Jump to navigation. Due to it's location being literally in the middle of the sea, Mitarai escaped most of the development that came with the twentieth century, especially that of the second half of the century that obliterated so much of traditional Japan. Mitarai's narrow lanes and alleys are still lined with buildings that date back to an earlier age. Shotoen has a variety of displays connected to the elite maritime travellers of the Seto Inland Sea during the Edo Period.
Through most of Japanese history the Inland Sea Seto Nakai has been the main thoroughfare for much of the domestic and international travel and commerce in Japan. Though the Nakasendo and Tokaido are well known as land routes in Japan, the bulk of travel within Japan was always by water, Japan is after all thousands of islands, and the water was easier and faster to traverse than the steep mountains which make up much of the country.
Mitarai was established because it's harbor was a sheltered place for boats to stop and wait for the change in tides or for favorable winds. The most notable of these services was women. Mitarai was a major "entertainment" site in the Edo Period with literally hundreds and hundreds of girls offering "companionship", in fact Mitarai was home to the biggest brothel in the whole Inland Sea. With the advent of steamships and diesel engines it was no longer necessary for boats to stop and wait for the tides or wind, but Mitarai's harbor continued to be filled with boats, in fact the town's fortunes did not seriously decline until the passage of the Anti Prostitution Law which was the death knell for the traditional sex industry in Japan.
Mitarai had three or four large high-class brothels, known euphemistically as tea houses, Wakaebisuya is the only one still standing, and is open to the public. The interior consists of a large hall-like space with a stage and many smaller rooms at the back facing the garden.
It is said that girls worked here. There were many different classes of prostitute in Japan, and those working here were oiran, precursors to the geisha , hence the stage for musical and dance performances.
