_SHOGI_ (LICENSED PROSTITUTES)
It may seem strange to class prostitutes among working women, but the
facts require such classification, for, not only so far as the parents
and brothel keepers are concerned, but also so far as the girls
themselves are concerned, it is entirely a matter of money. If the
business did not pay splendidly, the keepers would not erect their
handsome buildings, pay the heavy license fees, nor buy the girls from
the parents at considerable cost. And on the other hand, if the parents
did not receive what they regard as large sums for their daughters, the
latter would not be sold to such lives of shame and disease. And so far
as the poor victims are concerned, there is abundant evidence that they
often go into the wretched business solely at the command of their
parents, for among the lowest class the noble doctrine of obedience to
parents is shamefully perverted to this vile end. Children are taught
that obedience is a child's first duty, regardless of the question
whether the thing required by parents is right or wrong. The girl goes
to the brothel in obedience to her parents, who send her there to earn a
living for herself and to help them out of special financial
difficulties. Thus from first to last, so far as the girls, the parents,
and the keepers are concerned, the question is economic.
Among the working women of Japan prostitutes surely are the most pitiful
of all. They give the most and get the least. They receive no training,
like the geisha; have no liberty; to prevent their running away, are
imprisoned in brothels, or if diseased or ill, in hospitals; and have no
friends except possibly other prostitutes. Most of them soon loathe the
business, but are helpless, hopeless prisoners,--for the keepers who
paid their parents a few score or hundreds of yen and loaded them with
beautiful clothes, charge all these items to their account, so that they
are under a heavy debt which must be paid before they can leave. This
debt the laws of the land theoretically ignore but practically
recognize, for the "keeper" keeps the books as well as the brothel, and
the police and officials are often on his side. In this way licentiously
inclined officials, merchants, and travelers provide for the easy,
economical, and legal satisfaction of their desires.
I do not propose here to give a detailed account of this distressful and
disgusting "business." Those who desire more information should procure
_The Social Evil in Japan_, by the Rev. U. G. Murphy. Some years ago Mr.
Murphy, by grit and pluck, carried certain test cases through the courts
and secured legal opportunity for girls to quit the business if they
wished. The Salvation Army and some of the daily papers took pains to
let the brothel girls know their legal rights, and in a short period
over twelve thousand, at that time over one third of the whole number,
left the brothels, so that for a while the business was prostrated in
many quarters. This single fact shows the spirit and attitude of a large
number of the girls. Since then the wily keepers and all interested in
maintaining this lucrative trade have succeeded in modifying the
administration of the regulations, so that the girls are again closely
controlled.
There is however a rising public conscience and an abolition movement is
gathering strength. The virtual slavery of the girls; the fact that they
are openly bought and sold, and that, too, under governmental
supervision and sanction; the cruelty inflicted on many girls by their
keepers; the fraud practised in connection with their accounts, whereby
a girl is kept hopelessly in debt, so that, however faithful she may be,
release is impossible, and indeed the more faithful the more profitable
she is to her keeper--all these facts are becoming widely known and are
beginning to arouse public indignation. The government is openly
charged with protecting slavery, and that of the worst kind. High
government officials are being condemned for licentiousness.
As signs of the times, I give a few facts. In the summer of 1909 the
wealthiest and most centrally located prostitute quarter in Osaka was
completely wiped out by a great fire. Before the flames were fully out,
the anti-brothel forces realized their opportunity and under the
leadership of the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Women's
Christian Union began to agitate for refusal to allow the rebuilding of
the business in that region of the city. A petition was prepared and
signed by one hundred thousand people. Large numbers of Osaka's best
citizens allied themselves with the movement. The result was that the
authorities in charge saw fit to yield to the pressure and arranged that
the new buildings for prostitution should be erected on the outskirts of
the city.
In the winter of 1911, the city of Tokyo suffered from a great
conflagration which completely destroyed the section of the city known
as "Yoshiwara,"[6] which for three hundred years has been assigned to
prostitution. This center of the social evil had become enormously
wealthy, and such magnificent buildings had been erected for the
business that it had become one of the famous sights of Tokyo. Before
the fire was fairly over, the anti-brothel forces began to organize
their campaign, which continued for months. A magazine called _Purity_
(_Kaku Sei_) was started. In this case, however, success did not crown
their efforts.
[6] Foreigners commonly, but mistakenly, suppose that "Yoshiwara"
means "Prostitute Quarter."
Not long since an army division was located in the vicinity of Wakayama,
a city of considerable importance, not far from Osaka, in which there
have never been any prostitute houses. This led to the suggestion that
it would be well to open there a regular prostitute quarter. The matter
was keenly discussed and the proposition carried through the city
council and authorized by all the lower officials, but when it came
finally before the prefectural governor for signature, it was vetoed,
and the veto message is worthy of preservation and careful consideration
by those who are interested in these matters.
The governor says in his message: "I was early convinced that the
establishment of licensed quarters in the city was harmful to the public
interest. It has been a subject of discussion in Wakayama now for many
years, and I have investigated the question thoroughly from the
standpoint of public morals, health, and economics, at places with and
without licensed quarters, and find that the existence of such
institutions is distinctly harmful. The standard of morals is lowered,
the public health impaired, disease made rampant, the young are sent
into wrong channels, homes are broken up, and extravagance is
encouraged. The state of affairs in Shingu, in this prefecture of
Wakayama, where licensed houses have been established, clearly shows
that the existence of such places is extremely harmful to public
interest. The majority representation to the authorities urged the
establishment of licensed quarters on the ground that the quarters would
promote the prosperity of that section of the city in which they were
situated. It is true they may benefit a section of the city in one way,
but the benefit so obtained would be offset by many other evils. The
military authorities are strongly opposed to the establishment of
licensed quarters, and their views are very reasonable. For these
reasons I have decided to refuse permission for the establishment of
licensed quarters in Wakayama city."[7]
[7] As translated by the _Japan Chronicle_, May 13, 1911.
In passing, it is worthy of record that the prefecture of Joshu has for
over thirty years, by ceaseless vigilance, prevented government sanction
of prostitution. Repeatedly has the battle been fought and repeatedly
have the anti-brothel forces won. In this respect Joshu stands alone
among the forty-eight prefectures of the Japanese empire.
As illustrating the low moral ideals prevailing among a certain class of
men, Professor Abe of Waseda University, in a recent brothel-abolition
speech, told of a certain politician who, though a fast liver, was
praised because he never debauched the wives and daughters of his
friends, but always confined himself to those women whose services he
fully paid for in hard cash! Colonel Yamamuro, the highest Japanese
officer in the Salvation Army, on the same evening, speaking of the low
moral ideals of the classes from which prostitutes are drawn, said that
in connection with the Salvation Army he had had opportunity to know of
twelve hundred girls who had been aided in the two rescue homes of the
Army. Of these twelve hundred about one half had been prostitutes. The
reasons given by them for leaving were various, such as ill health,
cruelty, lovers, but not one said she left the business because it was
wrong. The evidence is full and convincing that a considerable section
of the Japanese people do not regard loose sexual relations as
particularly immoral.
In regard to the statistics of prostitutes, the figures given by Mr.
Murphy are probably the most accurate available, and are substantially
official. Between 1887 and 1897 the number of prostitutes increased from
27,559 to 47,055, reaching their maximum in 1899, when there were
52,410. Then, following up the work of Mr. Murphy and the Salvation
Army, came the "cessation movement," reducing the number to 40,195 in
1901, and the following year to 38,676. Since that date the number has
grown. In two years four thousand fresh girls were bought up, and a
thousand more the following year. The latest statistics are those for
1906, when the number of prostitutes was reported as 44,542. It is safe
to say that at the present time the number is near, if it has not
passed, the fifty thousand mark.
It would be natural to suppose that recruits for the geisha and shogi
occupations would be found largely among the poorest farmers, but both
my outdoor man and also my cook assert that such is not the fact.
"Farmers would never sell their daughters for such vile purposes,
however poor they might become. Parents who do such things are only the
degenerate creatures who live in cities," is the scornful remark of my
gardener. My cook asserts the same thing, and adds that farmers'
daughters have not the genteel features and figures nor the light
complexion essential to girls seeking such occupations. Other
investigations confirm these assertions. The great cities of Nagoya and
Niigata, and indeed the whole of Echigo, are famous for the supply of
girls they send to the brothels of Tokyo. A poor man with several
daughters has a pretty good investment, and rejoices more at the birth
of a girl than of a boy, because it means an early and definite income.
I found at one time in Matsuyama that all the girls of sixteen to
eighteen years of age in a certain poor quarter had, in the course of
one year, been sold off to the brothels. About that time a man came to
me with a pitiful story of poverty; he had five children, but
unfortunately they were all boys; had they been girls, he said, he might
have sold some of them and so not have needed to ask my aid!
The word used in connection with both geisha and prostitutes is
perfectly frank; no effort is made to conceal by terms the nature of
the transaction. The girls are "bought" and "sold." They employ the
same words as those used in buying and selling animals, food,
clothing--anything. Their purchase and sale is a regular business in
which men and women openly engage, traveling the country over in search
of girls, and conducting them in small groups to the keepers of
brothels, who pay so much a head. And this takes place in civilized
Japan! Moreover, in spite of the fact that girls may thus be bought, it
is true that they are also occasionally stolen. I have known of a
pitiful instance where the girl, a member of a respectable family, was
boxed and shipped on a steamer as freight, to elude the police, and
taken to Siam. In five years she has succeeded in getting one letter to
her home, but the parents dare not put the matter into the hands of
Japanese officials, as that would make the situation hopeless.
But Occidentals may not forget how terrible a scourge is commercialized
vice in civilized and so-called "Christian" Europe, and who has not
heard of the "white slavery" of America, with its stealing of girls and
young women for purposes of prostitution? The institution of comparisons
between nations and individuals is alike odious,--but unavoidable. A
fair comparison would seem to be that, whereas in the West the moral
sense of a large proportion of the people is very strongly against the
social evil and seeks to abolish it, in Japan the moral sense of the
mass of the population acquiesces in the situation, so that the
government and a vast majority of the influential people of the land
unite to make the business safe, legal, and remunerative; and that,
while in Occidental Christian lands no girl can voluntarily enter this
sphere of life without being conscious of its shame and immorality, many
of the girls of Japan may have no adequate knowledge of these inevitable
consequences until their fate has been sealed.