As you step inside the Great Gate and turn to your right, you encounter the first teahouse. From the mid-1700s teahouses took over the duties once provided exclusively by ageya (houses of assignation)--arranging appointments between potential clients and the highest-ranking courtesans. Each year a directory of names and ranks called a saiken was published to guide the prospective client. In this picture we get a sense of the separateness of the Yoshiwara as the activity inside contrasts with the inactivity outside the gate.