Superstitions you can use

Ensnare your crush, cure dread diseases, and avoid bad luck like a boss

For over two hundred years, the courtesans of Yoshiwara were trapped within the moat and four stout walls of Edo’s pleasure quarter, so it’s no surprise they practiced many superstitions aimed at bringing about the lucky moment a rich man might notice them and give them a chance to ensnare him with their wit and wiles. First-rank oirans passed these secrets down to their kamuro apprentices in the hope a man would fall for them heads over heels and whisk them away to a life beyond the Great Gate.

And—not incidentally—how to stay alive enough for this miracle to happen.

Advice for the lovelorn

Recipe for dealing with an unfaithful man

Boil equal parts sake, vinegar, soy sauce, oil, teeth blackening compound, water, and lamp wicks in a pot. Add a piece of paper on which the lover’s private parts have been drawn and bring to a boil again. This will ensure your lover will have eyes for no one but you. (But, uh, air out the room first. Apparently, that iron and vinegar teeth blackening potion is nasty.)

Charm for attracting the man of your dreams

Write “Waiting with a passion as fervent as the heat that bakes salt, for he who does not come” on a piece of paper, along with the man’s name and the date you wish him to appear. Address it to the god at the shrine or temple where you usually worship, then pin it to the wall upside down.

Signs that a lucky event is about to happen

If your right ear tickles, something lucky will happen in the morning; if the left ear, the lucky thing will happen in the afternoon.

If the palms of your hands itch, you will get money; if the back of your hands itch, you will lose money.

What it means if you sneeze

Once: Someone is secretly praising you
Twice: Someone is backbiting you
Three times: Someone is in love with you
Four times: You have caught a cold

Health advice for the superstitious

Cures for what ails you

A wart will go away if you go to a graveyard and apply water from the oldest gravestone.

To stop infection from spreading, wrap some horse dung in a piece of paper and place the package under the mattress where the feverish patient is lying.

Dress a smallpox patient in red clothing so the attack will be mild. The smallpox imp is pleased by the sight of red garments.

If you place a mushroom on your navel and keep it there, you won’t get seasick.

If a woman sweeps and cleans the toilet, she will have easy childbirth.

Consequences for ignoring tried and true superstitions

If you meet a funeral procession, conceal your thumbs or your parents will die.

If you cut your nails at night, you will be bewitched by a fox.

If you allow your nails to grow too long, you will catch cold.

If you shave the hair from your legs, you will not be able to run swiftly when you need to escape.

If you get a pimple in your nose, a relative will become pregnant.

If you urinate on an earthworm, your penis will swell up and become inflamed.

If you sit in a seat just vacated by another person, you will have a falling out unless you tap the seat three times before you sit down.

If you grow the nail of your little finger, your memory will improve.

I you spit into the latrine, you will go blind.

If you meet a nearsighted man who stares at you, don’t stare back or you’ll catch his nearsightedness.

If your eyebrows are close together, your life will be short.

If you behave in an unfilial manner, you will get hangnails.

These are all real superstitions held by the women of Yoshiwara from the 1600s through the 1800s, as chronicled in The Nightless City: Geisha and Courtesan Life in Old Tokyo by J.E. de Becker.

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