Famous Things of the Yoshiwara ALSO Peddlers, Hawkers, and Beggars.

Takemura no sembei. Rice and flour cracknels of Takemura.

Sanya-tōfu. Bean-curd of Sanya.

Kobu-maki. Rolled seaweed.

Shiso-maki. Rolled shiso leaf.

Tsuke-na. Pickled greens.

Ni-mame. Boiled beans.

Nameshi. Green rice.

Maku-no-uchi. Boiled rice balls.

Dengaku. Tōfu baked and covered with sweetened miso.

Mugi-meshi. Boiled wheat.

Aoyagi-sushi. Sushi of Aoyagi.

Kanro-bai. “Kanro” plum.

Hakuro. “Hakuro” sweet-cake.

O-kagura. “O-kagura” buckwheat.

Kabasho-dango. Rice dumplings of Kabasho.

Shinowara-dango. Rice dumplings of Shinowara.

These things were very popular (even outside the Yoshiwara) from the An-ei (1772–1780) to Bunsei (1818–1829) eras, and the “Dote no kin-tsuba” (a cake made in the shape of the guard on a sword-hilt), was well known even after the Restoration. There is still one store which deals in this time-honoured cake, and it is as popular as ever.

The meibutsu (famous things) at present are the following:—The cuisine of the Kaneko restaurant; the kama-meshi (iron-pot-rice) of Horikawa; the tempura (fried fish) of Hamada; the kabayaki (roasted eels) of Ōtsune; Matsumo-zushi; shiruko (rice-cakes with a sauce of red beans and sugar) of Takaoka; Ki-no-ine-meshi (rice boiled with soy); kwashi (cakes and confectionery) of Futaba-ya; the saké of Okuda; the photographs of Katō; the bath-houses of Ageya-chō and Kyōmachi; the patent medicines of Nakane and Konishi; the ezōshi (coloured pictures) of Sanuki-ya; the komamono (fancy goods) of Nori-ya; the zōri (sandals) of Hishi-ya; etc.

Above all, the cooking of Kaneko is well known, and greatly esteemed, not only in the Yoshiwara but even outside the quarter as well. The construction and decoration of every room has been carried out in exquisite taste, and the furniture of the house is at once rare and costly: moreover, there is a fine bath-room in the restaurant, and, as everything is thus arranged comfortably for guests, many visitors to the Yoshiwara patronize the “Kaneko,” and go there accompanied by the yūjo they have chosen as their companions.

In the streets are to be found vendors of rice-dumplings (dango), boiled red-beans (ude-adzuki), fruit (midzu-gashi), oden (a kind of dumpling), saké (rice-wine); sushi (rice-cakes plastered over with fish or sea-weed on which vinegar has been sprinkled) etc., and crowds of miscellaneous hawkers and quacks, including tsuji-ura sellers (tsuji-ura are small pieces of paper on which are printed poems or mottoes: these are wrapped in cracknels made of rice (sembei) or put among parched-peas as a pastime), newspaper sellers, fortune-tellers (uranai-sha), nattō-sellers (nattō is a kind of food made from boiled beans), sellers of the tōfu (bean curd) of Komatsu-bashi, sellers of fūki-mame (cooked and sweetened beans), blind shampooers (amma) female hairdressers (onna kami-yui), washermen (sentaku-ya) messengers, etc. Then there are shinnai-bushi singers (shinnai-bushi is a style of popular song originated by a man named Tsuruga Shinnai), Kapporé-dancers, singers of hayari-uta (popular songs), ahodara-kyō (reciters of comic imitation of Buddhist sacred writings and prayers), and flute-players (shaku-hachi). Beggars swarm in front of the smaller brothels early in the morning and ransack the remnants of food left over by guests from the previous evening: the sight of these hordes of dirty unkempt beings, clawing at and hungrily devouring the broken victuals, is a sight at once sad and disgusting.