oiran
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.2|An sitting with a client and an apprentice. Ukiyo-e print by [[Suzuki Harunobu (1765).]] thumb| dancing, 2023 is a collective term for the highest-ranking courtesans in Japanese history, who were considered to be above common prostitutes (known as ) for their more refined entertainment skills and training in the traditional arts. Divided into a number of ranks within this category, the highest rank of were the , who were considered to be set apart from other due to their intensive training in the traditional arts and the fact that they lived and worked in Kyoto, the politica
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
19 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Traditions
- Traditional arts{{anchor|Traditional arts}}
- Names{{anchor|Names}}
- Appearance{{anchor|Appearance}}
- Ranks{{anchor|Ranks}}
- History
- Rise to prominence
- Decline
- Competition with geisha
- Later years (1850–1957)
- Modern {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} and {{transliteration|ja|tayū}}
- {{anchor|Tayū}}{{transliteration|ja|Tayū}}
- {{anchor|Oiran}}{{transliteration|ja|Oiran}}
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|upright=1.2|An sitting with a client and an apprentice. Ukiyo-e print by [[Suzuki Harunobu (1765).]] thumb| dancing, 2023 is a collective term for the highest-ranking courtesans in Japanese history, who were considered to be above common prostitutes (known as ) for their more refined entertainment skills and training in the traditional arts. Divided into a number of ranks within this category, the highest rank of were the , who were considered to be set apart from other due to their intensive training in the traditional arts and the fact that they lived and worked in Kyoto, the political capital of Japan, which remained the cultural heart of the country when the seat of political power moved to Tokyo. Though by definition also engaged in prostitution, higher-ranking had a degree of choice in which customers they took.
The term originated in Yoshiwara, the red light district of Edo in the 1750s, and is applied to all ranks of high level courtesans in historical Japan.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “oiran” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.