The Jū-hachi-ken-jaya. (Eighteen Tea-houses.)

The “Yoshiwara Zatsuwa” 吉原雜話 states that there were in Ageya-machi, besides the “Ageya” themselves, eighteen tea-houses to which persons repaired for the purpose of watching the tayū entering the various “ageya.” According to the regulations of the Yoshiwara in ancient times, the construction of tsuki-age-do (shutters which slide up into a groove above the window, like shop-shutters) in the windows of the second stories of these houses was permitted, whereas it was prohibited in any other part of the kuruwa. In the tea-houses in Naka-no-chō, lattice work doors were used in their upper floors. It is stated that originally only the central portion of the Yoshiwara leading from Ageya-machi was called Naka-no-chō, the other portions being named Yedo-chō division, Kyō-machi division, etc. According to an old resident of Ageya-machi, Naka-no-chō was formerly amalgamated with Ageya-machi owing to the number of officials being small in the former street, and about that time there was a fireman’s ensign (matoi) in existence in Ageya-machi bearing the character 中 (“Naka”), clearly showing the connection between the wards. [Nowadays the whole central street is called Naka-no-chō—middle street—because it passes right through the centre of the enclosure.]