A Night of Sparks in Sobana, the Competition of Vanity and Vanity that Colored Yoshiwara (Late Edo Period)

A Night of Sparks in Sobana, the Competition of Vanity and Vanity that Colored Yoshiwara (Late Edo Period)
The sohana in Yoshiwara was not merely the total amount of a congratulatory gift, but a special culture in which customers competed with each other over the amount of money. The guest with the largest sohana had his or her name posted in the ledger room so that not only the brothel staff but also other guests would know about it. This system was very similar to the ranking system in today's host clubs and cabarets, where the amount of money itself indicates the value of the customer, and was a system that visualized the unique social status competition in Yoshiwara.
Men from all walks of life gathered in Yoshiwara, including Edo period warriors, wealthy merchants, entertainers, and masters of large establishments, who sought a new pecking order within Yoshiwara apart from their own social status. The amount of sohana was a symbol of how well they were treated by the prostitutes, how politely they were treated by the stores, and how they demonstrated their behavior to those around them. The use of expensive sohana was a means of displaying chicness, worthiness, and magnanimity, and was also a stage for the aesthetics of men who enjoyed their fictional identities.
The ledger room, where the "sohana" (name tags) were posted, could be said to be the very arena of the Yoshiwara. The higher the name tag, the higher the customer felt, and other customers spent more money as if to challenge it. The brothels also skillfully created a structure that stimulated competition and increased sales. This is a structure unique to urban culture, where money and vanity are exquisitely intertwined.
Historical documents such as Yoshiwara Hosomi, Morisada Manuscript, and Fujioka-ya Diary contain examples of sohana competition and stories of overly vain customers. In addition, ukiyoe depict opulent customers behaving in the manner of feudal lords, and loading money onto prostitutes with gusto, symbolizing that sohana was an act of buying a fictional status.
The culture of sohana transformed Yoshiwara from a mere place of amusement to a stage where honor and vanity sparked off. Spending money set the pecking order in motion, names were pasted up, and people's vanity created the atmosphere of the town. Therein lies the prototype of the competitive psychology that can be seen in modern nightlife, vividly illustrating the glamor and intensity of Edo's urban culture.