A Night to Draw Money with Words: Bargaining between prostitutes and customers in Shin-Yoshihara after the Horeki Era

A Night to Draw Money with Words: Bargaining between prostitutes and customers in Shin-Yoshihara after the Horeki Era

In Shin-Yoshihara from the Horeki period onward, the conversation between prostitutes and customers was not a love affair, but an earnest negotiation to make a living. With the abolition of the tayu and aryuya systems and the transformation of Yoshiwara into a place of entertainment for townspeople and middle-class samurai, prostitutes, burdened with the repayment of advances and daily expenses, used only words as weapons to work on the wallets and self-esteem of their customers. Celebrations and extensions were not officially priced, and blatant demands were not tolerated, so advanced conversational techniques such as comparison, silence, and scent were used. By talking about the shortness of the night and the lack of talk, the composition was designed to make the guests themselves choose to extend their stay, and words that indicated special treatment while complaining of poor health elicited both sympathy and a sense of superiority at the same time. Through these exchanges
, SANDO Kyoden and others depicted the unique language culture of Yoshiwara, in which the customers were made to feel money without directly talking about it. What remains is not a sweet love story, but a real-life conversation in which debt, time, and dignity are at stake.