Vocabulary

sunken hearth; sunken fireplace

burning wood

normal conversation

drain and pool for collecting sewage, etc.

to break off with (e.g. one's lover)

main branch of a family

to become desperate; to give way to despair

desperation; despair

desperation; despair

night-soil man; night-soil woman

woman who played music, danced and worked as a prostitute; good-time girl

prostitute and entertainer

prostitute and entertainer

employer (esp. of a geisha, prostitute, etc.); master; mistress

employer (esp. of a geisha, prostitute, etc.); master; mistress

becoming a geisha (of a geisha apprentice)

Kanze style; Kanze school of noh

high-ranking noh actor; head of a noh school

male entertainer

female entertainer; geisha

(untalented) geisha who sells sex

kimono with completely attached sleeves (i.e. lacking an opening on the side under the armpit)

liquid face-whitening makeup

geisha from the Fukagawa red-light district in Edo

geisha from the Fukagawa red light district in Edo (Edo period)

skirt (of a kimono); hem (of a kimono)

left skirt of a kimono

type of jōruri narrative performance

wandering prostitute

prostitute; geisha

maid at an inn who served clients and worked as a prostitute (Edo period)

music performed by women

type of dance where the ground is stamped (Heian period)

part of the imperial palace where dancing girls were trained (Nara and Heian periods)

geisha and prostitutes

ordinance liberating all geisha and prostitutes (1872)

highest ranking prostitute in Edo's Yoshiwara red-light district (from the Hōreki era onward)

maid at an inn who served clients and worked as a prostitute (Edo period)

hatago (type of Edo-period inn for travellers)

unlicensed prostitute (Edo period)