Note 18 — Hikite-jaya.17 (“Introducing Tea-houses.”)

Literally a “sign-board lantern” so called because the lantern bears the name of the hikite-jaya. It is the custom for the maid to carry a lighted lantern (even inside the brothel) as far as the door of the room of the courtesan to whom the visitor is introduced. This lantern serves as a token to identify the hikite-jaya to which the maid belongs. On arriving before the door of the room the lantern is extinguished by shaking it, and not by blowing out the light in the usual way. A superstition exists against blowing out the light with one’s lips:—it is supposed to be unlucky.