Voices by brazier light - A quiet night dining table in Yoshiwara - circa early 1800s

Voices by brazier light - A quiet night dining table in Yoshiwara - circa early 1800s

Beyond the brazier, charcoal is breathing faintly in red. It is late at night in Yoshiwara, and after the customers have gone, the room is quiet again, as if the bustle and noise of the previous evening had been forgotten. In the quietness, the courtesans gather around a brazier and exchange relaxed voices. There is no dialogue in the painting, but it is as if muffled laughter and sighing chitchat can be heard mixed in with the crackling of the fire.

The prostitute on the right is heating a small pot on a brazier while fanning a piece of noren-gami. The contents of the pot may be leftovers from the previous sake party. It is said that in the brothels of Edo (Tokyo), the leftovers of dishes called "dai no mono" prepared for guests were a valuable source of nutrition for the prostitutes. There are records that lower-class prostitutes who drew tea at night and vultures who were finally relieved of their duties would fill their bellies by scavenging the leftovers in the middle of the night.

Behind the luxurious costumes and gorgeous lights, their daily diet was kept to a simple meal of one soup and one dish. The owner of the house had the idea that "if you want good food, take it from the customers," and food expenses were cut to the bone. If a high-class courtesan had a clientele who gave her enough money to celebrate, she could have food brought upstairs to her room and order her favorite delivery from the daiya, but this was not possible for many prostitutes. The lower class would gather in the hall and eat together, while the bald girls would eat on a separate table.

That is why this scene of an evening around a brazier is filled with a small sense of liberation. It is a time when the oirishis, who used to laugh and act with a stout heart in front of their guests, come face to face as "working women. With the steam rising from the pots and pans, the room may have been filled with clouds of complaints about the day's events, stories of witty customers, and rumors about the careers and illnesses of their peers.

Nevertheless, this warm circle was also the flip side of a harsh daily life. Yoshiwara prostitutes were exposed to the dangers of overcrowded work and illness, so much so that it was said that if they worked for ten years, their bodies would break down. Their free time was extremely limited, and a late-night potluck and a small chat were probably a small "time for themselves" that barely held their bodies and minds together.

The brazier scene depicted in "Hanakai Yujo no Katebukuro" is not just a scene of a happy family reunion. It quietly depicts both the "front stage" of the glittering flower district and the "backstage life" that depended on meager meals and leftover food. The profile illuminated by the red light of the brazier seems to tell of the women's determination to survive the day under their glamorous costumes, and the sense of brief solidarity they feel with each other.