The true face of a prostitute illuminated by bagua-kei in the late afternoon - Scenes from a quiet time in Yoshiwara

The true face of a prostitute illuminated by bagua-kei in the late afternoon - Scenes from a quiet time in Yoshiwara
Around the early 1800s

Yoshiwara was known for its night life, but during the daytime it was rather quiet. While the prostitutes prepared themselves and took a rest, they often felt bored during the long interval before evening. The historical record also states that "there is a lot of free time in the daytime," which shows how different Yoshiwara was from the nighttime.

The sight of prostitutes stopping a fortune teller to have her bagua read during the daytime is symbolic of a time free from the tension of the night. In the latter half of the Edo period, the culture of fortune-telling spread widely among the common people, and the prototypes of Tsuji fortune-telling, palm reading, and four-poster divination were practiced here and there throughout the town. In Yoshiwara, too, there were many people who were concerned about their future fortune, their relationships with their favorite customers, and the possibility of being taken in by a prospective employer, and fortune tellers were sometimes a source of emotional support.

The illustration shows a simple divination tool called a matsutake (bamboo mat), and a gratuity of money. These details indicate that fortune-telling was not only an everyday pleasure, but also a quiet ritual to accommodate the anxieties and wishes of prostitutes.

The prostitutes, who played their made-up characters at night in the tatami room, honestly revealed their anxieties and secret hopes for the future in the daytime in front of the bagua. In this moment, even under the harsh environment of Yoshiwara, there was a soft space where these women could regain their human emotions.