What is the job of an oiran?

Oiran (花魁) was a specific category of high ranking courtesan in Japanese history. Divided into a number of ranks within this category, oiran were considered – both in social terms and in the entertainment they provided – to be above common prostitutes, known as yūjo (遊女, lit. ‘woman of pleasure’).

What is an oiran procession?

Oiran Dochu is a reenactment of a procession from the Edo period (1603-1867) with men and women dressed up in Edo period costumes. The parade ends with a meeting between the tayu (senior most oiran) and her customer. The oiran usually arrive after the following characters have set the stage for the procession.

What does an oiran wear?

CLOTHING. Oiran wears layers of kimono that is purely made out of silk and unlike the kimono that the Geisha wear, they wear loud and bold colors to attract customers. The tayū would wear 5 layers of silk kimono and total weight can be up to 20 kilos.

What is an oiran Japan?

Oiran (花魁) was a name given to a prostitute who was very popular and highly regarded, mostly for her beauty, in the brothels of Yoshiwara in Edo (Tokyo). A regular Yoshiwara prostitute was called a yuujo (遊女) which means “play woman.” (Other types of prostitutes had other names.)

How did geishas not get pregnant?

Silphium. In ancient Rome and Greece and the ancient Near East, women used an oral contraceptive called silphium, which was a species of giant fennel. They would also soak cotton or lint in the juice of this herb and insert it into their vaginas to prevent pregnancy.

What does oiran mean in Japanese?

Oiran (花魁) was a name given to a prostitute who was very popular and highly regarded, mostly for her beauty, in the brothels of Yoshiwara in Edo (Tokyo). In the Edo period, prostitution conducted in specified areas, called yuukaku (遊郭), like Yoshiwara and was legal.

What does komurasaki mean?

The name Komurasaki translates to “small purple” and is the Japanese name for the purple beautyberry.

Did they use contacts in Memoirs of a Geisha?

Ziyi Zhang was allergic to the contact lenses that she had to wear for her role as Sayuri. The novel, and to a lesser extent this film, was loosely based on the true story of the life of the real geisha Mineko Iwasaki. It took a lot of negotiating to get Rob Marshall to direct this film.

Who was involved in the occupation of Japan?

Occupation (of Japan) Written By: Occupation (of Japan), (1945–52) military occupation of Japan by the Allied Powers after its defeat in World War II. Theoretically an international occupation, in fact it was carried out almost entirely by U.S. forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

What kind of shoes did the oiran wear?

Oiran also wore koma geta, insanely tall wooden clog like slip on shoes, that were so high, they needed two men to walk with them so they didn’t fall and had to walk making a figure of eight with their feet never really leaving the ground.

How much does it cost to sleep with an oiran?

A tayu is the highest ranking of oiran, and a night with one of these women would cost you three, as the first two nights you were vetted for suitability to sleep with, and then, if successful in your application, one night could cost the equivalent of a months salary for a labourer or a shop-owners yearly salary.

What is the difference between a geisha and an opoiran?

Oiran were seen as very formal, with their stylised speech and overly ornate way of dressing. They were a product of their time, which began hundreds of years before. Geisha were seen as more relatable, more restrained and more chic.