Hiké no koto. (Closing hours in the Yoshiwara.)

Mention is made in the “Yoshiwara Ōkagami” (吉原大鑑) that the hiké was fixed at 10 o’clock, but afterwards this was considered too early, and no clapping of hyōshigi (a pair of wooden blocks which are struck together as a signal) was made at that hour. The great gate (Ō-mon) was shut at 10 o’clock, but the kuguri-do (a small low door cut in a gate) was left open so as to permit ingress and egress. When the hour of midnight struck, (then called kokonotsu-doki), the hyōshigi were clapped together four times, and the place was finally closed up.