noel43
The "Nectarine" Brothel in Eiraku-cho, Yokohama
In 1882, ten years after its opening in Takashima District, the "Nectarine" was forced to move less visible area of Eiraku District (永楽町, Eiraku-cho). The main reason was the fact that the brothels located in Takashima were clearly visible from the trains that began running between Yokohama and Shimbashi Station in Tokyo. Moreover the location was deemed inappropriate because many foreigners and celebrities passed by on the street.
'Number Nine', also called 'The Nectarine', was a well-known Japanese brothel for foreigners, at Eirakucho, Itchome, Yokohama. It was a competitive trade, and Number Nine contrived to circumvent official prohibitions on advertising by placing its cards in the sitting-rooms of hotels, and urging potential clients to eschew other inferior premises which had copied its name. A visitor to Yokohama in the late 1890s noted that brothel tariffs ranged from thirty sen (about sevenpence-halfpenny in British currency of the day) to three yen (six shillings), according to quality. The ladies of Number Nine, which claimed to be 'the only first-class house in Japan', would have been at or above the top end of that scale.
Source: Hugh Cortazzi, George Webb, Kipling's Japan: Collected Writings, Bloomsbury Publishing 2012.
The "Nectarine" Brothel in Eiraku-cho, Yokohama
In 1882, ten years after its opening in Takashima District, the "Nectarine" was forced to move less visible area of Eiraku District (永楽町, Eiraku-cho). The main reason was the fact that the brothels located in Takashima were clearly visible from the trains that began running between Yokohama and Shimbashi Station in Tokyo. Moreover the location was deemed inappropriate because many foreigners and celebrities passed by on the street.
'Number Nine', also called 'The Nectarine', was a well-known Japanese brothel for foreigners, at Eirakucho, Itchome, Yokohama. It was a competitive trade, and Number Nine contrived to circumvent official prohibitions on advertising by placing its cards in the sitting-rooms of hotels, and urging potential clients to eschew other inferior premises which had copied its name. A visitor to Yokohama in the late 1890s noted that brothel tariffs ranged from thirty sen (about sevenpence-halfpenny in British currency of the day) to three yen (six shillings), according to quality. The ladies of Number Nine, which claimed to be 'the only first-class house in Japan', would have been at or above the top end of that scale.
Source: Hugh Cortazzi, George Webb, Kipling's Japan: Collected Writings, Bloomsbury Publishing 2012.