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 was institutionalized as a licensed brothel by the shogunate, and the oiran (courtesans) were "social performers" who combined artistry and culture. The scene in which a prostitute says, "Wait a moment, please," and does not return to the brothel is a "love performance" that is unique to the Kaku district. The customers who were made to wait were angry, but they accepted even betrayal as a form of elegance. The Edo people found beauty in the transience of the process of love rather than its fulfillment, and even "being rejected" was considered chic. The prostitutes manipulated time and tested men's hearts. Waiting was a sign of chic, and silence and delay were the means to deepen love. Laughter and sorrow coexist in the figure of a man waiting for a woman who will not return until dawn, and even betrayal is sublimed into beauty. Yoshiwara was the theater of love in Edo, where the foolishness and sincerity of people were reflected in time.