majority of the girls filling the houses of prostitution in this country are there not of their own free will, but are practically held as slaves, is the current opinion among Japanese.� We may ask our correspondent if the majority of the unfortunate girls of the same class in other countries are not nearly in the same predicament as their sisters in this country with regard to the exercise of free will in the choice of their profession, the only difference being in the nature of motives that influence their decision. If misery, starvation and vicious habits constitute the principal influences that drive women to the immoral calling in other countries, the determining motive is here, in many cases, a mistaken idea of filial piety. In either case, the choice is equally free or otherwise, according to the way in which one likes to understand the meaning of the expression “freedom of will.� This certainly has little to do with the question of licensed prostitution. So long as some girls are willing to enter upon a life of shame in obedience to mistaken ideas of filial duty, and so long as society remains as it is, the abolition of licensed prostitution will not prevent the occurrence of cases like that of the girl mentioned by “White Ribbon.�
“Adjutor,� however, is not positively opposed to the system of licensed prostitution, on the contrary, he is “ready to grant that, at least for the present, it may be an open question whether the legal control of the social evil is not perhaps the wiser course to pursue.� But he is opposed to the manner in which the system is carried out and maintained, and complains that the Government is not doing enough to discourage the evil. He suggests that much improvement can be effected if all legal sanction be removed from contracts which at present bind the prostitutes to their employers, so that the latter, in the event of the escape of their employees, may not be able to enforce the contract. There is something in this suggestion, but we doubt very much whether its adoption will not practically tend to make the lot of the unfortunate girls harder than it now is. Supposing that the keeper of a house of ill-fame had no legal means of proceeding against any girl who may escape from his establishment, he will certainly take every precaution to prevent such desertion. And what does this mean? It inevitably means a complete curtailment of the liberty of his employees who will then be no better than galley slaves. Our correspondent may say: Why, the police can interfere in such cases. They can, to a certain extent, but it is not to be expected that, however assiduous and rigorous their exertions may be, their interference will effectually prevent the unscrupulous and ingenious brothel-keepers from exercising their oppressive control over the movements of the prostitutes under them. The result will simply be an immense increase in the hardships of the lot of those unfortunate creatures.
As to the charge that the Government is not doing enough to discourage the social evil, all that we need say is that the police authorities, before whom all girls about to enter upon a life of prostitution are required to appear before official authorization is issued, are under strict instructions to see that no unfair means have been employed to force the girls against their will. And there have been a number of cases where the discovery of the use of such unfair means has led to the withdrawal of official authorization. We may, however grant that the system as it is now carried out admits of reforms and improvement. One of these is, as “Adjutor� points out, the abolition of the exposure of the inmates of the houses of ill-fame to public gaze. We hope this desirable change will be speedily carried out by the police authorities.
The other correspondent, “Reform,� who declares that he “has made a study of the social evil question,� denies that “the community fares better under license than under the alternative system.� He says that “in Gumma and Wakayama provinces (sic), which prohibit prostitution, venereal diseases are no more prevalent than in places under license,� and that “in fact the greatest percentage of venereal cases are to be found in provinces and cities which license the evil.� This is a bold statement, a statement which certainly is not in accord with the opinion of those scientific experts who have made a special study of the matter. Unfortunately statistics are wanting, but it is a well known fact that the sanitary authorities at the Home Office are agreed in the verdict that venereal diseases are far more prevalent in places where no public prostitution exists than localities where it is licensed.
“Reform� takes exception to our expression “efficient control,� and cites some figures about the existence of unlicensed prostitutes in T�ky�. We need hardly say that the expression was used in a relative sense, no right-minded person will expect that the evil can be controlled in an absolutely efficient manner. Neither will such person deny that the relative freedom of the streets of T�ky� from the presence of those objectionable beings who swarm in cities claiming to be more civilized and enlightened, is attributable to the system of localization followed here. We do not of course expect that “Reform� will recognize this fact unless he makes a short visit to his native land and sees how the evil stalks about in the open streets in some of the cities there. Such a trip will be of immense benefit to many another social reformer.
Note on “Jigoku� or Illicit Prostitutes.
The Jigoku: These women are the legitimate representatives of the ancient Yo-taka (night-walker). The origin of the word “Yo-taka� is given in an accepted Japanese encyclopœdia as follows: In the eighteenth century, there was, in Yoshida Street, T�ky� City, a house called the “Yotaka-ya� (the sign of the “Night-hawk�) where women repaired to be painted and decked out when the ravages of disease had made them unpresentable. Thus women who were full of disease were painted and made up to look like young girls, and old hags had their eyebrows blackened with charcoal and their hair fashionably dressed in order to add to their attractions. Many of these prostitutes had their noses eaten away by syphilis, so they had the damage repaired by coloured candle drippings. Among them were deaf, dumb, lame, persons suffering from amaurosis and other maladies owing to syphilis which preventing them from practising in a regular brothel. These whitened their dirty complexions with powder, and the syphilitic sores and wounds in their faces were filled up and concealed by cosmetics, while the handkerchiefs which they bound round their heads did the rest, and guarded against too close an inspection.
These women in their dirty, greasy cotton garments, haunted the public streets, and might be seen by the sickly light of the waning moon, flitting about like the spirits of the damned, hunting for victims. They were in the habit of carrying with them a piece of matting or a rug, the use of which was only too self-evident and requires no explanation. They would accost passers-by with the utmost effrontery, and the price of their favours was a few cash per night! During the period 1711 to 1735, the nuisance grew so bad that a large number of these women were compelled to become regular prostitutes, being forcibly handed over to the Yoshiwara by the Government. From 1711 to 1746, the number of women who had been forced by the Government to enter the Yoshiwara as regular courtesans, served their time there, and been released was, according to a return made the 27th March, 1746, just 246 women.