Conversation about the negotiation of a contract of marriage: Business negotiations and emotions intersect at the scene in Yoshiwara (Edo period).

Conversation about the negotiation of a contract of marriage: Business negotiations and emotions intersect at the scene in Yoshiwara (Edo period).

In Yoshiwara during the Edo period (1603-1868), there existed a system called "mikomise," which greatly changed the lives of prostitutes. Under this system, customers paid a certain amount of money to take in a prostitute from a brothel and share their lives with her. The background of this system is that prostitutes were obliged to serve for a certain period of time. Most of them served for a period of around 10 years, and the only way to obtain their freedom was either by expiration of the indentured servitude period or by emancipation.

Negotiations would begin with a regular customer, a wealthy merchant, or a samurai making passionate overtures that he would cherish her for the rest of his life. The mistress or master of the brothel would then ask, "Are you sure you can fulfill your responsibilities?" "I'm sure you won't get tired of her and give her up halfway through," they would say. In fact, it is recorded that the cost of taking a woman in marriage was enormous, and that a high-class prostitute of the oiran (courtesan) class cost in the order of 1,000 ryos ($1,000). Therefore, the negotiation was a tense stage where romantic passion and business negotiation intersected.

On the other hand, the negotiations were sometimes filled with laughter. When a customer proudly said, "There is no other wife like her in the world," the hostess would respond, "Then you must pay the highest price in the world. Such exchanges reflected the spirit of "iki" that was unique to Yoshiwara. It was not a mere monetary transaction, but a kind of amusement based on the exchange of words.

However, the "nakakomise" did not necessarily guarantee the happiness of the prostitute. While some women were surrounded by wealthy merchants and enjoyed peace of mind, others were forced to work hard again at the place where they were taken in. In the society of the time, women's freedom to choose their own occupation and marriage partner was limited, and while emancipation was one of the few "ways out," it also marked the beginning of a new kind of bondage.

Thus, the conversation during a negotiation for a bride is a place where love and calculation, sophistication and reality mingle, and has been passed down through the generations as one of the human scenes that symbolize the Yoshiwara of Edo.