Byō-chū oyobi In-shoku no koto. (Of the sickness of prostitutes and of their meals.)

Generally speaking, every yūjo possesses a room in which she lives irrespective of the fact of whether she has visits from guests or otherwise; but, in some houses, when a prostitute falls sick, she is not allowed to remain in her room, and is sent down to the ō-beya (large apartment) for treatment: this room is known among the inmates of the brothel as “yosé-ba” (place of gathering).

In a courtesan’s apartment is to be found every cooking utensil necessary in the preparation of a meal, and therefore many of the girls take their meal in their own room, merely getting boiled rice up from the kitchen and preparing other articles themselves.

In some houses however, all the inmates have dinner together in the kitchen, and so there is an old saying—“Yūjo wo nabe-kama nashi no shotai-mochi” (“Yūjo are like house-holders who are possessed of neither pots nor pans.”) In the Kajita-rō the yūjo used to make their servants boil rice for them in their own rooms over charcoal fires.