The “Yoshiwara Taizen� (�原大全) remarks:—
The “day� was from noon until 3 P.M. and the “night� from 5 to 10 to o’clock P.M. Apparently finding that 10 o’clock P.M. was too early to close up the “shops�, some genius hit on the pleasant fiction of causing the watchmen to strike their hy�shigi (wooden clappers) announcing the hour as 10 when in reality the temple bell was striking midnight. This originated the terms “real 10 o’clock� and “nominal 10 o’clock�.
At night-fall (about twilight) a small bell (suzu) was rung before the shrine (kami-dana) at the entrance of the house, and at the same time the yūjo appeared in the mise (cages) and the “shinz�� of the house struck up an air called “sugagaki� on the samisen. This performance seems to have been a relic of the times when harlots were skilled in singing and dancing.
It is stated in the Yoshiwara Taizen (�原大全) that while the Moto-Yoshiwara was in existence some short songs were sung to the accompaniment of the playing of the sugagaki. The following are examples:—
“Willow tree—forked willow tree—on the road-side!
Prithee tell me whither thou wilt incline thy drooping branches when swayed by the breeze?
I trow ’twill be towards the gentleman you love!�
“Who is he that breaketh off a branch of yon willow tree on a calm Spring day?
He is a gallant who rideth on a white horse.�
The singing of these songs was continued even after the removal of the Yoshiwara, but was dropped after the era of Kwansei (1789–1800). It also appears that the songs varied according to the house, but that gradually matters became simplified until the songs ceased and the samisen was merely tinkled by the private geisha of each brothel, as a pure formality. Even the playing of samisen ceased prior to the advent of the Meiji era (1869–).