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- Ichiro's original frozen text page - Oiran Photo(Original)
Recently we received 6 vintage post cards. They are photos of Oiran.
We hope you are now familiar with the word 'Oiran'. Here is the English wiki page of Oiran.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oiran
On the Japanese page of wiki, there is more information.
Girls in the company of Oiran are called 'Kamuro'. These girls where generally around 10 years old, and waited on Oiran hand-and-foot. Most of the girls were sold by their parents (whom were given a large amount of money, and the girls had to pay back the money by working as Yujo), and some girls were daughters of Oiran.
The adult women with the Oiran seem to be 'Banto-shinzo', whom worked as the managers of Oiran. They were retired Yujo or women whom were not attractive enough to be Yujo (in the second and the last photos).
At a glance, these photos show that Oiran's kimonos were gorgeous. These photos seem to be from around the Taisho period, the last age of Oiran. However, their costumes had to be of the highest quality of that age. All kimonos have a gorgeous design - From the photos, we can not tell their technique, but they certainly added incredibly luxurious embroidery and dyeing work. Obis are woven maru obi, and some are similar to ours. Especially the obi in the first photo and the kimono of the third photo, both of which are incredibly gorgeous!
And what gorgeous hair accessories they put on! We fear they were too heavy for their neck!
You should be able to find some more interesting details after looking at the photos.
We are astonished and overwhelmed by the beauty of their kimonos, but at the same time, we empathize for the hard lives they endured during that age. It is something to wonder at how much Oiran had to pay for these incredibly gorgeous costumes, and what lives the 'Kamuro' girls lived! Surely they must have cried everyday when they were sold and then taken to the Oiran's house
Please add your comment here †
- My heart is moved by the beauty and sadness of their faces. The kimonos are exquisite, a visual feast. -- Jenny?
- Domo arigato, Ichiro-san. What beautiful pictures of rather sad lives. I wonder why the oiran in the picture with the kamuro has her hair worn long. Was this a more 'off-duty' photo or was this the fashion. My colleague Eleanor Hight is doing a study of men's clothing during the Meiji period, and I will also show her these. Do you know what the date of these photos are? -- valerie?
- Thank you very much for lots of comment! About padded hem, we think they only HAVE them. However, we are not sure about it, so if we can know later, we will write here in future. -- Ichiro
- People did not smile for the camera because the film was so slow they had to pose up to 5 minutes at a time and no one could hold a smile that long. Best to just have relaxed face. Faster films became available in the 1930's and greatly developed during WWII. -- sally?
- What beautiful fabric and costumes! -- Kathryn?
- I think we can all agree that their lives must've been difficult at times, but they were most likely better off than a lot of the general populice during those difficult times. As to no smiles for the camer? Look at any vintage photo's from any part of the globe during that era, and chances are you will see similar expressions. Picture taking was stressful back then! Black flash powder, explosions and the like...I wouldn't be smiling either.
I wish I knew how they kept all those padded hems up so high...did the obi hold them in place, or TONS of koshi-himo? And were they as long as modern-day uchikake? Hmm.... -- Deb, the_chrome_kamuro?
- Yes, Japan in that time period was a glorious country; and festivities, customs and clothing were quite beautiful. -- Doug?
- Ichiro, Thank you so very much for bringing not only these Kimonos but the background on the Oiran to the attention of your readers. The workmanship on these kimonos is fantastic! True works of art! Indeed, it is paradoxical that these could be so beautiful and yet the ladies/girls appear to be so sad.
Domo Arigato!! -- Joe?
- True, Oiran were no geishas however there are some similarities between Oiran and Geishas. Most Oiran were skilled poets and had other skills identical to Geishas. They were in their time the height of fashion. Frontrunners in promoting new patterns of kimono designs. Many had a status like todays pop starts. There a numerous woodblock designs by the greatest artists of Oiran. The were like birds of paradise but were also caged. The only escape they had was to earn enough to buy themselves free or becoming a kept woman by a rich 'uncle' or death. -- G. van Gaalen?
- Very, very beautiful!!!! Thank you very much!!!!!! -- Rita?
- Unbelievably beautiful fabrics made without benefit of modern technology and worn in color mixes unorthodox by today's standards, koma-geta height puts today's clogs to shame. I often wonder why modern Japan fashions do not incorporate these beautiful patterns and colors because Japanese in Hawaii love to wear materials patterned after Japanese fabrics. Wonderful postcards! -- lucy?
- These are not in any way geisha. Geisha, in theory, were purveyors of the arts of dance, music and conversation. The women in these images were the high status prostitutes of their day. And only fairly contemporary American women consider it attractive to smile in representations of themselves. Look at any photo or painting of a woman from before the 1930s and the smile is not considered necessary for beauty. A smile is an aggressive facial gesture, a baring of the teeth. -- annie?
- They do not smile because that wasn't the fashion. Pictures were 'serious'. Even in Europe/US, look at older pics, no smiles. The tall gata's would keep you out of the dirt thats for sure! -- larry_e_smith@yahoo.com?
- They do not look happy; perhaps they were not supposed to smile for the camera. They remind me of beautiful birds in cages. The clothing is fantastically beautiful. -- Jo Lax?
- They look gorgeus in their kimono and hair all made up, but not very happy! -- Arianna?
- indeed i agree the girls & the kimonos & the hair pieces are so beautiful... but it does look to be a sad tragic life for them... i wonder if they were able to enjoy any kind of comfort in their lives at all? that said- the workmanship on the kimonos is incredible... -- skinflower?
- Surreal beauty at the expense of human dignity. -- Bernadette Puleo?
- Really interesting history and beautiful pictures. All I really know about geishas is from the books Shogan and Memoirs of a Geisha. Do you know of any other books I might enjoy? -- Catherine McNally?
- How beautiful, and how sad they look. -- ruth@volcanopress.com?
Original text is written by Ichiro on 7th Mar 2010.
You can read the original text in this frozen page Oiran Photo(Original)
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