Bathhouse Girl - Yuna

A woman who worked at hot spring resorts and bathhouses to look after bathers. Some became private prostitutes and engaged in prostitution. They were also known by other names such as bathhouse girls and akakaki girls. It is said that this type of hostess has existed since the Kamakura period in hot spring areas such as Arima (Hyogo Prefecture). When bathhouses began operating in urban areas during the Muromachi period, they also employed bathhouse girls to entertain customers. During the Kan'ei period (1624-1644) in the Edo period, many bathhouses had as many as 20-30 bathhouse girls in each. In addition to their primary duties of washing customers and serving them tea and water after their baths, the bathhouse girls would hold banquets in the wooden rooms or on the second floor after work, where they would change into beautiful costumes and perform songs and dances. There were many bathhouse girls who gained a reputation that was not inferior to prostitutes, such as Tanzen Katsuyama, Yoshino with Kikyo bath, and Ichino with Kinokuni bath. The reason for their high reputation was that they were in tune with the tastes of the time, so much so that they created a popular custom called Tanzen-fu among hatamoto and yakuza. In response to this, the shogunate restricted the number of bathhouse girls to three per establishment in 1652 (Keian 5), and further abolished all bathhouse girls in the city after the Great Fire of Meireki (1657) and forced them to move to Yoshiwara. However, outside of Edo, Osaka permitted two to three hair washing girls per establishment, and there were also private bathhouse girls at hot spring resorts in various places. In Edo, a variation of the system in which the second floor of a bathhouse was rented to girls and used as a meeting place continued until the mid-Meiji period. After the Meiji period, some of the bathhouse girls in hot spring resorts became geisha or barmaids.

[Yoichi Harashima]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

温泉場や風呂(ふろ)屋にいて浴客の世話をした女性のこと。一部は私娼(ししょう)化して売春した。風呂屋者、垢(あか)かき女などの異称がある。有馬（兵庫県）など温泉地では鎌倉時代からこの種の接待女がいたと伝えられる。室町時代には市街地に風呂屋が営業を始めると、そこにも湯女を抱えて客の接待をした。江戸時代の寛永(かんえい)年間（1624～44）には一軒に20～30人もの湯女を抱えた店が江戸に何軒もできるに至った。そこでは、客の身体を洗ったり、浴後に湯茶を接待する本来の業務のほかに、終業後の板の間や二階を宴席とし、美しい衣装に着替えて歌や踊りを見せた。丹前勝山(たんぜんかつやま)、桔梗(ききょう)風呂の吉野、紀伊国(きのくに)風呂の市野など、遊女に劣らぬ名声を得た湯女が少なくない。旗本や侠客(きょうかく)らに丹前風(ふう)という流行風俗をおこさせたほど、時代の好みにあっていたことが評価を高める原因であった。これに対し、幕府は1652年（慶安5）に一軒に湯女3人と規制し、さらに明暦(めいれき)の大火（1657）後に市中の湯女を全廃して吉原へ移住させた。しかし江戸以外では、大坂は一軒2～3人の髪洗女を許可し、各地の温泉場にも私娼的湯女がいた。江戸でも湯屋の二階を女に貸して集会所のように利用する変形が明治中期まで存続した。温泉地の湯女は明治以後、一部が芸妓(げいぎ)や酌婦となった。

［原島陽一］

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