餅���圖
Preparing “Mochi� (Rice Flour Cake) for the New Year in the Yoshiwara. Period of Ki�wa (1801 to 1803).
(After the Picture by Kitagawa Utamaro.)
From the 20th day of the 12th month the night exhibition of yūjo ceased for the year in the best houses, and even the other brothels followed this example after the 20th day.
From about the 22nd day of the 12th month, until the 7th day of the 1st month, a hole was dug in the open space within the brothel entrance, and in this a fire was kindled by shinz� and kamuro. This hole was called niwa-gama (garden furnace), and the custom of lighting a fire in such a position was observed until the era of Bunkwa, when it gradually fell into desuetude.
The above were the principal events in the life of yūjo in former days, but besides these there were days called maru-bi and mom-bi: on these days guests were obliged to pay the agedai for both day and night, although their stay might be limited to only one of those two general divisions of time. The marubi included the first seven days of the first month, also the 14th, 15th, and 25th days—in all 10 days. The mom-bi (crest-days) consisted of the five sekku days (as mentioned in an earlier part of this book) and they were so named because there were five crests dyed on ceremonial clothes. Some people pronounced this word mono-bi.
By the era of Ky�h� (1716–1735) the number of the mom-bi had greatly increased and reached ten every month, but then they gradually decreased and there are only three or four observed at present.
Naka-no-ch� no Hana-ue.
(Flower-planting in the Naka-no-ch�.)
Every year, on and after the 3rd day of the 3rd month (old style), notice of the opening of the flower season (hana-biraki no fuda) is posted at the �-mon (great gateway), and in the middle of Naka-no-ch� fences of green bamboo are constructed within which are planted blooming cherry-trees. The commingling cherry-blossoms, blending together into one dense mass of soft fleecy rolling cloud which braids the trees with visible poetry and transforms the avenue into a veritable fairy bower of pink and white florescence, the dazzling glory of the electric lights, and the flashing brilliance of thousands of crested lanterns, makes up a sight which baffles description and must be seen to be appreciated. The garish splendour and blazing radiance of the Yoshiwara at this time is such as to have earned for it the appropriate name of Fuyaj� (�夜城 = “Nightless castle�).[54] Besides the actual flowers, artificial is added to natural beauty, and curtains with a cherry pattern dyed upon them are hung up in the second story of the tea-houses. There they gently wave in the soft spring zephyr, beckoning the passer-by alluringly and enticing him to exploit the secrets of dreamland which they veil so cunningly and suggestively. Of late years plum-trees are planted in the second month, iris in the 5th month, and chrysanthemums in the 9th month (old calendar), and on one occasion the figures of well-known actors made of chrysanthemum flowers—the work of the noted Yasumoto Kamehachi—were also shown. But of all the flowers planted none can equal those of Naka-no-ch� “Yo-zakura� (“night-cherries�) which have become famous throughout the length and breadth of Japan, and whose praises have been sung in song and told in story generation after generation by enthusiastic poets and writers during more than fifteen decades.[55] The origin of flower-planting was that in the second year of Kwamp� (1742) cherry-flowers in pots were exhibited in front of the tea-houses, and this having been noised about the city of Yedo, multitudes of persons visited the Yoshiwara nightly in consequence. The Yoshiwara people were not slow at taking the hint, and the following year several hundred cherry-trees were planted at Naka-no-ch�.
仲�町花盛之圖
Courtesans and Guests viewing the Cherry-blossoms in the Naka-no-ch�. Period of Ki�wa (1801 to 1803).
(After the Picture by Kitagawa Utamaro.)