Vocabulary

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)

high rating; good reputation

sailing windward

holiday granted to servants on the 16th of the first and seventh months

flatterer; someone skilled at flattery

following someone through a locked door, thus obtaining unauthorized access

pavement café; sidewalk café; open-air café

philharmonic society; society of the friends of music

Bunten exhibition; annual art exhibition sponsored by the Ministry of Education (antecedent of the Nitten exhibition)

type of faceted glass from Edo

face of someone while still alive

cleaning out mud from a ditch or drain

sunbed; tanning bed; tanning booth

terrestrial

Volvox (genus of green algae)

Volvox (genus of green algae)

responsibility; duty; obligation

beater (on a hunt)

maid in an Osaka brothel

hostess (at a bar, cabaret, etc.)

someone who one considers as an elder sister

golden opportunity

central pavilion (of Heian Palace)

imperial palace temporarily built outside of the great imperial palace (Heian period)

ladies' pavilion (of the inner Heian Palace)

banquet and concert pavilion (of the inner Heian Palace)

ladies' pavilion (of the inner Heian Palace)

ladies' pavilion (of the inner Heian Palace)

pavilion housing the empress's reception hall (in the inner Heian Palace)

ladies' pavilion (of the inner Heian Palace)

ladies' pavilion (of the inner Heian Palace)

women's pavilion (of the inner Heian palace)