[R18] Kagome no Uta ~Yoshiwara yawa~

Kagome no Uta ~Yoshiwara yawa~

籠女ノ唄～吉原夜話～
[Caged Women's Song ~Yoshiwara Night Stories~ ]

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Warnings: There are mentions, and even an actual scene of physical violence towards the MC in some volumes.

About: Love stories born from a brothel named Sayotzuki-ya [小夜月屋] within Yoshiwara in the Edo era.

Trivia: There is a theme of flower names, each with heavy significance to the guys' story. However, my current level of Japanese could not grasp enough of it to include it with the summary.

Yamabuki (CV: Domon Atsushi)

Nicknamed the Wandering Wolf of Yoshiwara, Yamabuki is very famous within the brothels' community as a young rich merchant who would always come and stay in different brothels every night, never seems to have specific pattern or preferences. One night he paid a night with a prostitute in a brothel named Sayotzuki that reminded him of someone he once knew. No one expected that he would turn up at the same brothel for the same prostitute, yet he did for the MC, mostly to gather evidence that she was the person he was looking for. His suspicion proven to be true as he found a hand mirror which is exactly the same with the one he gave to a girl in his childhood. He and the girl met once as children and would always play together. Yamabuki had always liked her but he had to move away after some time, and he gave her his mother's keepsake - a hand mirror - to remember him by before separating. When some years had passed he tried to look for her, but he heard she had been sold off by her own father to settle a debt. This later led to him to visit various brothels, acquiring the nickname Wandering Wolf of Yoshiwara in the meantime, just to find his first love. Yamabuki settled her remaining debt in the end and took her away with him to start a new life together.

Kimikage (CV: Kiryuu Asato (currently Sakurai Masato))

A hairdresser for the prostitutes in Yoshiwara, Kimikage is very attached to one of his clients. He would always fondly listened to her stories and complaints, but at the same time had to watch in helplessness as she would sometimes be left scarred and bruised by violent customers. He would try to ease her pain but there was ultimately nothing that he could do to help her. Kimikage and the MC shared the same fate; being sold off to the brothels since they were young and could no longer taste freedom of the world outside Yoshiwara. He mentioned MC was the only one who first cared about him when no one does. Every single day he wished at least MC would be set free and live as she wanted. One day he heard that she was bought off to be a bride, and although he is happy his wishes came through, he was reluctant to see her go so he avoided meeting her anymore. That night, MC came to his place and said she wanted to refuse the marriage proposal. Something inside Kimikage triggered and he got violent and angry, forcing himself on her continuously. When she passed out exhausted, he choked her with an intention to kill her himself. In between having her breath sucked out of her, she said her only wish from long ago was that she hoped she would live her life with him. Kimikage was struck aback and saw what a terrible thing he almost did to the person who had saved his life, and the one he had always loved. In tears he apologized for hurting her. Their story ended with them saying their final farewell to one another, praying the other would find their own happiness in the future.

Shinonome (CV: Chasuke)

Shinonome is one of the brothel owners in Yoshiwara, Sayotzuki, and it is one of his duty to 'initiate' new prostitutes he is hiring. A young woman, a child of another prostitute, came of age and after being taught the basic ethics of prostitutes such as never kiss on the lips etc., she quickly became one of his most profitable girls. One day she fell ill because of a fever and he granted her a few days off her job to recuperate. However MC continued to feign illness and will not take in any customers, even after she had completely healed. This led to Shinonome to physically punished her with ropes and assaulted her violently. All because MC said to have fallen in love with his kindness, and wished to only be with Shinonome. After the brutal punishment, MC returned to her duty with a heavy heart, keeping her feelings inside. After some time passed, he told her about an offer he received from a wealthy person who would want to buy her off and to be made their bride. Shinonome asked her first what she would say to that offer. Even without her saying with her own words, he knew she would like to refuse. He then told a story about the previous owner of Sayotzuki who had been the person that saved him from the streets and gave him a job. When the previous owner died, he inherited the brothel and also the name Shinonome (I think all the owner of the place used the same name). He mentioned that once, while the previous owner got too much to drink, they confessed their regret of falling in love with a prostitute and advised him not to repeat the same mistake; he would never be able to give her any kind of happiness in this kind of place. They - the previous owner and the prostitute - had a child together that they had to raise in secrecy, and that child turned out to be MC herself, a knowledge no one but Shinonome knows about. Despite all these, Shinonome in the end decided that he would refuse the marriage proposal in her place. He would also take her name off the lines of prostitutes as she would then only need to be with him at all times. 

Utsugi (CV: Sawa Manaka)

Utsugi is the leader of an armed vigilante of Yoshiwara who takes care of the general peace within the district. One night he came across a young girl who was on a run away from Yoshiwara. He stopped her by reminding her that even if she were to return to her home, her family will definitely be sending her back to the brothel since she was sold off to save the family. After some years, the girl has accepted her new life as a sex worker and became one of Shinonome (the previous volume)'s Sayotzuki most sought after girls. Utsugi would occasionally come around to check on how she was doing. One day he helped her from being harassed by a customer who threatened to not pay his bills, and ever since then Utsugi was targeted by paid swordsmen to gain revenge. Her brothel was burned down in an isolated reason (a prostitute and her lover committed double suicide by burning themselves) and Utsugi didn't think twice to rush into the fires when was told that MC is still inside. He got his hand crushed by a collapsed burning pillar but they managed to get out alive in the end. Unfortunately, he lost the movement of the injured arm as a result. As both gratitude and a way to make it up to him, Shinonome asked if there is anything he can do for him, and Utsugi asked if he can let the MC go from being a prostitute. The brothel owner agrees and left them two on their own. They talked and found out that they both share the same feelings for one another and later lived their quiet life together.

Final say: This is one of the currently few series using the theme Edo era Yoshiwara. I personally do not like this theme since my first impression of Yoshiwara-themed was ruined by Yuujou Hiren (that one was too horribly sad I don't know why I expected something else it's even right there on the title!!!!). I gave it a go anyway and expected the worst... only to be pleasantly surprised that this turned out to be great stories. Although I did not like the violence towards the female characters, and to use that as plot features despite I acknowledge it was historically accurate perhaps. Yet still, they are all great stories. The only volumes I did not like as much as the rest was Chasuke's since the romance happened way too suddenly and unconvincingly. When did that happened??? He wasn't that particularly nice to her when MC fell ill. He did like just every other decent human being would do; show the least amount of empathy and let her rest. How is that any trigger for a romance???? Anyway, I was surprised to see Sakurai Masato using a different alias for this. I wonder why though. Is it because to separate his other works since this one is technically yandere territory? I don't think he ever done anything yandere before... But damn, I am not okay with his story is the only one without a good ending. What the hell???? How dare they gave me these tears???!!!