Hi geimaiko!! Could I ask what would happen in a normal every day ozashiki with a Tayu? How many would there be in a night? What type of performances and the types of people involved?
Hi Anon!
Thanks for the ask.
Lets go over your questions and examine what we know of Tayuu, what we know from modern Geisha, as a comparison, and the subtext from contemporary media depicting ozashiki with Tayuu, shall we?
Cherries At Night At New Shimabara - Utagawa Yoshitoya, active ca. 1850–80
What was a normal everyday ozashiki with a Tayuu like?
I would argue that the true Tayuu, during their heyday didn't necessarily work ozashiki every day. It's not as black or white as we like to think. But because of what we know of how modern Geisha operate today (constantly booked every night, rushing from engagement to engagement according to popularity, overbooked and paid by the hanadai) it's easy to deduct that Tayuu did the same but drawing a picture from what we know about Tayuu culture, it doesn't quite add up. So what do we know?
Catering to the elite classes, Tayuu didn't entertain the common man, only those with introductions, the very rich and of high class and even the aristocracy at their destination of choice. Tayuu could leave the pleasure quarters and work at their patrons estates and were not bound to the hanamachi where they were registered. Even if she was summoned to entertain at a lush country estate by lord so-and-so, there must have been an introduction and a long standing connection between the two parties and the respective okiya. And these types of things take time to build. It was part of the game that even the most famed samurai could not just waltz into an ageya and book a Tayuu for dinner. This much is known. As such it's impossible to envision a Tayuu having that many a bookings per night for her to be rushing in her geta from place to place.
Famed for their wit, intelligence, high education and sophistication, a Tayuu was formed by her patrons from an early age. We can deduct from popular accounts that certain Tayuu had expertise in very particular skills such as astronomy, poetry, incense burning next to more performative arts. How would a Tayuu ever entertain at a party if her forte was writing intense love letters? I argue that Tayuu were certainly groomed by their surroundings to be perfect company, but just as much by as for the men funding their education. So if lord Stargazer was a big fan of astronomy and he was paying for a Kamuro's education, you can be sure that that Kamuro will better learn about astronomy to keep him on the line for as long as possible. Of course some Tayuu were more universally accomplished than others, but in the end the way to measure success was money baby. So the okiya would prefer their Tayuu to be kept by a handful of loyal patrons throughout her short life instead of a horde of admirers that could only afford an ozashiki once or twice. The latter would certainly cheapen the Tayuu's exclusive status and make her legacy less prominent too. Remember that many Tayuu were famous by association. hence the importance of vetting their patrons.
I find it hard to believe that Tayuu would be booked nightly by different patrons, according to the snippets of infos we get from contemporary pieces. What i do believe is that a successful and popular Tayuu would be very busy during the festivals, during the cherry blossom seasons or when she herself had some type of promotion or celebration to monetize. Then she would try to see all her regulars in quick succession. The pleasure districts were just that, and there was always a reason to party even for the solemn scholarly elites.
So. How might Tayuu ozashiki be like? From what we know of modern Tayuu, their entertainment style is very much like a stage play: The public is treated to a demonstration of long bygone traditions exclusive to the artisan's lineage. And everyone is quiet, as the performance is held in candle light, the introduction of the Tayuu, the dances, the tea ceremony, the kokyu, the singing... Even the modern Tayuu-dochu. Everything is very solemn and almost spiritual in nature. Where does this tradition come from? I'm sure it has its roots in reality. But it's also the museum-like remnant of something that was alive once.
From the fact that Tayuu studied high arts and were accomplished curators of high brow music, dance, food etc. i would deduct that their talents were best utilized as co-hosts of parties financed by the patron. We know of Yuugiri-Tayuu who hosted very famous moon viewing parties at her favorite teahouse and she would invite her patrons and other Courtesans to party with food, drink and poetry recitals. Would she pay that out of pocket? I'm certain one or more of her patrons would have been delighted to be associated with such a grand party and gladly coughed up the dough. Mixing patrons would have been very common and powerful men profited from the connections made at these exclusive parlors. It was very customary to tip and pay horrendous wages and prices for entertainment, musicians, plays, monkey-tamers, Kamuro, Shinzo, flower arrangements, a new outfit for the Tayuu of course.. A bit like we overpay when going to Disneyland.
In "The Nightless City" (a product of its time certainly) a whole slew of celebrations are listed during the Tsukimi-period alone. So there would be at least 4 or 5 main moon viewing parties and many little ones around that where people would flock to. Every week of every month could mark a district wide celebration occasion: From exchanging summer clothes for winter dress to the planting of Chrysanthemum buds. Ozashiki were not only a private affair but a communal thing where the elite would mingle inside of their class. One thing that separated an important Tayuu from a Yuuyo was that the latter might get one or two days off from a big hearted brothel owner while a Tayuu was expected, and indeed even proud to host parties during holidays. I can't imagine these were all as dignified and ceremonious as Tayuu ozashiki are today.
Three Intoxicated Courtesans - Kitagawa Utamaro, 1790s
Would a Tayuu attend a party every night and if so how many? The goal was quality over quantity so as few as possible and as many as necessary. Maybe there would be some days in a month where she actually didn't have an engagement (namely when she was on her period). She was still funded by her Danna consistently. We have so many Ukiyo-e of Tayuu and Oiran spending time with other Courtesans or in their own quarters that we can actually picture them devoting their time to studies, internal socializing and living a "private" life in bathhouses and such. Are these settings meant to frame these women and girls in a certain way? Sure. Was this a reality of life in Edo? Also true.
Then again i have another input on if they attended multiple parties every night: Most Tayuu were extremely young. Some got promoted at 13 or 14 and by 19, the most popular ones would usually get bought out by their patrons to marry or keep as mistresses. So keep this in mind when you see an ozashiki in your minds eye: Kamuro, essentially toddlers and preschoolers, the preteen Shinzo and then the teenaged Tayuu with their much older patrons sat in an ageya, chatting and drinking, probably having just pleasure in common. These Kids needed some type of entertainment and there was plenty to keep them busy: Going on walks in grand gardens, watching the seasonal changes and comparing witty notes and poetry, play in one of the romantic little river boats... We are still talking about children living in a golden cage. They would have been very excited to go to parties all the time. The downside was of course, that they would need to spent these glittering outings with men their father's or grandfather's age.
But what would the entertainment be like?
Seeing A Performance - Kitagawa Utamaro, 1789
A Boating Party Under Azuma Bridge - Torii Kiyonaga, 1785
New Year's Day At The Ogiya Brothel, Yoshiwara - Katsushika Hokusai, 1804
The Actor Ichimura Takenojo VIII In The Role Of A Puppeteer, Showing Puppets To A Courtesan - Torii Kiyomasu I, ca 1715
Of course we know that food and drink was the center of any celebration or party, as is with any culture at any point in time of this human experience. The ageya coordinated the appropriate spread, here the Tayuu would coordinate her patron's favorites. Then the Tayuu had her connections to minstrels, dancers, actors and poets. She would call upon them according to the setting. Then again there would be travelling show acts that would pass the quarters and go from house to house and drop in at parties, collect the coins and move on. Such was often done with trained animals or other gimmicks and skits. While Chinese imports like Go and fireworks had been part of entertainment for centuries, even though limited, some European imports like pipe smoking made their way to very fashionable ozashiki too. We often see Oiran with pipes, but we can be sure that a very bold Tayuu led the way.
The discrepancy of the idealized pictures we have of stoic and regal Tayuu, the perfect counterpart to the Kuge class, and the sense we get when reading between the lines is stark: Little girls living the life of princesses, with the only goal of pleasing vastly older men. And the entertainment we find is oftentimes childlike: Puppets, animals, singing, shadow theater. The excuse that people were simple back then is laughable: Were the Tayuu and their patrons not believed to be larger than life? Were they not considered the elite? Better than the rest?
And it's not like they didn't cultivate elevated tastes compared to those without these resources. Seeing that the musical and recital traditions of court and Noh that influenced Tayuu, feel very alien to us even today. Take Gagaku (雅楽) as an example, music that was so niche to the aristocracy, that it was only able to survive through patronship of Daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Many of these forms of entertainment were indeed so exclusive to the ruling classes, that we hardly recognize them as entertainment today at all. Some of the pass times at court sound like homework and were completely different to what someone from the middling classes of Edo would find particularly fun.
The intellectual supremacy of a Tayuu to "the other girls" was her selling point though. And in my opinion, there is a sweet spot between classy and fun that many Tayuu masterfully hit with their talents. The ability to cater to their Danna, was the key to survival but it was also a lifestyle of abundance and luxury. We have these traditions in western literature too and my jerk reaction is to compare a Tayuu's gatherings with something more familiar to my own culture:
Courtly Company In A Salon - Jan Czeslaw Moniuszko, 1908
Abbe Prevost Reading "Manon Lescaut" - Joseph Caraud, 1856
A salon where influential people would meet to exchange ideas, gossip, flirt, let their hair down and splurge on luxuries. Many Courtesans, in essence high class mistresses, would hold court in their quarters. These third places would become a parallel stage to more socially acceptable forums and breed brilliant, open discourse just as much as dirty gossip. What was the entertainment in these salons? Smoking, drinking champagne or hot chocolate, reading aloud out of papers, pamphlets and books, playing the instrument du jour, betting on cards and talking smack.
Even before the golden age of Tayuu, sumptuary laws set a lockdown on ideas and dissemination of knowledge through media among the growing middle classes, who were amassing great wealth and becoming dangerously affluent. While the Geisha would come to dominate the entertainment of the merchant class, the Tayuu, up in their golden towers would only accept patrons of their own status. But many of the once important clans, increasingly impoverished as working was beneath them and spending was a lifestyle, could not keep pumping money into Tayuu houses for much longer. While the rank of the Oiran was on the rise, the last successful Tayuu would become iconic for their brains and legendary status, rather than their entertainment or their sex appeal. An essential reframing of their talents took place, as a delineation between the Tayuu (high society entertainer, exclusive to the nobility), the Oiran (expensive but accessible prostitute) and the Geisha (middle class entertainer) demanded it.
Safe to say that during the Tayuu's high point, the pleasure quarters must have been glittering places to visit. And while it was technically open to anyone, this floating world was built in layers, where the very rich had access to incredible luxuries, while the masses enjoyed vibrant and simple pleasures that have survived to this day. The simple working girls were bound to this small world though, the Tayuu got invited to court, performed at country estates, lived a life of leisure and study. But even the Tayuu lived a small life, as they were expected to find a way out of their contract through one of their patrons. And so the machine kept on grinding down girl after girl and spitting them out when they were through. I guess the party never ends in the Yoshiwara.
