Subsequent to the anonymous publication of the first edition of “The Nightless City” in 1899, the author was severely remonstrated with by certain unctuous persons for writing a work which lays bare a phase of Japanese social phenomena before which all writers (with the notable exception of Mr. Henry Norman) have studiously drawn a veil. To this class of persons he neither owes, nor offers an apology; but, in order to obviate any misunderstanding of his motives, it may be well to explain the raison d’être of the book.
The voluminous data on which is based the science of Medical Jurisprudence, the records of all Courts, and the experience and common knowledge of mankind, prove the universal existence of the “social evil” to be, a present and undeniable fact.
History shows that from the earliest ages society was never free from the devastating influences of a vice which arises from an apparently inextinguishable natural impulse inherent alike in human beings and in the lower creation. Wrap ourselves up as we may in a mantle of prudery, refuse as we may to recognize the evil, it is still there, and like the poor, it will probably “be with us always.”
We can no more hope, to eradicate or suppress it than to control an earthquake or harness the winds and waves! Its existence being thus palpable, is it not far wiser to frankly recognize and investigate the phenomenon with a view to control, by judicious regulations, the current of the vice and direct it into channels where it may be, at least to a certain extent, grappled with and arrested, than to foolishly close our eyes and refuse to discuss the subject on the cowardly plea that we may possibly disturb the “conventionalities” by publicly and fully investigating the evils of prostitution?
The author utterly denies the proposition that there can be any impropriety in enquiring into the facts of a matter which virtually affects, either directly or indirectly, the whole community; on the other hand he affirms that much good may be done by collecting facts and statistics which may prove of value to the legislator, the philanthropist, and the clergy. Without adequate data, how can we ever hope to devise measures of a preventative or ameliorative nature, and how can such data be obtained if we are all to be deterred from necessary investigations by the mawkish sensibility of Mrs. Grundy?
Legislators of all nations, at different times, have apparently endeavoured to crush out or control prostitution, and by various high-handed methods sought to single out and distinguish, for the alleged protection of the public, women known to be guilty of leading a professedly abandoned life. Moses, the great Jewish law-giver, hurled cruel and oppressive edicts against improper unions among the children of Israel. Greece made the Disteriads wear a distinguishing costume, and, branding these women with infamy, made regulations by which they were subjected to the control of the municipal police, and were forbidden to offend the public by open indecency. Rome required the registration of its prostitutes, who, under the directions of the Ædile were forced to wear special garments and to dye their hair a certain colour. Mediæval Europe tried (among other gentle (!) measures) sumptuary laws, banishment, scourging, branding, the stake, the gibbet, the block, outlawry; while the spiritual powers launched against prostitution all the terrors of religious anathema, threatening physical torment and strict excommunication in this world, and in the world to come everlasting damnation!
Modern Europe, while outwardly wearing a spotless garment of professed self-righteousness, and turning up its goggling eyeballs in sanctimonious horror at the bare suggestion of anything being amiss with its morality, knows well enough that its various Governments are secretly struggling with the problem through their police, and that the latter have found no satisfactory solution of the matter notwithstanding many serious essays.
Thousands of miles away from Europe, and practically cut off from all intercourse with the rest of the world at large, the Japanese, found themselves confronted with the same problem and, after various attempts at control, they endeavoured to solve the question in a manner far more practical than that of the Europeans. They were astute enough to see that human passions could not be changed by human legislation, and instead of attempting impossibilities they started in to limit and control what they knew they had not the power to prevent; so, with the object of rendering the evil as inoffensive as possible, the authorities decided upon setting aside certain areas within which prostitutes were allowed to pursue their calling subject to various stringent laws. These quarters were fenced in and moated, their great gateways carefully guarded, and so successful did the system prove in many respects that it has been maintained (with certain modifications) up to the present day.
Human nature is fixed and immutable, is, always was, and ever will be the same; and while race environment and education may affect its outward form, the animal man is essentially the same throughout the entire globe. This being so, it is evident that the experience of one nation or country may often be of considerable value to other peoples if accepted and applied mutatis mutandis to the circumstances and needs of the latter; thus it is always well to investigate the results of institutions foreign to our own in a candid and receptive frame of mind before concluding that we possess a monopoly of wisdom in our own home lands. Moreover, human nature is so constituted that when a separate community is established in such a manner as to be practically unaffected by pressure from the outside, its units are sure to co-operate, however unconsciously, in moulding new customs and habits and even superstitions, which gradually crystallize into time-honoured precedents by immemorial usage. The Yoshiwara, during its three centuries of existence, proved no exception to the rule, and in the course of years its inhabitants became slaves to numberless precedents, with the result that some extraordinary customs were developed and even yet linger on in a modified form. A serious consideration of these facts induced the author to believe that it would be of value to students of sociology throughout Europe and America to be provided with all available data, as to the ins and outs and the working of this unique and purely native Japanese system of control—a system of which the Westerners have had no experience whatsoever. The result of his labours was “The Nightless City” this new edition of which he now publishes together with an appendix which brings the work up to date so far as is possible.
The author’s best thanks are due to Prof. Dr. Tōichirō Nakahama, Director of the “Kai-Sei-Byō-in” and Member of the Central Board of Health, who kindly furnished certain medical statistics and data. He also desires to express a deep debt of gratitude to Mr. E. Beart for lightening his task by assisting in seeing the book through the press, and has pleasure in acknowledging the strenuous endeavours of the Box of Curios Printing & Publishing Company in producing in Japan, notwithstanding certain drawbacks and disadvantages, a handsome volume worthy of the great printing houses of London or New York.
The Author.
Kamakura, December, 1905.