A few days ago, I inadvertently brushed up on a funny video of a netizen imitating the Japanese flower queen touring the street. While laughing, I was not only curious about Japanese culture. Who is Hua Kui? What is Hua Kui Parade?
Hanakuei refers to the name given to the most senior nomad (whore) in Yoshihara Yukō (where the brothel was located) during the Edo period (1603-1868) in Japan. Its origin is said to have originated in the 18th century, when Yoshihara's wandering women called the higher-ranking tourists " " sister " , which gradually evolved into a special term for higher-status nomads.
In the Edo period of Japan, women engaged in sexual service work were called wandering girls, and the upside-down Hanaku was the best among the wandering women.
The journey from Hua Kui to Yang house (similar to a high-class club) is called "Hua Kui Road Zhong", which refers to the round-trip journey of high-level tourists to the tea house to meet regular customers. The form in the Flower Kui Road has a fixed specification.
At the front of the line were the thugs of the Yang House who led the way, and the security personnel such as the Turtle Gong. Then there is the lantern with the pattern printed exclusively on the flower. Then there are two little girls known as "bald" (i.e., girls under the age of 10 who help Hua Kui to wait for Hua Kui), holding Hua Kui's supplies.
Behind the flower queen, there must be a special person with an umbrella cover, which is said to be able to block bad luck for the flower queen. Hua Kui is followed by several "new girls" (girls who are older than "bald" but have not yet been able to pick up customers).
When Hua Kui dao, Hua Kui must wear the most gorgeous clothes, very heavy, almost more than 20 kilograms, comb up Hua Kui's special hairstyle "Tachibana", and then wear a headdress weighing about ten pounds.
The headdress worn by Hua Kui
In addition, Hua Kui must step on a 20-30 cm tall clogs "three chǐ (tuó)", which are mostly three-toothed in order to lose weight, but the single foot also weighs almost 5 pounds.
Wearing this kind of clogs, walking is not only slow but also "twisted", relying on twisting the waist to drive the legs and feet to make the shoes slide on the ground, and the whole action must be like a goldfish swimming. Therefore, the pace of Hua Kui's walk is also called the goldfish step, which imitates the goldfish swinging tail. This kind of goldfish-like walk also has special names called "Inner Eight Characters" and "Outer Eight Characters". It is said that it takes two or three years to take two or three years to take to take this kind of step to walk well.
To become the "highest level" in the flower queen, you need not only to be a country-loving appearance, but also to learn high-end etiquette and artistic skills, including classical calligraphy, tea ceremony, dance, elegant musical instruments (such as Japanese koto and shamisen), waka, and Go. The shape of Hanakuei is often the subject of ukiyo-e (ukiyo-e is a kind of woodblock print that flourished in Japan in the Edo period, depicting folk customs, characters, landscapes, etc. with bright colors and concise lines, which can fully reflect the folk life of the time). Each line has its own suffering, and it is not easy to be a flower queen!