Glossary
Ageya - inn, banquet hall
Bakufu - military or “tent” government
Beru - blue pigment imported from Europe
Bijin-ga - pictures of beautiful women
Bin-sashi - hair ornaments
Eta - untouchable class
Gyoji - government officials working as censors
Juhachi-ya - the number eighteen, here the name of a merchant caravan
Kago - sedan chair carried by porters
Kakemono - scroll with painting
Kata - pattern; in martial arts, a sequence of movements
Keshi ningyo - very small ceramic dolls made in sets
Kosode - outer garment
Koto - stringed instrument
Manga - quick sketch
Momme - small unit of currency
Mon - unit of currency; also gate, or signifier of the house or studio
Moxa - burning of skin in small circle, intended to purify body
Netsuke - small wooden carved charm
Rangaku-sha - scholars of Dutch learning
Ryo - large unit of currency
Samisen - bowed instrument
Sekisho - guard booths at entrance and exits to Edo
Shinzo - apprentice prostitute under age 16
Shochu - potato liquor
Shunga - erotic pictures, “laughing” or “spring” pictures
Surimono - picture with poem written on the page
Tatami - woven floor mat
Tayu - grand, highest ranking prostitute
Tokaido - one of the great roads of old Japan, leading from Edo to
Kyoto
Yakko - a noblewoman sentenced to a term as a prostitute in the Yoshiwara - licensed pleasure quarter
Yarite - housekeeper of a brothel, often a former prostitute