oiran

The word {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} comes from the Japanese phrase {{nihongo||おいらの所の姉さん|"oira no tokoro no nēsan"}} which translates loosely to "the sister at our (my) place." When written in kanji, the word consists of two characters: {{lang|ja|花}}, meaning "flower", and {{lang|ja|魁}} meaning "leader". Though only the highest ranking prostitutes of Yoshiwara were technically known as {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, the term is now widely applied to all.2006-1-27, 藤田　真一, [http://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/Fc_let/colomn/colomn41.html 京都・角屋の文化　―学問の手伝えること―] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321205754/http://www.kansai-u.ac.jp/Fc_let/colomn/colomn41.html |date=2011-03-21}}, Kansai University. Quote: 「花魁は、江戸の吉原にしかいません。吉原にも当初は太夫がいたのですが、揚屋が消滅したのにともなって、太夫もいなくなりました。その替わりに出てきたのが、花魁なのです。ですから、花魁は江戸吉原専用の語なのです。」

Compared to {{transliteration|ja|yūjo}}, whose primary attraction was the sexual services they offered, {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, and particularly {{transliteration|ja|tayū}}, were first and foremost entertainers. In order to become an {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, a woman first had to be educated in a range of skills from a relatively young age, including {{transliteration|ja|sadō}} (Japanese tea ceremony), {{transliteration|ja|ikebana}} (flower arranging) and calligraphy. {{transliteration|ja|Oiran}} also learned to play the {{transliteration|ja|koto}}, {{transliteration|ja|shakuhachi}}, {{transliteration|ja|tsuzumi}} (hand drum), {{transliteration|ja|shamisen}} and {{transliteration|ja|kokyū}}.{{sfn|Seigle|1993|pp=123, 202}} Clients expected {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} to be well read, able to converse and write with wit and elegance, and able to match them in intellect in conversation.{{sfn|Hickey|1998|p=28}}

Within the pleasure quarters, an {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}'s prestige was based on her beauty, character, education and artistic ability,{{sfn|Hickey|1998|pp=26–27}} which was reflected in the number of ranks falling in the category of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}. An {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, unlike geisha or common prostitutes, could be promoted or demoted by the owner of her brothel, and commonly inherited a {{nihongo|generational name|名跡|myōseki}} upon gaining promotion to a higher rank; these names, exclusively the property of the brothel owner, typically carried the prestige of the person who held it previously, and brothel owners commonly chose only those of similar countenance and reputation to inherit them. {{transliteration|ja|Myōseki}} were written in kanji, and were typically more elaborate than the average woman's name of the time, holding meanings taken from poetry, literary history and nature; {{transliteration|ja|myōseki}} were rarely passed from one {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} directly down to their apprentice.{{cite web |title=Kamuro |url=http://www.issendai.com/japanese-courtesans/kamuro.html |website=issendai.com |publisher=Issendai |access-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200712182032/http://www.issendai.com/japanese-courtesans/kamuro.html |archive-date=12 July 2020 |url-status=live}}

{{transliteration|ja|Oiran}} not considered to be high ranking or skilled enough to hold an inherited name would instead use a professional name considered elegant enough to be the name of a courtesan; these were typically pseudonyms taken to either protect one's identity or to promote the brothel's image, and were likely to be slightly more elaborate than the average woman's name. These names, alongside the names of both {{transliteration|ja|kamuro}} and {{transliteration|ja|shinzō}} (child attendants and apprentice courtesans respectively) were written in hiragana.{{cite web |title=Lower-Ranking Japanese Prostitutes' Names |url=http://www.issendai.com/japanese-courtesans/lower-ranking-prostitutes-names.html |website=issendai.com |publisher=Issendai |access-date=14 July 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200712175022/https://www.issendai.com/japanese-courtesans/lower-ranking-prostitutes-names.html |archive-date=12 July 2020 |url-status=live}}

The appearance of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} was markedly different from that of both geisha and the average woman, reflecting the upper class tastes and expectations of their customers; by the height of their profession at the beginning of the Edo period, {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} wore upwards of eight large {{transliteration|ja|kanzashi}} (hair ornaments), typically made from tortoiseshell, silver, gold and gemstones, in their large, elaborate and heavily waxed hairstyles; these hairstyles, all with different names and meanings, were worn to represent different ranks, seasons and occasions.

An {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}'s outfit consisted of a number of layered kimono; the outermost kimono would usually be a heavily decorated silk brocade garment known as the {{transliteration|ja|uchikake}}, which would feature a heavily padded hem. Though {{transliteration|ja|uchikake}} were also worn by noblewomen and, towards the end of the Meiji period, began to be worn by some brides, the {{transliteration|ja|uchikake}} worn by {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} were far more excessive and loud. These {{transliteration|ja|uchikake}} featured elaborate, traditional and auspicious designs, such as dragons, butterflies, arabesque rondels, pine, plum and bamboo, woven and embroidered in heavy gold and silver thread.

This would be worn unbelted over the top of the underkimono, which featured a patterned design only on the lower skirt, and resembled a {{transliteration|ja|juban}} (underkimono; part of kimono underwear) otherwise. The ensemble was belted with an {{transliteration|ja|obi}} tied at the front. During the Edo period, this {{transliteration|ja|obi}} became both wider and stiffer, adding weight and discomfort. {{transliteration|ja|Oiran}} became known for wearing a specific style of {{transliteration|ja|obi}} known as the {{nihongo3|{{lit|cutting board {{transliteration|ja|obi}}}}||manaita obi}}, which presented a large, flat surface on which large designs would be decorated.

When parading or otherwise walking, {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} wore {{transliteration|ja|koma geta}} – {{cvt|20|cm|adj=on}} tall paulownia wood clogs with three "teeth". Though lightweight for their size, these would prevent an {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} from taking anything other than small, slow footsteps when walking; {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} would thus walk in {{transliteration|ja|koma geta}} with a sliding, figure of 8 ({{transliteration|ja|suri-ashi}}) step, with two manservants (known as {{transliteration|ja|wakaimono}}) assisting her. {{transliteration|ja|Oiran}} generally did not wear {{transliteration|ja|tabi}} socks, with her bare foot considered to be a point of eroticism in her outfit. In total, a formal parade outfit worn by an {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} could weigh in excess of {{cvt|20|kg}}, often weighing as much as {{cvt|30|kg}},{{efn|In this video, the Shochiku Costume Company presents a modern reproduction costume for the role of Agemaki, a courtesan in the play {{transliteration|ja|Sukeroku}}. Though kabuki costumes are exaggerated, the costumes used for courtesans are highly similar to those used by {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} at the time (Edo period), making the techniques, decoration and fabrics used highly similar, if not entirely, and reliable as a resource for what {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} actually wore.{{cite web |title=Kabuki KOOL |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc1vUfKOoJc&t=1384s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/lc1vUfKOoJc |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|website=youtube.com |publisher=NHK World |access-date=9 January 2020 |format=Youtube video |quote=(25:33)}}{{cbignore}}}} and would require great assistance to put on.

The highest rank of courtesan was that of {{nihongo||太夫|tayū}}, followed by {{nihongo||格子|kōshi}}.Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600–1900. Columbia University Press, 2008.The life of an amorous woman. Taylor & Francis. Commentary "APPENDIX III. THE HIERARCHY OF COURTESANS" p. 286. Unlike courtesans of lower rank, {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} had sufficient prestige to refuse clients.{{sfn|Seigle|1993|p=87}} Their high status also

made the services of {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} extremely pricey – a {{transliteration|ja|tayū}}'s fee for one evening was between one {{transliteration|ja|ryo}} and one {{transliteration|ja|ryo}}, three {{transliteration|ja|bu}}, well beyond a laborer's monthly wage and comparable to a shop assistant's annual salary.{{sfn|Ryū|2008|p=69}}

Though many courtesans could be registered in one area, extremely few reached {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} status; a guidebook published in 1688 listed the contemporary numbers of high-ranking courtesans in comparison to all the courtesans listed in one area:Guide to the Quarters of the Land (Shokoku irozato annai), 1688

• 13 {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} were registered in Shimabara out of 329 registered courtesans
• 7 {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} were registered in Shinmachi out of 983 registered courtesans
• 3 {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} were registered in Osaka and Yoshiwara out of 2,790 registered courtesans

A Yoshiwara guidebook published in 1792 listed the six extant ranks of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, including {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} and {{transliteration|ja|kōshi}}, who had, by the time of the guidebook's publication, been dormant, with no courtesans in these roles in Yoshiwara, for 30 years:

1. {{transliteration|ja|Tayū}}
2. {{transliteration|ja|Kōshi}}
3. {{transliteration|ja|Yobidashi Tsukemawarashi}}
4. {{transliteration|ja|Sancha}}
5. {{transliteration|ja|Tsukemawarashi}}
6. {{transliteration|ja|Zashikimochi}}

In 1761, the last {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} of Yoshiwara retired, marking the end of the {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} and {{transliteration|ja|kōshi}} ranks in that pleasure quarter, though both {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} and {{transliteration|ja|kōshi}} continued to work in Kyoto and Osaka. The word {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} therefore appeared in Yoshiwara as a polite term of address for any remaining woman of courtesan rank.{{sfn|Swinton|1995|p=37}}

File:Oiran in Japan in 1917.jpg

The profession of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} arose in the early Edo period (1600–1868), following the introduction of laws restricting brothels to bounded pleasure quarters known as {{nihongo3|{{lit|playground}}|遊廓/遊郭|yūkaku}} in roughly 1600, sometimes restricting brothels to literal walled-in districts.{{r|"Dalby"|p=59|q=By the 1750s, the licensed quarters had already been in existence for 150 years.}} These quarters were often placed at some distance from the centre of the attached town or city, and the legal status and location of these districts changed on a number of occasions throughout the following centuries; on occasion, some were closed and their inhabitants either sent to live or work in another, larger red light district.

The three best-known districts historically were Shimabara in Kyoto (which also housed geisha until the 1970s),{{cite web |last1=Dalby |first1=Liza |title=The notes, references, and links listed here are keyed to the new preface "Geisha in the 21st Century" in the 25th anniversary edition of GEISHA |url=http://www.lizadalby.com/LD/newgeishanotes.html |website=Liza Dalby |publisher=lizadalby.com |access-date=9 January 2020 |quote=Note 12}} Shinmachi in Osaka and Yoshiwara in Edo (present day Tokyo). Over time, these districts rapidly grew into large and self contained neighbourhoods, containing a number of different forms of entertainment outside of prostitution including performances and festivals. Geisha – whose profession came into existence in the late 18th century – also occasionally worked within these districts, as edicts passed at various times restricted them from working outside of officially designated red light areas.

Outside of their physical presentation, the traditional aesthetics of the {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} and their attire bled into other aspects of the Edo period; within Yoshiwara, {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} eventually became the main source of entertainment, performing and entertaining at parties for guests. Scholar Jonathan Clements emphasised the striking presence of the {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} outside of their quarters, where a parading {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}'s slow movements, brightly coloured and layered clothing, and lacquered hair provided a source of titillation for "the implications of Edo life [to be] so devoid of women."{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Jonathan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv131bwq1 |title=A Short History of Tokyo |date=2018 |publisher=Haus Publishing |isbn=978-1-912208-97-5 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv131bwq1.6|jstor=j.ctv131bwq1 |s2cid=217810020 }} As a larger than life figure, historical accounts of the oiran recall the transferral of respectable house names as tangible products for potential clients, as well as signifiers of rank for established providers. This resulted in a widespread desire for anonymity for the mostly male population within Yoshiwara. Specialized products, such as {{transliteration|ja|kasa}} hats, medicinal intervention,{{vague|reason=What 'intervention'?|date=April 2022}} and the newly developed medium of kabuki encompassed the centricity of the red-light district economy, while also supporting anonymity of its patrons. Thus, the mythical persona for the {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} did not only extend to physical interactions with her, but embodied one's journey through Yoshiwara itself. Outside of prostitution and the arts, the aesthetic reverence utilised to distinguish different classes of the {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} became a vehicle for other means of aesthetic expression.

This had a profound impact on the economy, while also reflecting a point of contention between the upper and lower classes of Edo. Yoshiwara, known as "the place without night", represented one of the new places in which "high" culture was able to mingle with that of the lower classes, forging a new aesthetic environment within Edo society alongside their mingling. Another nickname for the Yoshiwara was "ukiyo", a Buddhist word that meant suffering world, which, when written in new characters, came to mean "floating world". This would also later influence the creation of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Laura W. Allen, the curator of Japanese art at the Asian Art Museum describes the aesthetic intervention as "ignoring the problems that might have existed in a very strictly regulated society and abandoning yourself, bobbing along on the current of pleasure."{{Cite web |last=Hix |first=Lisa |title=Sex and Suffering: The Tragic Life of the Courtesan in Japan's Floating World |url=https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-tragic-life-of-the-courtesan-in-japans-floating-world/ |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=Collectors Weekly |language=en}}

Because of their isolation, the rigidity of their contracts as courtesans – which often ran for 10–15 years before ending their involvement with the profession – and their inability to leave the pleasure districts,{{r|"Dalby"|p=59}} {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} became steadily more traditional, outdated and ritualised, further and further removed from popular society and bound by their strict rules of etiquette, behaviour and speech. This, combined with their relative financial inaccessibility to most people, created a vacuum of entertainment for the rising merchant classes, whose relatively high wealth and relatively low social status left them unable to hire {{transliteration|ja|oiran}},{{r|"Kabuki"|p=18|q=It took three meetings, each with the fees for a banquet, before a patron could actually sleep with [an oiran], but only if the oiran agreed.}} thus leading to the decision to patronise the greatly more accessible and less expensive geisha instead.

Over time, {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} also lost their celebrity status in wider society, and came in part to be seen less as highly cultured courtesans reflecting formal, high class standards of speech and appearance, and more as caged women unable to leave the pleasure districts and chained to the debts they owed to their brothel.{{cite web |last1=Eichman |first1=Shawn |title=Tongue in Cheek: Erotic Art of 19th Century Japan |url=http://shunga.honolulumuseum.org/2013/index.php?status=complete&page=200&language=english&screenWidth=1366&screenHeight=768&browserWidth=1366&browserHeight=663&minTextHeight=482 |website=honolulumuseum.org |publisher=Honolulu Museum of Art |access-date=30 May 2020 |format=Online museum exhibition |quote=Though the precise reasons for [the decline] in the public's perception of the Yoshiwara [Edo brothel district] during the 19th century can only be speculated, the decline was as precipitous as it was undeniable. By the early 20th century, the aura of dignity and élan the courtesans had once exuded was all but lost, and these women, many of whom suffered from venereal disease, appeared more like sexual slaves than celebrities.|page=102}} The preservation of the appearance of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} had also not reflected changes in fashion – as the profession of geisha had evolved and become increasingly popular, the authorities had sought to clamp down on the profligate and wealthy tastes of the merchant classes, leading to a number of dress edicts that changed popular aesthetics and led to the rise of subdued and cultivated aesthetics such as {{transliteration|ja|iki}}, which {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} categorically did not reflect or resemble.

Similarly, the entertainment that {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} offered had mostly remained unchanged since generations of courtesans previous. Though {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} played the {{transliteration|ja|shamisen}}, they did not play the popular and contemporary tunes composed for it, and instead stuck to longer ballads such as {{transliteration|ja|nagauta}}, which had refined, but restrained, lyrical content.{{r|"Dalby"|p=59,259}} This was in contrast to the {{nihongo3|{{lit|little songs}}||kouta}} favoured and sung by geisha, whose lyrical content was often heartfelt and honest.{{cite book |last1=Dalby |first1=Liza |title=Little Songs of the Geisha |date=2000 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |location=Vermont |isbn=0-8048-3250-1 |edition=2nd}}

In the years that {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} declined, the geisha profession was born and grew increasingly stronger, contributing in part, if not in majority, to this decline.

Geisha were, officially-speaking, considered to be a relatively low-class form of entertainment, and as such, were not patronised by the upper classes, who were officially supposed to patronise {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} instead; however, during the Edo period, geisha came to represent the tastes of the merchant classes, whose low social status and high financial freedom left them free of social obligations to uphold the status of a samurai family that men of the upper classes were commonly beholden to.

As the merchant classes throughout Edo-period society grew in wealth and profligacy, they became the main source of income for geisha, who represented social and financial accessibility in a way that {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} did not. Geisha were cheap to patronise, informal to converse with, required few introductions before entertaining a customer and both played and sang the most popular songs of the time. Through various dress edicts aimed at controlling the merchant classes and thus preserving the appearances and social status of the upper classes, extravagant or obvious displays of wealth had been outlawed and driven underground, bringing aesthetics such as {{transliteration|ja|iki}} (simple, chic elegance) into popularity, which geisha came to both represent and champion. A geisha's loyalties were also held to be more true, as geisha could choose whom they wished to entertain, and geisha became the subject of many popular romantic stories.

Though geisha also worked within the pleasure districts that {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} did – at times forbidden to work outside of them – as the profession developed, laws regarding the separation of the two professions were passed. This, over time, ironically led to exaggerate and exacerbate the differences between geisha and {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, heightening the popularity of the former and leading to the eventual destruction of the latter. Geisha were forbidden to dress elaborately, in the manner of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, and were not allowed to sleep with their customers. Geisha were registered at a separate registry office, and if an {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} accused a geisha of stealing a customer, she would be fully investigated, with the potential to be forbidden from working if found guilty.{{r|"Dalby"|p=59}}

Though geisha and {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} were likely to be at least in part indentured to their houses, geisha were not considered to be the same kind of physical property that {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} were considered to be by their employers. Though {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} were unable to leave their pleasure quarters and could be, if not in the highest ranks, forced to entertain whichever customers the head of her brothel demanded she entertain, geisha were allowed to both leave their houses and choose which patrons she wished to entertain, leading to the rise of adages comparing the loyalties of an {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} with square eggs, the punchline being that neither were things that existed. Though many geisha went into debt or held at least some debt with their {{transliteration|ja|okiya}}, few found themselves in the same situation of financial domination and ownership that {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} were almost entirely bound to.{{r|"Dalby"|p=68}}

Towards the end of the Edo period, {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} continued to dwindle in popularity as the geisha grew in numbers, accessibility, and appeal. By the beginning of the Meiji period, official attitudes towards legalized prostitution within Japan had changed owing to the country's increasing international presence. Towards the end of the 19th century, geisha had replaced {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} as the entertainer and companion of choice for the wealthiest in Japanese society, with the central appeal of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} having grown increasingly remote from everyday life.

{{transliteration|ja|Oiran}} continued to see clients within the old pleasure quarters, but were no longer at the cutting edge of fashion, and during the years of World War II, when any show of luxury was heavily clamped down upon, the culture surrounding {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} suffered even further, being dealt the final blow in 1957 by the Anti-Prostitution Law – after which the profession of courtesan (excluding the performance arts of {{transliteration|ja|tayū}}) became illegal.

{{main|Tayū}}

File:Kisaragi Tayu 2016.04.10.jpg

{{transliteration|ja|Tayū}} continue to entertain in a similar manner to geisha, with fewer than five {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} left in modern-day Kyoto. The last remaining {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} house is located in Shimabara, which lost its official status as a {{transliteration|ja|hanamachi}} for geisha in the late 20th century.Dalby, Liza. [http://www.lizadalby.com/LD/newgeisha_tayu.html "Courtesans and Geisha – the Tayû"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522030931/http://www.lizadalby.com/LD/newgeisha_tayu.html |date=2015-05-22 }}. [http://www.lizadalby.com/ www.lizadalby.com] Retrieved 3-11-2014. However, some still recognize Shimabara as a {{transliteration|ja|hanamachi}}, with the number and activities of {{transliteration|ja|tayū}} slowly growing. The few remaining women still currently practising the arts of the {{transliteration|ja|tayū}}, without the sexual aspect, do so as a preservation of cultural heritage rather than as a profession or lifestyle.{{sfn|Dalby|1995|p=64}}

File:Oiran 2.jpg

The {{transliteration|ja|Bunsui Sakura Matsuri Oiran Dōchū}} is an annual event held every April in Bunsui, Niigata Prefecture (now part of the city of Tsubame). The parade, which takes place in spring, historically re-enacts the walk made by top courtesans around their district in honour of their guests. The modern parade features three women dressed as {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} in full traditional attire with approximately 70 accompanying servants. The {{transliteration|ja|oiran}}, who are named Shinano, Sakura, and Bunsui, walk with the distinctive slow gait of wearing {{transliteration|ja|koma geta}}. Due to the event's popularity in Japan, organizers are often inundated with applications to be part of the parade as one of the three {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} or as a servant. {{transliteration|ja|Dōchū}} is a shortened form of {{transliteration|ja|oiran-dōchū}}, it is also known as the Dream Parade of Echigo ({{transliteration|ja|Echigo no yume-dōchū}}).

The Ōsu Street Performers' Festival is an event held around Ōsu Kannon Temple in Nagoya yearly around the beginning of October. The highlight of this two-day festival is the slow procession of {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} through the Ōsu Kannon shopping arcade. Thousands of spectators crowd the shopping streets on these days to get close enough to photograph the {{transliteration|ja|oiran}} and their retinue of male bodyguards and entourage of apprentices (young girls in distinctive red kimono, wearing {{transliteration|ja|oshiroi}} (white face paint) and loose, long black hair).

An {{transliteration|ja|oiran dōchū}} parade is held in the Minamishinagawa district near Aomono-Yokochō, Shinagawa every September.{{cite web |last1=Miura |first1=Yoshiaki |title=Shinagawa, a gateway to old and new Tokyo |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/11/30/national/shinagawa-gateway-old-new-tokyo/#.W6d9o-hKiCg |website=The Japan Times Online |access-date=23 September 2018 |date=30 November 2014}}

• Geisha
• {{transliteration|ko|Kisaeng}}
• Prostitution in Japan
• Sing-song girls
• Tawaif
• {{transliteration|zh|Yiji}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Swinton |first1=Elizabeth de Sabato |last2=Campbell |first2=Kazue Edamatsu |last3=Dalby |first3=Liza Crihfield |last4=Oshima |first4=Mark |title=The women of the pleasure quarter: Japanese paintings and prints of the floating world |date=1995 |publisher=Hudson Hills Press |isbn=9781555951153 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TS3rAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Dalby |first1=Liza Crihfield |title=Chapter: Courtesan and Geisha: The Real Women of the Pleasure Quarter |ref={{harvid|Dalby|1995}} |language=en }}
• {{cite book |last1=Swinton |first1=Elizabeth de Sabato |title=Chapter: Reflections on the Floating World |ref={{harvid|Swinton|1995}} |language=en }}
• {{cite book |last1=Becker |first1=J. E. de |title=The Nightless City: Or, The History of the Yoshiwara Yūkwaku |date=2000 |publisher=ICG Muse |isbn=9784925080316 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-8GKHAAACAAJ |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hickey |first1=Gary |title=Beauty & Desire in Edo Period Japan |date=1998 |publisher=National Gallery of Australia |isbn=9780642130846 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gf0uswEACAAJ |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Longstreet |first1=Stephen |last2=Longstreet |first2=Ethel |title=Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarters of Old Tokyo |date=1988 |publisher=C.E. Tuttle Company |isbn=9780804815994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnOuWO1qiC0C |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Ryū |first1=Keiichirō |author-link1=Keiichiro Ryu |title=The Blade of the Courtesans |date=2008 |publisher=Vertical |isbn=9781934287019 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPbtAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last1=Seigle |first1=Cecilia Segawa |title=Yoshiwara: The Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan |date=1993 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=9780824814885 |url=https://archive.org/details/yoshiwaraglitter0000seig |url-access=registration |language=en}}

{{Wiktionary|花魁|oiran}}

{{Commons category|Oiran}}

• [http://asakusa-kannonura.jimdo.com/ Tokyo Ichiyo Sakura Festival Edo Yoshiwara Oiran Parade]
• [https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwps/sets/72157604677773236/ Yoshino Tayu Hana Kuyo. 2008.]
• [http://www.auelib.aichi-edu.ac.jp/lib/postcards/Tayu.html Tayu no Dochu]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100412120938/http://www.city.tsubame.niigata.jp/kankou/event/od_bosyu.html Niigata Prefecture Bunsui Sakura Festival Oiran Parade]

{{Prostitution in Japan}}

Category:Social history of Japan

Oiran

Oiran

Category:Courtesans by type

Category:Gendered occupations

Category:Culture of Japan

Category:Society of Japan

Category:Sexuality in Japan

Category:Prostitution in Japan

Category:Japanese words and phrases