ne on the books of any brothel,
live in their own houses, and ply their trade in secret. On the whole,
I believe the amount of prostitution in Yedo to be wonderfully small,
considering the vast size of the city.

There are 394 tea-houses in the Yoshiwara, which are largely used as
places of assignation, and which on those occasions are paid, not by
the visitors frequenting them, but by the keepers of the brothels. It
is also the fashion to give dinners and drinking-parties at these
houses, for which the services of _Taikomochi_, or jesters, among whom
there are thirty-nine chief celebrities, and of singing and dancing
girls, are retained. The Guide to the Yoshiwara gives a list of
fifty-five famous singing-girls, besides a host of minor stars. These
women are not to be confounded with the courtesans. Their conduct is
very closely watched by their masters, and they always go out to
parties in couples or in bands, so that they may be a check upon one
another. Doubtless, however, in spite of all precautions, the shower
of gold does from time to time find its way to Danae's lap; and to be
the favoured lover of a fashionable singer or dancer is rather a
feather in the cap of a fast young Japanese gentleman. The fee paid to
singing-girls for performing during a space of two hours is one
shilling and fourpence each; for six hours the fee is quadrupled, and
it is customary to give the girls a _hana_, or present, for
themselves, besides their regular pay, which goes to the master of the
troupe to which they belong.

Courtesans, singing women, and dancers are bought by contractors,
either as children, when they are educated for their calling, or at a
more advanced age, when their accomplishments and charms render them
desirable investments. The engagement is never made life-long, for
once past the flower of their youth the poor creatures would be mere
burthens upon their masters; a courtesan is usually bought until she
shall have reached the age of twenty-seven, after which she becomes
her own property. Singers remain longer in harness, but even they
rarely work after the age of thirty, for Japanese women, like
Italians, age quickly, and have none of that intermediate stage
between youth and old age, which seems to be confined to countries
where there is a twilight.

Children destined to be trained as singers are usually bought when
they are five or six years old, a likely child fetching from about
thirty-five to fifty shilli