That was after the first visit.

Nervous, flushed, sweating, almost tongue-tied but pretending to be manly he had followed Andr`e out of the Settlement at dusk, joining the jovial crowds of men Yoshiwara bound, passed the samurai guards, politely raising top hats and receiving perfunctory bows in return, across the Bridge to Paradise towards the tall gates in the enclosing wooden fence.

"Yoshiwara means Place of Reeds,"

Andr`e said expansively, both of them well lubricated with champagne that in Tyrer's case had only increased his foreboding. "It was the name of a district in Yedo, a reclaimed swamp, where the first ever, fenced bordello area was decreed and built by Shogun Toranaga two and a half centuries ago. Before that, bordellos were scattered everywhere. Since then, so we're told, all cities and towns have similar enclosures, all of them licensed and tightly controlled.

By custom, many are called Yoshiwara. See those?"' Above the gate, a series of Chinese characters were etched elegantly into the wood. "They mean, Lust is pressing, something must be done about it."

Tyrer laughed nervously. Many guards inside and outside the gate. Last night when Andr`e had volunteered to escort him--they were in the Club then, drinking--he had mentioned a trader had told him the guards were there, not just to keep the peace, but mostly to keep the whores from escaping, "So they're really all slaves, aren't they?"' To his shock he had seen Poncin flush angrily.

"Mon Dieu, don't think of them as whores or call them whores as we understand the word.

They're not slaves. Some are indentured for a number of years, many sold by their parents at an early age, again for a number of years, but their contracts are Bakufu approved and registered.

They're not whores, they're Ladies of the Willow World and don't forget it. Ladies!"

"Sorry, I..."

But Andr`e had paid no attention. "Some are geishas--Art Persons--those trained to entertain you, sing and dance and play silly games and are not for bedding. The rest, mon Dieu, I've told you, don't think of them as whores, think of them as Pleasure Women, trained to please, trained over many years."

"Sorry, I didn't know."

"If you treat them properly they'll give you pleasure, almost any kind you want--if they want to--and if the money you give is correct. You give them money which has no significance, they give you their youth. It's an odd bargain." Andr`e had looked at him strangely. "They give you their youth and hide the tears you cause." He quaffed his wine and stared at the cup, abruptly maudlin.

Tyrer remembered how he had quietly refilled their glasses, cursing himself for breaking the feeling of easy friendship, to him valuable friendship, swearing to be more cautious in future and wondering why the sudden fury. "Tears?"' "Their life isn't good, but even so it isn't always bad. For some it can be marvelous. The most beautiful and accomplished become famous, they're sought after by even the most important daimyo-- kings--in the land, they can marry in high places, marry rich merchants, even samurai. But for our Ladies of the Willow World who are just for us gai-jin," Andr`e had continued bitterly, "there's no future but to open another house here, to drink sak`e and employ other girls. Mon Dieu, treat them all properly, because once they're here they're polluted in the eyes of all other Japanese."

"Sorry. How awful."

"Yes, no one understan--"' A burst of drunken laughter from the men around drowned him for a moment, the Club filled, raucous and steaming.

"I tell you these cretins don't care or give a damn, none of them, except Canterbury, he did." Andr`e had looked up from the dregs of his drink. "You're young and unsullied, here for a year or two and seem willing to learn, so I thought... there's so much to learn, so much good," he had said suddenly and left.

That was last night and now they were within the Yoshiwara gate, Andr`e took out his small pistol. "Phillip, are you armed?"' "No."

Andr`e gave the pistol to the unctuous attendant who gave him a receipt and put it with many others. "No weapons are allowed within the fence--the same in all Yoshiwaras, even samurai must give up their swords. On you va!"

Ahead of them now, on either side of the wide street and alleys leading off it, were lines of neat little houses, many for eating or just small bars, all built of wood with verandas and oiled paper shoji screens, and raised off the ground on low pilings. Everywhere color and sprays of flowers, noise and laughter, and lanterns, candles and oil lamps. "Fire's a huge hazard, Phillip. This whole place burned down the first year but within the week, booming again."

All the Houses bore individual signs.

Some had open doors and sliding shoji windows.

Many girls were in them, ornately or demurely dressed in kimonos of varying quality, depending on the standing of the House. Other girls were promenading, some with colorful umbrellas, some attended by maids, paying little or no attention to the gawking men. Intermixed were vendors of all kinds, and swarms of maids shouting the virtues of the Houses in versions of pithy, raucous pidgin, and sounding over everything the happy banter of potential customers, most of whom were recognized and had their favored places. There were no Japanese except for guards, servants, porters and masseurs.

"Never forget, Yoshiwaras are a place for joy, the pleasures of the flesh, eating and drinking as well, and that there's no such thing as sin in Japan, original sin, any kind of sin."

Andr`e laughed and led the way through the well-ordered crowds except a few brawling drunks who were quickly and good-naturedly pulled apart by huge, expert bouncers, at once to be sat on stools and plied with more sak`e by the ever attentive maids.

"Drunks are welcome, Phillip, because they lose count of their money. But don't ever pick a quarrel with a bouncer, they're fantastically good at unarmed combat."

"Compared to our Drunk Town this place is as well disciplined as the Regent's Promenade at Brighton." A boisterous maid caught Tyrer's arm and tried to pull him into a doorway. "Sak`e heya? Jig jig plenty good Mass'er..."

"Iy`e, domo, iy`e..." Tyrer burst out--no, thank you no--and hurriedly caught up with Andr`e. "My God, I had to really tug to get away."

"That's their job." Andr`e turned off the main street through a passageway between dwellings, down another, stopped at a seedy door set into a fence, a grubby sign above, and knocked.

Tyrer recognized the characters that Andr`e had written for him earlier: House of the Three Carp. A small grill slid back. Eyes peered out. The door opened and Tyrer stepped into a wonderland.

Tiny garden, oil lanterns and candlelight.

Glistening grey stepping stones in green moss, clusters of flowers, many small maples-- blood-red leaves against more green--pale orange light coming from the half-obscured shoji. Little bridge over a miniature stream, waterfall nearby. Kneeling on the veranda was a middle-aged woman, the mama-san, beautifully attired and coiffured. "Bonsoir, Monsieur Furansu-san," she said, put both her hands on the veranda and bowed.

Andr`e bowed back. "Raiko-san, konbanwa. Ikaga desu ka?"' Good evening, how are you? "Kore wa watashi no lomodachi desu, Tyrer-san."

This is my friend, Mr. Tyrer.

"Ah so desu ka? Taira-san?"' She bowed gravely, awkwardly Tyrer bowed, then she beckoned them to follow her.

"She says Taira is a famous old Japanese name. You're in luck, Phillip, most of us go by nicknames. I'm Furansu-san --the nearest they can get to Frenchman."

Taking off their shoes so as not to dirty the very clean and expensive tatami, then sitting awkwardly cross-legged in the room, Andr`e Poncin explaining the takoyama, the alcove for a special hanging scroll and flower arrangement, changed daily, guiding him to appreciate the quality of the shoji and woods.