[1930S RED LIGHT DISTRICT SUGOROKU].

堀之内町有名商店案内壽呉録. [Yūmei shōten annai sugoroku].<BR> [Horinouchi-cho Major Business Sugoroku Game Sheet].

東京. [Tokyo]. 横山豊. [Yokoyama, Yutaka]. Showa 11 [ 1936]. Stock ID #223771

Colour folding colour sugoroku, 54 x 80cm. Insect damage lower right square and on margins now repaired with washi the reverse, otherwise good.

A colourful sugoroku game dating from 1936, this sheet also served as an advertising campaign for the shops and businesses of the Horinouchi district of Kawasaki City. The game sheet was distributed by a newspaper delivery shop in the community. The area had been known as a red-light district since the Edo period, and this association continued until recently, when it was famous for its “soaplands”, or private prostitution services.



The types of businesses appearing on the sheet vary, though many are clearly connected with the hospitality and entertainment industries, including the rental party-room association, a term which in this context appears to refer to brothels. The goal of the game is to reach a café named Kanojo (彼女, “A Special Lady”).

The game was distributed through the Tokyo Nichi Nichi and Yomiuri newspapers, and takes players on a journey in which each panel represents a Horinouchi business. As a result, it offers an extraordinarily vivid record of the small shops and establishments which lined the streets of this lively district in the 1930s. We are introduced to small restaurants and cafés, a local bookshop, and a shop selling traditional Japanese sweets. There is a saké shop, a draper’s store, a pharmacy and a hairdressers, as well as a petrol station and shops selling radios and gramophones.



Each business is represented by a charming illustration and a short phrase advertising its services. A decorative piece of ephemera, this is also a valuable record of the social history of urban entertainment and commerce in pre-war Japan.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 223771.

Price: $500.00 AU

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