# The Shadow of the City of "Nighthawks": Women Standing in the Darkness of Edo

# The Shadow of the City of "Nighthawks": Women Standing in the Darkness of Edo

The "nighthawks" were a quiet presence in the urban nightlife of the Edo period (1603-1868). They were poor women who could not belong to the brothels authorized by the shogunate, such as the Yoshiwara, and engaged in illegal prostitution under the cover of night. They were left behind in the valley of poverty and the status system, and although they were not allowed to exist according to the law and the system, they functioned as a "necessary evil" in the urban life of Edo.

It is said that the name "night hawk" is derived from the fact that they were active at night and that the way they pursued their prey and took customers resembled a hawk, or that their lonely appearance reminded one of a bird singing in the night sky. Their business style was to stand in dimly-lit and inconspicuous places such as under bridges, behind temples and shrines, and at street corners on the outskirts of towns, and to talk to passersby to get things done in a short period of time. They were paid very cheaply, from a few sentences to several tens of sentences, and were "springtime for the lowest class," which even the average person could afford.

Many of the women who fell into the night hawking trade were dekasegi women who had come to Edo from farming villages. Many of them were wives who had been laid off from their jobs, widows who had lost their husbands, or women who had no choice but to sell their bodies as a way to support their families. Unable to integrate into city life, these women were treated as "non-nin" or "filth," as if they lived outside the system.

However, despite their circumstances, the nighthawks did not simply stand there as pathetic beings. Rather, they had the strength, livelihood, and resilience to skillfully position themselves in the gaps of Edo's urban space and earn money with their own bodies. The way she skillfully maneuvered through the cold weather, assessing her male customers, refusing in some cases, and sometimes dodging crackdowns, made her not just a victim but also a "warrior surviving in the urban wilderness. Being vulnerable and surviving tactfully were not contradictory.

Many of the places where night hawks were active were in areas of Edo where the streets were busy but the streets were less crowded at night. A typical example is the area around Ryogoku Bridge. This area along the Sumida River was crowded with freak shows and playhouses during the day, and at night the area under the bridge and along the embankment were shrouded in darkness, making it an ideal place for touts to go unnoticed. Ukiyo-e woodblock prints also depict night hawks calling out in this area.

The area in front of Sensoji Temple, known as Asakusa Kannon, was also an important center. People who came to the temple for pilgrimages and entertainment stayed there until late at night, so there was room for night hawks to stand in the shadows in front of the gate and in the back alleys. Spaces such as "Kannon-urai" and Tawaramachi, which later became entertainment districts, had already become the nighttime haunts of women from that time onward.

Furthermore, nighthawks were also active in districts surrounded by canals such as Fukagawa and Honjo. In these areas, where wooden yards and warehouses abounded and townspeople and laborers gathered, the darkness of the waterfront provided excellent cover for night hawks. The night hawks tended to increase in number during the festivals of Fukagawa Hachimangu Shrine, taking advantage of such opportunities, according to records.

The Yotsuya-Ogido area on the outskirts of the castle, as well as the Ichigaya and Ushigome areas, which were close to the samurai districts, were also places where night hawks could be seen. These areas were difficult for the town magistrate to see, and nighttime patrols were less effective, so the hawks were able to stand hidden, so to speak, as a "blind spot" for surveillance.

However, such presence was by no means tolerated. In order to protect the business of Yoshiwara and other publicly licensed brothels, the shogunate conducted night hawking. The so-called "night hawk hunts" were carried out, and those caught were punished by banishment or exile to the islands. Unlike the brothels, which had a fixed, unauthorized location called okaba, night hawks did not even have a roof over their heads, and were treated as beings living completely on the fringes of the city.

In literature and popular culture, nighthawks were often depicted in ukiyoe and soushōshi. They were sometimes depicted as objects of pity, but at the same time, they were also used as satires or comical acts. In addition, a stall selling buckwheat noodles near where they stood came to be known as "yataka soba" (buckwheat noodle stall), and became one of the most popular nighttime Edo customs.

Although they were neither part of the system nor part of the family, the nighthawks certainly played a part in the functioning of urban Edo. They call out in the darkness of night, quietly earn their living, and disappear with the morning light. They were the shadowy flowers that bloomed quietly on the backside of the huge city of Edo, and at the same time, they were women who lived their lives to the fullest in order to preserve their own lives. Their figures are etched with sorrow, but also with an irresistible resilience and a tenacity for life.