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A fascinating guide to the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter of the mid-eighteenth century. Shinpan Sancha daihyoban is a rare early survival of a book of the hyōban-ki genre —’reputation books’, which reviewed and ranked kabuki actors and courtesans, but which in this case is specifically devoted to brothels and the women who worked within them.

The title uses the term sancha as designation for a high-class of prostitute of courtesan (‘joro’) known as sancha-jōro, who followed in rank the taiyū-jōro and koshi-jōro, but was superior to the umecha-jōro class. All these ranks borrow their terminology from tea-making practices, Sancha referring to a powdered tea (similar to matcha) that could be prepared simply by mixing it with hot water—unlike earlier methods that required steeping tea leaves in a cloth and shaking the bag. The ease of preparing sancha came to symbolize the accessibility of sancha-jōro—a courtesan class that, while still prestigious, was less selective with clientele. This accessibility probably explains why the book focuses on the sancha-jōro offering readers a sense of possibility and approachability.

The book catalogues the names of sancha-jōro and the chaya (tea houses, or brothels) they were affiliated with. Importantly, it also highlights their individual skills. While these women are often associated primarily with sex work, they were trained entertainers. At the higher ranks, they were expected to demonstrate talents in music, singing, the tea ceremony, poetry, and other refined arts. This guide served not only to inform potential visitors but also to allow them to request specific courtesans based on their accomplishments.

Additionally, the book provides valuable insight into the publishing and distribution practices related to Yoshiwara’s pleasure quarters, which became historically significant as a cradle of modern publishing practices in Japan. Importantly, our book predates by several years the work of Tsutaya Jūzaburō, the famed publisher known for producing numerous popular guides to Yoshiwara. Although published by Maruya Shōbei in the Nihonbashi district, it was distributed by Honya Yashichi, a bookstore operating within Yoshiwara itself.

Though not quite the same as the lewd eighteenth century guides to Western prostitutes such as Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies in London (published 1760-794) the existence of Shinpan Sancha daihyoban provides an interesting point of reference in compariing sexual culture and publishing practise in No copies located in institutions outside Japan.

First edition in English of the Jesuit Crasset’s Histoire de l’Église du Japon (1689). Backer-Sommervogel; 2:1641.

A delightful example of Japanese art of flower arrangement, ikebana, in the form of 24 ‘Rikka Zu’ (flower arrangements), with an important provenance. The arrangements combine boughs of trees or bamboo. with flowers including chrysanthemums, lotus, lilies, irises, and cherry blossom. The style is deliberately and strikingly asymmetrical, with stems tightly bundled at the foot in keeping with prevailing decorative aesthetics.

The manuscript is dated, on the first extant image, Kansei 4 (1792) July 7th and there is a further inscription to the verso of one fold, now partly obscured by a paper strip (an old reinforcement) but still legible. It reads: ‘The lord Todo Izumino-kami, when his ambassador’s mission at Kyoto had a celebration in Ryokan’ and ‘Ikeno bo’. Ikenobo was the oldest and most important school of ikebana in Japan, founded at Kyoto in the fifteenth century, while the Todo clan were an ancient Samurai family with origins in the sixteenth century. The manuscript may be considerably older than the inscription of 1792. Its style is closely comparable with a manuscript now at Cambridge, Ikenobō rikka no zu (CUL FJ.978.12) dated to the ‘seventeenth or eighteenth century’ (2223 in Hayashi and Kornicki, Early Japanese books in Cambridge University Library).