An Edo period "Who's Who" of prostitutes in the pleasure districts. The yūjo hyōbanki was one of two major types of such commentary, the other being those books dealing with actors *yakusha hyōbanki 役者評判記. Yūjo hyōbanki were the older of these two and dealt with commentaries on the talents and appearances of prostitutes in Kyoto's Shimabara 島原 district, Osaka's Shinmachi 新町 area and the *Yoshiwara 吉原 in Edo. By around 1688 they also came to serve as guidebooks to the pleasure districts. The oldest yūjo hyōbanki were handwritten copies, but during and after the Manji 万治 era (1658-61) they were published as woodblock printed editions. The yūjo hyōbanki influenced the later *ukiyo zōshi 浮世草子, playing an indispensable role in their establishment. The amorous fiction known as kōshokubon 好色本, which was published by the Hachimonjiya 八文字屋 (see *hachimonjiyabon 八文字屋本), is particularly reminiscent of the hyōbanki. These books also contained illustrations which were the basis for the later development of the single sheet *ichimai-e 一枚絵 woodblock prints *ukiyo-e 浮世絵.