三さん業ぎょう

noun

three entertainment district enterprises

Historical term referring to the three main types of businesses in a traditional Japanese entertainment district: eating houses, geisha houses, and assignation houses. Rare in modern usage outside historical or cultural contexts.

• 江え戸ど時じ代だいの遊ゆう郭かくでは、三さん業ぎょうと呼よばれる飲いん食しょく店てん、芸げい者しゃ屋や、待まち合あいが営いとなまれていた。

  In the pleasure quarters of the Edo period, the three enterprises known as 三業—eating houses, geisha houses, and assignation houses—were operated.