Street scene in the pleasure quarter

It is late afternoon on a street in the Yoshiwara, Edo’s licensed prostitution district. An old man leans on a cane as he listens to the sound of a shamisen, the stringed instrument played by one of two prostitutes seated in a latticed window display (harimise). Nearby, a notions vendor kneels beside a carrying case stacked with boxes, as a maid places her order near the brothel’s entrance. Out in the street, the procession of a sumptuously attired tayū (a high-ranking courtesan) and two kamuro halts for a moment before a potential customer, a disguised samurai, his features hidden by a deep straw hat. The attendant who follows keeps a close eye on the man bowing at his side, possibly a male entertainer (taiko) trying to solicit the samurai’s business. Completing this picture of commerce in the pleasure quarter is a second vendor, who lifts a fan-shaped object from the box held at his waist. A label on the box identifies his wares as goraigō: toys made from a bamboo tube with a small clay, paper, or wood Buddha inside. When the tube is lowered, a hidden Buddha pops up, surrounded by a folded paper mandorla. This charming toy equates the Yoshiwara’s myriad pleasures with the excitement of being welcomed to paradise (raigō) by the Buddha Amitabha.