The summer months in Edo--the "cooling season"--was the peak time for roaming around Ryôgoku and enjoying the breezes off the Sumida River. If you could afford it, you might hire a boat to cruise the river. Such pleasure cruises by well-to-do men often included entertainment (music, song, and witty conversation) provided by geisha, such as the one at the right playing a shamisen. As depicted in the foreground here, women too might have a good time on their own. This type of small boat is called a chokibune (flat-bottomed boat), which vendors used to deliver food and drink to the larger boat parties and which pleasure-seeking men often hired to scoot themselves up to the Yoshiwara.