Why the Rooster Market at Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku is a Hunting Ground for Hostesses and Hosiery Freaks

Starting on November 3, the “Tori-no-ichi (rooster market)” will be held at Hanazono Shrine in Shinjuku for a total of six days. This festival is a big event for Kabukicho residents as well, with not only cabaret girls going out with their customers, but also the entire management of host clubs joining in the ritual of exchanging rakes and then going straight into drinking at the festival.

The rooster market has been shrinking for the past two years due to the Corona Vortex, but this year it is expected to be quite lively. Dai (27, pseudonym), a Kabukicho host for six years, says, “The rooster market is a place for hosts and hostesses to get together and have a drink.”

The rooster market is a place where hosts, cabaret girls, and hosiery freaks get together. It’s also a chance to see old customers and girls you used to be friends with. In other words, it’s like a reunion for Kabukicho residents.

For the hosts, the rooster market is also a “hunting ground.”

Sometimes I find girls from customers who have flown without paying their debts to the host. There was a customer whom I had not heard from since she sent a message to my LINE saying, ‘This is 00’s mother, her daughter died in an accident. (laughs). (Laughs.) Catching a guy like that and collecting his accounts receivable is also a common sight at the rooster market.’

It is also a regular occurrence every year that a host gets worked up by the alcohol he drinks in the unusual atmosphere of the festival, picks up a cute girl, and then his own customers see him doing so and start a fight.

On the other hand, the rooster market is also an important event for hosiery enthusiasts.

“I once followed my assigned host at the rooster market,” he says.

Yumika (21, pseudonym) has been a hosu-kai for three years.

I asked the delicatessen where I work to pretend that I was on duty, and went to the rooster market. My supervisor posted on SNS, ‘I came to the rooster market with a bunch of guys!’ but I thought it was suspicious. I had heard rumors that there was a girl I had been seeing privately for a while. I walked around Hanazono Shrine to find her, and I was right, she was with a woman I had never seen at the store (laughs). (Laughs.) When I realized that he was meeting with a woman who was paying me for my services but not for money, I cooled off and took a picture of her backside and uploaded it on the store’s bulletin board.

Yumika, laughing unconcernedly, says she plans to go to the rooster market again this year.

My current supervisor invited me, so I’m going with her. The rooster market this year has six days. That’s why the hosts sometimes divide the days between going with their employees and going with the girls, but I won the day with the girls, so I feel superior. It’s a little awkward to think that I might meet my former host (laughs).

The decreasing age of the “Toyoko Kids” has also become a hot topic in Kabukicho recently. It is common to see boys and girls who look like they are in junior high school or elementary school hanging out on the streets, and it is likely that they too will visit the rooster market.

There are a lot of young people these days who have a yearning for Kabukicho,” he said. It’s not just the kids who want to wear mine fashion, but there are usually serious-looking high school girls in school uniforms and young parents with their children. I have a feeling that this year’s rooster market will attract a wider variety of people than usual,” said Dai, the host.

I hope it doesn’t get too exciting and some incidents don’t happen.

Sasaki Chihuahua
Born in Tokyo in ’00. After attending an integrated school in Tokyo from elementary school to high school, he went on to Keio University. 15 years old, he has been going to Kabukicho and has a wide range of personal connections. At university, he is studying the sociology of the downtown area, including Kabukicho.

His book, ” Pien” to shakai” (“The Disease of ‘Pien’: Consumption and Approval of the SNS Generation”), is now on sale.