A Light Flickering at the Doorway of the First Meeting: The Reality Illuminated by the Third Misunderstanding in Yoshiwara (Late Edo Period)

A Light Flickering at the Doorway of the First Meeting: The Reality Illuminated by the Third Misunderstanding in Yoshiwara (Late Edo Period)
Yoshiwara had its own unique phases, such as the first meeting and turning the other side, but these were not romantic rituals as described later, but rather practical mechanisms that prioritized practicality and safety. The popular belief that a woman would not be allowed to touch the skin of another woman unless she had gone to the first meeting three times is also unfounded if one follows the historical records. Rather, the first meeting was a place to carefully assess a customer's identity, attitude, ability to pay, and riskiness, and was an important time for prostitutes to assess their customers. In the late Edo period, it was not uncommon for customers to eat and drink without paying or to evade debts, and prostitutes were forced to make decisions to choose their customers and avoid danger. Keeping one's distance at the first meeting was not a love tactic, but a prudence born of business necessity.
The second visit, the flip side, was not a ritual of distancing as it is commonly referred to, but a practical occasion to determine whether this customer would spend money consistently in the future. Would he be sure of payment, would he not cause problems, would he not cause trouble for the restaurant? These points determined how the customer was treated after the turnover. As far as we know from historical records, there were no fixed rules. In Yoshiwara, relationships were flexible and varied due to the complex interplay of money, trust, relationship with the brothel, and the judgment of the prostitutes themselves.
Why, then, did the popular notion of forgiveness after three times emerge? The reason is that since the modern era, literature, movies, and plays have reconstructed Yoshiwara as a stage for romance, and for the sake of narrative convenience, the three-step relationship has become a formula. The story was also adapted to dramatize the pride of the prostitutes, and it came to be told as if it were a fact. In reality, however, Yoshiwara was not a fantasy, but a huge urban industry. The prostitutes made rational decisions to ensure their daily earnings and safety, and the stores also prioritized profit and safety. What drove the world of Yoshiwara was not ritual, but the reality of survival.