A Conversation Drama between "Waiting Woman" and "Waiting Guest": Bargaining and Emotion in Kaku in the Mid-Edo Period (Late 18th Century)

A Conversation Drama between "Waiting Woman" and "Waiting Guest": Bargaining and Emotion in Kaku in the Mid-Edo Period (Late 18th Century)

In the mid-Edo period, Yoshiwara, as an officially licensed brothel under the control of the shogunate, fostered its own order and artistic spirit. The oiran, the highest-ranked of the prostitutes, were not mere prostitutes, but first-class "performers" with a command of etiquette, culture, and timing. Therefore, each exchange was stylized like a "play," and deep meaning lay behind the silence, delay, and words between prostitutes and customers.

This scene of a prostitute making a customer wait and the customer waiting is a symbolic example of this. A customer in a brothel is eager to "make the most of the day," but the prostitute says, "Wait a moment, please," and disappears to join another customer. The customer is angry at being kept waiting, but at the same time, he laments, somewhat happily, that he has been betrayed. He continues to think of the woman until dawn--this was considered the aesthetic of the Edo man.

In Yoshiwara at that time, there was a sense of value that even being rejected by a woman was elegant. Rather than the fulfillment of love, the fragility of the process and the unfinished emotion of the relationship were valued. A prostitute enhanced her own value as "a woman who does not respond immediately," and her customers were bewildered by her presence and played with her. The subtlety of such gamesmanship became the stage for a "cultural romance" that transcended the exchange of money.

The sense of "time" in Edo's urban society also played a role in this background. In the culture of the townspeople, where merchants and craftsmen gathered in large numbers, "waiting" was considered a sign of patience and sophistication. The woman who makes him wait and the man who waits - the time itself was part of love and a measure of the distance between hearts. The silence and delay of prostitutes was an "art of time" that tested men's hearts.

The prostitute does not return after dawn. The remaining customers, filled with frustration and love, resolve to return. The comical and sad psychology of the story drew laughter and tears from the people of Edo.
Yoshiwara was a place where even betrayal was sublimated into beauty - a true theater of love in Edo, where the act of "waiting" reflected human folly and sincerity.