Interior of a Brothel.
| 1. | Nightwatchman (interior) on his rounds. |
| 2. | Time-keeper’s office. |
| 3. | Yūjo arranging various matters with the “yarite.� |
“I-tsudzuke no koto.�
(Spending several consecutive days in a brothel.)
The “Zensei-Kuruwa-Kagami� (全盛廓鑑) says:—“The act of remaining in a brothel for several days, owing to stress of weather or other cause, is known as i-tsu-dzuke.�
“O cha wo hiku� to iū koto.
(“Tea powdering.�)
It is remarked in the “D�b� Go-yen� (洞房語園) that the term o-cha wo hiku, as applied to women of ill-fame who have no guests, is of ancient origin and should be considered as one of the peculiar idiomatic expressions of the Yoshiwara dialect: everywhere in prostitute quarters some special dialect is exclusively used, and this is more especially true of the Yoshiwara of T�ky�. In the era of Keich� (1596–1614) the servants of the various tea-houses at Uji (near Ky�to) were practically unlicensed courtesans, and were in the habit of carrying on illicit intercourse with guests who patronized their establishments. These women employed their leisure time in pulverizing tea (o-cha wo hiku) for the tea-drinking ceremony, and in course of time this expression “o-cha wo hiku� came to be applied (as a slang phrase) to a courtesan who had no guests in consequence of her unpopularity. By and bye this phrase was brought up to T�ky� by natives of Uji and Ky�to and became one of the idiomatic expressions of the Yoshiwara. It is now used throughout the entire Empire.
居瀆之㘴舖
Guest Detained by “Love and Stress of Weather.� Ki�wa period (1801 to 1803).
(After the Picture by Kitagawa Utamaro.)
Shiki-zome no soba-burumai no koto.
(Presentation of buck-wheat macaroni to celebrate the first use of night-clothes.)
It appears to be a universal rule to present soba to all the inmates of the house whenever a yūjo uses her newly-made night-clothes for the first time. This custom is binding on all classes of women from the proud oiran down to the nagaya-j�ro, but, practically, the lower class women are debarred from making an exhibition of night-clothes (either on their own account or by the assistance of guests) by reason of the expense involved: it may therefore be said that this ceremony is performed by women belonging to first (�-misé) and second-class (chū-misé) houses exclusively. Originally this ceremony was only performed when the tsumi-yagu was used for the first time, but later it became a rule that when any new night-clothes began to be used—generally on New Year’s day—buckwheat macaroni was to be presented to the inmates of her house by the yūjo to whom they belonged. This custom, which still survives, is called “shiki-zome no soba-burumai.� In the houses of ordinary people the spreading out of bedding and night-clothes in the day time is greatly disliked as unlucky, therefore, when a sick person recovers, the occasion is one of rejoicing and congratulation and is called toko-agé (removal of bed-clothes). In brothels, however, just the reverse idea obtains, the keepers rejoice to see the night-clothes used even in the day-time, their fervent wish being to have the bedding employed as much as possible because it bears an important relation to the prosperity of their “trade.�