J. E. De Becker

“ Being attracted by the tinkling notes of sugagaki, crowds flock into the Yoshiwara dressed in their holiday clothes, to visit the girls for the first time in the New Year: so the kuruwa becomes lively, and men walk about stretching their necks like herons.
The tayū and kōshi prosper and the sancha and baicha also become popular, their voices echoing like the twittering of singing birds. The great houses of Yamaguchi and Miura are famed for their wealth and prosperity, and indeed they are the famous things of Sumichō. ”

“ If there be any person who desires to know where the white bones of the miserable courtesan are going, and who wishes to follow the unhappy woman to the end of her terrible fate, I beg that he will go out of the great gateway of the Yoshiwara—where the flower has withered and fallen—past the Go-jikken-dōri road, up the Emon-zaka hill, and grope his way along to the left of the dike at Dote-Hatchō. ”

“ In a humorous work by Ikku called the “Sato Kanoko Shina Sadame” (里鹿子品定) the tayū, kōshi, sancha, zashiki-mochi and heya-mochi are wittily compared to flowers, as follows:—Tayū being scarce nowadays may be compared to the cherry-blossom, for as no other flowers can equal the cherry in point of colour and fragrance, in like manner the beauty and loveliness of the tayū surpasses that of all courtesans. Kōshi-jōro, being mild and gentle, are like the single-petaled cherry-flower booming luxuriantly, for they impose no sense of restraint on anyone. ”

“ Can the Government not do something to allow a girl to hide herself from the gaze of voluptuous men rather than be driven by a wretch of a brothel-keeper to sit for hours exposed to the gaze and the foul talk of vile men, for the mere purpose of swelling the [321] brothel-keeper’s income? Is the Government doing all it can do, all it ought to do, towards making it easier for any girl to keep out of a life of shame if she wishes to, and at the same time make it harder for the keepers of these houses of hell to capture and to retain these poor girls? ”

“ When we try to picture to ourselves what a hospital is, or should be like, we naturally imagine a fine lofty building [352] surrounded by beautiful green trees, grateful shrubs and flowering plants, containing well-ventilated wards kept scrupulously neat and clean and furnished with beds covered with snowy-white counterpanes free from even a suspicion of stain or dirt; but the Yoshiwara Hospital is indeed far from being like that. ”

“ The majority of the public place considerable faith in the efficacy of the medical examination, but they are woefully mistaken in thinking that immunity from disease is secured by such inspection, because many of the doctors of the prostitute quarters are miserable quacks, apparently regardless of their conduct, and so venal that they receive bribes from the brothel-keepers to deliberately pass unchallenged women who are plainly affected with venereal diseases—an act as dangerous as letting loose wild tigers to prey upon the public! ”

“ To Europeans and Americans it is a strange sight to see family parties, including modest young girls, wending their way through the crowded streets on the night of the Tori-no-machi, buying various knick-knacks and gazing at the painted beauties in their gorgeous dresses [203] of glossy brocade and glittering gold. It is certainly opposed to foreign ideas to take one’s young daughter sight-seeing in a prostitute quarter! ”

“ The old saying ‘if you wish to see flowers go to Yoshino’ seems somewhat stupid considering that one can find any flower which he desires to see if he goes to the Yoshiwara. Nowadays, however, customs of ancient times are changing, and the flowers no longer parade the Naka-no-chō. The flowers which are shown to the public are limited to those which blossom on the small fences, while the oiran (who may be likened to the queen of all flowers) are concealed from the public view in the privacy of their own chambers, and may be compared to beautiful blossoms hidden from sight by a dense mist. ”

“ At the present time, the majority of the Japanese public do not seem to see anything shocking or strange in the sight of hundreds of gaudily attired courtesans sitting in rows exposed to public view as living “samples,” and this tends to bridge over the sharp line of demarcation which should exist between the demi-monde and honest women. This again leads to a good deal of freedom and license of speech, and permits the doings of yūjo, and the libertines who support them, to be unblushingly chronicled in newspapers and indelicately alluded to in novels. ”

“ As a matter of fact such things really do occur, but the courtesan who is thus buried in the Mu-en-dzuka must be counted as the most truly unfortunate, because most of the women are given burial in the family burying places of the brothel-keepers, while the bodies of those who cannot obtain even this latter consideration, who are from a far country and without a friend to take delivery of their remains, are carried stealthily out of the back entrance of the brothels in the grey light of the dawn, and here transformed into a heap of grisly bones. ”

“ Be assured that in the so-called “Nightless City,” populated as it is by heartless bestial men and abandoned shameless women, and frequented by bully, habitual criminal, and the scum of creation, no laws or regulations, however wise or humane, can be made completely effective! Notwithstanding all that has been, and is being done, the Yoshiwara is a very inferno of black despair, for it is the common resort of the most wicked and depraved of the male part of the community who hold high carnival within its precincts. ”

“ Our imaginations fails to picture the unhappy state of the wretched courtesan who is about to draw her last breath, lying on a cold hard thin mattress in a miserable and lonely little room beneath the back staircase of the brothel, without a soul in the world to help the absolutely forsaken creature. ”

“ Once entrapped in this grave of modesty and virtue—this home of concentrated debauchery and sexual perversion—a woman becomes a virtual slave to the brothel-keepers, [332] many of whom set the law at defiance within the four walls of their unhallowed dens, and, aided by toadying satellites, terrorize and oppress the unfortunate females doomed to spend years of misery with none but shameless libertines and strumpets for their associates! Someone may ask—“If these women have legal rights, why don’t they appeal to the police or to the Courts?” ”

“ The three rich men from the West now wished to send for courtesans to attend them, but to their great astonishment they were informed that as everything in the Yoshiwara had been bought up by Bunzaemon there were neither any women to be had nor eatables to be procured. The visitors protested most indignantly at this treatment and spoke about their wealth and possessions, but the words fell on deaf ears, and finally the crestfallen trio had to trudge away on foot owing to the fact that Bunzaemon had taken care to engage all the available boats and palanquins beforehand. ”

“ Having arrived at this point, if one turns round and glances back he will be able to see, between the trees, just the numerous roofs of the Yoshiwara prostitute-quarter stretching out all over. The lofty buildings of the quarter, such as the clock-tower of the “Ebi-ya,” “Hikota,” and the “Shinagawa” rise up in such conspicuous majesty that one imagines that he is looking at some great castle-town. Quickening one’s steps, and going on one or two chō more, the dike disappears, and you see the railway embankment crossing [377] diagonally in front. ”

“ The commingling blossoms, seemingly transmuted into dense masses of soft and fleecy cloud, braid the trees in a wealth of vernal beauty, and the gay dresses both of the unfortunate women, and those of the passers-by, ever kaleidoscopic in effect and vividly oriental in colour, all go to make up a scene at once strange, fascinating, and well-nigh dream-like in character. ”

“ There can be no doubt but that the Japanese system is excellent so far as it goes, but for the courts to virtually hold that the mere fact that brothel-keepers and prostitutes are tolerated and taxed entitles them to be ranked as ordinary worthy citizens, and their disgusting transactions protected by the Imperial laws, suggests a somewhat loose idea of morality in the Judges, and a wrong perception of the proper status of a class of persons whose professed business is to foster vice and pander to the libidinous desires of the multitude. ”

“ Time flies and morning succeeds the night, but no bill is rendered, and every artifice and trick is employed to detain the guest, until the latter, overcome with saké and fatigue, rolls over on the floor in a drunken sleep. ”

“ Beautifully dressed, handsome, and effeminate looking young men wandered through the city carrying about with them various kinds of incense in kiri-wood boxes wrapped in light-blue silk cloths, and, under the guise of selling incense, wormed their way into the mansions of the nobility and gentry, but in course of time the custom was abolished. ”

“ The treasures of the Shin-Yoshiwara are hidden by the back of a palanquin. Passing through Shim-machi, Ageya-chō, Uki-hashi, Komura, and Yatsuhashi, one comes out into the Shitaya streets, sees the small cherry temple of Tōyeizan (Uyeno park) [208] and the Toraren temple of Kinryū-zan (Asakusa temple) . The thing which is praised and admired here is the long flowing haori of Kōhei-bō. Then you know Confucius said, ha! ha! whosoever worships us, ha! ha! will certainly be dragged to the wicked place, ho! ”

“ The male players and singers wear blue cotton clothes dyed with their respective crests. The geisha who take part in the “kiyari” dress their hair after the manner of the top-knot style of men, intentionally spreading out their forelocks, and the whole get-up is like that of a teko-mai dancer. They wear three or even five jiban (loose shirts) a hara-gake (a cloth shield for the abdomen) and an upper garment called a Yoshiwara-gaku. The right arm and shoulder is thrust out of the jiban, on which latter an elaborate design is usually dyed. ”

“ When a hōkan of the present day is called to attend a party of guests in a brothel, he enters the room holding a folded fan in his hand, and after saluting the guest who has called him snaps the fan he carries with a sharp clicking sound and expresses his obligation to his patron’s companion in the stereotyped phrase—“oiran maido arigatō” (thank you madam for your constant favours) . He then bows in turn to every person in the room, including other courtesans and geisha, his actual patron being disregarded for the time being. ”

“ Those who act unreservedly and chat noisily [115] with the other women are assuredly new to the life, and when they become familiar with guests they are unfeignedly sincere in their regard for those they like. The woman who sits out of the row sideways and listens to the ribald songs of the passers-by shows her fickle and forward disposition by treating all as fish who come to her net: she has sympathy with no man but as a matter of business policy and will bestow equal attention on all comers, no matter whether they be good-looking, bad-looking, or jealous as fiends. ”

“ If any keeper of a house of ill fame advances money in order to have additions to his stock of prostitutes, let him do it entirely at his risk, knowing that there is no legal redress if he loses his money through the flight of the girl. ”

“ The efforts of the Japanese Government to abolish the evil of this servitude have been vigorous, but custom—that law of fools—has been too powerful, and the regulations are infringed indirectly in many ways, chiefly however owing to the frantic opposition to reform raised by those numerous parasitic hangers-on who attach themselves to the prostitute quarters, and, while leading a lazy and mischievous life, manage to suck sustenance from the earnings of defenceless women. ”

“ The police, from their familiarity with this class of women, are more or less harsh and unsympathetic, and, to crown all, even the Supreme Court of the Empire—to the unspeakable disgrace, of the judges—has decided that debts incurred by prostitutes, although based upon a clearly immoral consideration, are binding upon the women and their guarantors! With the above preface, we will proceed to describe the present system of control in force in the Yoshiwara, which is the largest and most important of the brothel-quarters in the Tōkyō Urban Prefecture, and therefore a typical institution. ”

“ But so far as we can see, the community at large certainly fares better from moral and sanitary points of view under a system which localizes social vices and exercises strict control over them, than under the alternative system—or rather absence of system—under which the evil is suffered to stalk about and stare at respectable men and women at every turn in the open streets, as is the case in many Christian cities in Europe and America. ”

“ Here the whole surface of the earth is damp and humid, and a dismal grave-like smell of mouldy earth pervades the locality. Probably the sunshine has never penetrated to this spot for centuries. The dead leaves of the e-no-ki trees have been allowed to lie as they have fallen year after year, so they have piled up, crumbled, mouldered, and rotted on the dark ground, and from the purulent mildewed soil have sprung into being myriads of weird uncanny poisonous toadstools and foul fungi fearful and horrid in shape and strangely ghastly in colour. ”

“ The night-sweat of a jōro; warming the bowl of a tobacco pipe by a woman before the guest is well acquainted with her; the coarse skin of a guest; the relative one meets on his way to the Yoshiwara; a guest who doesn’t clean his teeth.
Things which are soiled. The nostrils of a guest; the tobacco-box of a slovenly courtesan.
Laughable things. A party of jōro all of whom have their collars covered with paper to prevent soiling their clothes; sudden showers of rain which drench sightseers in the Yoshiwara; demand for a night-garment by an unpopular jōro. ”

“ Under these circumstances many persons—not excepting women—flock into the Yoshiwara to witness the brilliant spectacle, and many a prodigal is induced to squander money there by reason of the lanterns which apparently only serve to dazzle his eyes and obscure his reason instead of enlightening him and guiding his footsteps. ”

“ Or they dance and skip about, play cards, write begging letters, and generally raise a pandemonium as if the institution was a low-class boarding-house. Such being the conditions of this horrible place, with the exception perhaps of a few disappointed women, or women who get on badly with the brothel-keeper, the prostitutes regard with dread the ordeal of entering the hospital. ”

“ History demonstrates the sad truth that all human efforts have been—and probably will ever be—unequal to the task of stamping out the social evil from our midst, and we are therefore forced to recognize that the most we can hope to achieve in the direction of ameliorating its consequences is to regulate and control its worst features. ”