Tamaki in the manga
Tamaki manages the brothel and oversees the women’s work. Her authority makes her a person others must answer to when disputes arise inside the house.
Satoko appeals to her authority when Yukari and the other courtesans threaten her. Tamaki can offer a practical way to push back within the brothel, but she remains part of a system that restricts the women’s freedom.
Authority within the house can offer leverage without offering freedom.
Tamaki occupies an institutional position the other women have to take seriously. That makes her name a resource Satoko can use in a dangerous encounter.
Chapter references identify the scenes behind each argument. “Our reading” is an interpretation, rather than a statement of the author’s confirmed intent.
A rule can restrain one form of harm
Chapters 13–15
Tamaki manages the brothel. During the threat from Yukari, Satoko appeals to the consequences of bringing the matter to Tamaki’s attention.
The house contains rules and hierarchies as well as violence. Satoko recognises a point where those rules may protect her. That limited protection should be measured against the larger conditions of the women’s work, which the appeal does not overturn.
