Goyosha, Manju (ed.). Saiken.

€ 4,500.00

Practical guidebook to the licensed red light district, describing the brothels and listing the working prostitutes by house, their names printed in Japanese with accompanying Western alphabet transliterations for ease of use by foreign readers.

Belonging to the saiken genre, it functions as a nightlife directory for customers and travellers, with sections for teahouses where clients waited before introductions (Nakanomachi-tsu an'nai Chayano-bu), entertainment venues such as theatres and geisha houses, and fee information and rankings typical of such guides.

Includes a street plan of the quarter to aid navigation; the second leaf shows the main boulevard, Nakanocho Street, lined with teahouses and shops, confirming the work’s purpose as a practical orientation tool.

Prefaced and edited by Goy sha Manju, the book adapts long standing Edo practice to the transitional late Edo/early Meiji moment and to a mixed Japanese and foreign clientele by providing names in both scripts and arranging them for Western alphabetical consultation.

A vivid document of urban social history, recording the organisation of the quarter, its houses of assignation, and the courtesan hierarchy at a time when such guides were widely sold on the street for immediate use.