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or , literally "woman serving (or selling) meal" is the Japanese term for the women who were hired by hatago

Hatago

were Edo period lodgings for travelers at shukuba along the national highways, including the Edo Five Routes and the subroutes. In addition to a place to rest, hatago also offered meals and other foods to the travelers...

inns at the shukuba

Shukuba

were post stations during the Edo period in Japan, generally located on one of the Edo Five Routes or one of its sub-routes. They were also called shukueki . These post stations were places where travelers could rest on their journey around the nation...

(post stations) along kaidō

Kaido

were ancient roads in Japan dating from the Edo period. Major examples include the Edo Five Routes, all of which started at Edo...

routes in Japan during the Edo era. They were at the beginning maids servants hired by the inns, although later as traffic along the kaidō grew and competition between the inns increased, they were often engaged in prostitution.

Many inns had prostitutes in order to attract larger number of travellers. In 1718, Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

issued a law aiming at "restricting" the headcount of meshimori onna to two per inn, giving them ground to provide prostitution as silent permission.