[14] Trees planted in this manner by the authorities were called “goy�-boku,� or “government trees.� Lacquer trees are poisonous, and the sap produces a severe rash on the skin if handled.
[15] It should not be forgotten that no samurai (feudal warrior class) was allowed to enter the brothels wearing his swords. The swords were taken charge of by attendants at the doors before the samurai guest went into the house. Mr. A. B. Mitford says in his “Tales of Old Japan�—“When a Japanese enters a house of ill-fame he is forced to leave his sword and dirk at the door for two reasons—first, to prevent brawling; secondly because it is known that some of the women inside so loathe their existence that they would put an end to it, could they get hold of a weapon.�
[16] Chi Hwan-ti (始皇�), builder of “Great Wall.�
[17] “Leading-by-the-hand tea-houses.�
[18] Literally a “sign-board lantern� so called because the lantern bears the name of the hikite-jaya. It is the custom for the maid to carry a lighted lantern (even inside the brothel) as far as the door of the room of the courtesan to whom the visitor is introduced. This lantern serves as a token to identify the hikite-jaya to which the maid belongs. On arriving before the door of the room the lantern is extinguished by shaking it, and not by blowing out the light in the usual way. A superstition exists against blowing out the light with one’s lips:—it is supposed to be unlucky.
[19] The haku-ch� or white porcelain saké bottles used on these occasions hold about 1 sh�, or say about 3 pints.
[20] As these places depend upon the custom of persons entering them, it is considered as unlucky to speak about blowing anything out. The hozuki is bitter or acid, and as a pregnant woman is supposed to like sour or acid things courtesans think that to blow the winter cherry is most ominous as it may presage pregnancy and injure their profession. The ordinary geisha (dancing girl) in Japan delights to sit making a squeaking noise by means of blowing and squeezing between her lower lip and teeth the dried and salted berry of the winter-cherry, from which the pulp has been deftly extracted at the stem. This practice seems as pleasant to the geisha as that of chewing gum does to some foreigners.
[21] In ancient Rome, until the lowest age of Roman degradation, no man of any character entered a houses of ill-fame without hiding his face with the skirt of his dress.
[22] The best women in a brothel were always placed in the middle of the misé (shop) and those of inferior beauty or attainments were placed at the sides. Whence the name hashi-j�ro (“end� courtesan.)
[23] Tsubone-j�ro were generally quartered in the second story. Tsubone,—the “women’s apartments� in the courts of princes and daimy�—was added to j�ro to find an appellation for a daughter of Ichinomiya, a noble. She set out on a journey, so the story runs, to Hatake in Tosa, but was driven by stress of weather to Hiroshima, where poverty presently forced her to become a prostitute.