“Kuruwa-kotoba” or Yoshiwara Dialect.

It appears that owing to the Yoshiwara being a rendezvous of people from various parts of the country, there were a great many provincialisms spoken. This caused considerable inconvenience to persons visiting the quarter, and therefore, for the purpose of making the language used as uniform as possible, a kind of dialect known as the “sato-kotoba” (里言葉 language of the prostitute quarter) was coined, and all the prostitute were taught to speak it. The “Hoku-jo-ryo Kigen” (北女閭起原) says:—

“When a woman speaks the Yoshiwara dialect it successfully conceals her awkward pronunciation, no matter from what distant part of the country she may have come, and stamps her as a regular denizen of the quarter. For this reason, study of sato-kotoba has been greatly encouraged.”

It is, however, suggested by some people that the dialect was transmitted from Shimabara, Kyōto (a noted prostitute quarter) for under the “Shimabara” section of the “Ukiyo Monogatari” (浮世物語) reference is made to the popular sato-kotoba words “kinanshita ka?” (have you come?), and “hayōinanshi” (go quickly.)

According to ancient records, up to the period of Meiwa (1764–1771) the honorific irregular verb masu (to be), which is always used as a terminal in conjunction with other verbs, was corrupted to “nsu” therefore such words as omoimasu (to think) gozaimasu (to be: to have) and mōshimashō (to say, to be) were changed to “omoinsū,” “gozarinsu,” “mōshinshō,” etc. From the end of Anyei (1772–1780) this again changed to “isu” and words like “gozaimasu” and omoimasu were pronounced “gozarisu” and “omoisu.” At that period “gozarimasu” was often pronounced as “gozansu,” or even “ozansu,” and in the vulgar colloquial it was sometimes pronounced as “gozensu” or “gozēsu”: accordingly “nasarimasé” (please deign to do) changed to “nasansé,” but in the Yoshiwara dialect this was further abbreviated to “nanshi.” Thus instead of “o kun nasai” (an abbreviation of “o kure nasarimasé” = please do) and “o agari nasaimashi” (an abbreviation of “o agari nasaimasé” = please come in: (or) please eat) were developed the words “o kun nanshi,” and “o agan nanshi,” etc. From the end of Kyōwa (1801–1803) until the Bunkwa era (1804–1817) “masu” and “mashi” changed to “namashi,” and afterwards into zansu, zaisu, zaimasu, ossu, osu, ariisu, etc.

It also appears that in former times the various brothels had their own special dialects, but these, not being specially interesting, all the dialectical differences are omitted here.

A few examples of sundry sentences and expressions may be cited to give an idea of the language:—

Yoshiwara Dialect. Modern Japanese. English.

Nushi wa mada chaya ni iinsuka? Anata wa mada chaya ni i-nasaru ka? Are you still in the tea-house?

Kore wo o mi nanshi. Kore wo goran nasai. Please look at this.

Oide nasen ka e? Oide nasaimasen ka? Won’t you go? (or) Won’t you come?

Mō chitto shite mērinshō. Mō chitto shite mairimashō. I will go (or “come”) a little later on.

Uso-uso shimē yo. Sawaijā ikenai. Don’t be excited.

Sonnara o tano-mō-shinsu. Sonnara o tanomi mō-shimasu. Well then I will leave the matter in your hands.

Sore wa tareshi mo sō de ozansu. Sore wa dare demo sō de gozaimasu. That is the case with everybody.

Sō ossēsu ga. Sō osshaimasu ga.... You say so but....

Kurashinsu zo e. Uchimasu yo! I’ll strike you!

O busharezansu na. Baka ni suruna. Don’t try and make a fool of me.

Hagurakasu. Age-ashi wo toru. To catch a person tripping.

Sonna koto wa shirinsen. Sonna koto wa shirimasen. I don’t know anything about it.

Yabo. Fu-anai no hito. A stranger who is unacquainted with a place.

Sui. Tsūjin. An adept: a person posted up on all points; one who “Knows the ropes.”

Yonde kiro. Yonde koi. Call him.

Hayaku oppashiro. Isoide yonde koi. Call him quickly.

Itte koyo. Itte kuru. I will go.

Ayobiyaré. O aruki nasai. Please walk (on).

Fukkobosu. Kobosu. To spill; To grumble.

Kechi na koto. Warui koto. A wicked thing.

Kosoppai. Kosobaii. Ticklish.

Unasaruru. Osuwaruru. To have the nightmare.

Daijin Fu-kyaku. A rich guest.

Daté. Daté. Luxurious and elegant: a fop.

Hanka. Nama-naka. Impertinent and pedantic.

Shara-kusai. Nama-iki. To pretend to be something that one is not. “Cheeky.”

O kan. Atsu-mono. A hot object.

Tanabata. Tama ni kuru kyaku. An occasional guest.

Kuzetsu. Chiwa-genkwa. A curtain lecture.

Sashi. Ai-gataki kyaku. A guest with whom one cannot meet.

Nushi. Iro-otoko. A paramour.

O yukari sama. Najimi kyaku. A familiar guest.

Mukō no hito. Yō-tashi akindo. A Yoshiwara storekeeper.

Shirōto-ya. Futsū no shōka. Merchants and shopkeepers.

Go te san. Go teishu. The proprietor of a tea-house or hotel.

Okasan. O kamisan. The wife of the above.

Ani-san. Musuko. The son of the above.

Gebizō: Kurai-nuke. Bōshoku suru hito. A glutton.

Inasé. Sugata no yoi hito. A person with an elegant figure.

Shitta ka yō. Bakarashii. Ridiculous.

Jirettōsu. Jirettō gozaimasu. I am vexed.

Yō-zansu. Yō gozaimasu. All right: Very well.

Nan zansu ka? Nan de gozaimasu ka? What is it?

Kii-shita. Kimashita. Has come.

Dashi-kitte. Arawasu. To show (or) manifest anything.

Shinobi-komeru. Hisoka ni. Secretly.

Samisen-ban. Mise no samisen wo adzukaru {shinzo}. {Samisen} keeper.

Nanto demo ii nanshi. Nanto demo o ii nasai. Say whatever you like (I don’t mind).

Chotto mi nē! Miyagaré. Oh! just look at (hear) him!

Ii ame dakké nē! (The same). What good rain!31

Akire-kēru yo. Akire-kaeru yo. I am astonished.

Pochi-pochi. Oiran ni kawai-garareta hito. A guest loved by a courtesan.

Chaki-chaki. Oiran ni niku-mareta hito. The reverse.

Ki-fū. Kiita-fū. Pedantic style.

Shiwo-ya. Enjirō. Jiman unubore no hito. A conceited fellow.

A saying in vogue about the Bunkwa era (1804–1817) was:—You can distinguish the Ōgi-ya by “watakushi” the Tama-ya by “shitsukata” the Chōjiya by “zansu” and the Matsuba-ya by “osu.” This was said because of the peculiar dialects, spoken in the respective houses, changed into zansu, zaisu, ossu, osu, ariisu, etc. The sato-kotoba has now entirely disappeared, but as many of the women come from the Western provinces, in the neighbourhood of Kyōto, it is common in the Yoshiwara to hear such words as “anata itsu kiyaharimasu” (when will you come?), “sō dakka” (is that so?), “ahōrashii” (nonsense!), etc.