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"Oiran" may come from "my big sister," and the kanji came later
The oiran, a staple of every Edo-period drama. The word started out as everyday speech, and its kanji were attached afterward. Where it came from is still debated.
MaiHimeka-san! I know this one! "Oiran" comes from Ireland, right!? Oiran, Ireland, practically the same word! That's why their kimonos are so flashy!
Himeka...Sigh. Where do you even pick this stuff up? Ireland has nothing to do with it. Oiran was the name for high-ranking courtesans in Yoshiwara, Edo's pleasure quarter.
MaiWhaaat!? Then what does "oiran" actually mean!?
HimekaThe best-known theory: junior courtesans called their senior "oira no" big sister, "oira no" meaning "my," and it got slurred into "oiran." ...But there are other theories too, and nobody knows for sure.
MaiHuh. So the kanji for it got decided at the same time!
HimekaWrong! The kanji were stuck on later. It started as spoken slang. The old pleasure-quarter novels wrote it all sorts of ways, like "elder-sister girl" or "flower maiden," and one even spelled it "one ryo, one bu," two old coin units.
MaiO-one ryo, one bu!? That's a price tag! Talk about sneaky!
HimekaThat's not the part to be impressed by! The spelling that survived means "flower" plus "foremost." The top of the talking flowers, meaning beauties. Some scholars think it was borrowed from "Huakui Niangzi," the Flower Queen, a nickname in a Chinese story.
MaiOh, I remember now! Foxes and raccoon dogs need their tails to trick people, but an oiran can do it with no tail. In Japanese, "tail not needed" sounds like "o-iran"! THAT one's true, right!?
HimekaThat's a gag storytellers use to warm up the crowd!! There's zero evidence! ...Hmph, I'll throw in a bonus. The name caught on around the 1760s, right when tayu, Yoshiwara's old top rank, disappeared. So calling the famous tayu of earlier days "oiran" is, strictly speaking, wrong.
MaiOoh! Then I'm gonna stick a ton of hairpins in my hair and do an oiran parade too! All sparkly and rich-looking!
HimekaIt wasn't as elegant as it looks. They paid for their own hairpins and combs, and keeping attendants and a parlor cost a fortune. The ornaments from the neck up were so lavish people said they were "worth a whole house," and so heavy they had to turn their whole upper body just to look around. ...You'd fall over in three steps.
MaiBleh! I would NOT fall! ...Probably!
Himeka...Well, if you do, I'll pick you up. So don't you dare step on the hem of my kimono.
Himeka's summary
- Oiran: an honorific, not a job title, for high-ranking Yoshiwara courtesans. Best-known theory: juniors called their senior "oira no" ("my") big sister, slurred into "oiran." Other theories exist; none is certain. The "no tail needed" pun is a storytellers' joke with no basis.
- The kanji came later. Old novels wrote it many ways, like "elder-sister girl," "flower maiden" and "one ryo, one bu"; the one meaning "foremost of talking flowers (beauties)" stuck. Some scholars trace it to "Huakui Niangzi," a nickname in a Chinese story.
- The name spread around the 1760s, the same period the top-ranked tayu vanished from Yoshiwara. Oiran supplied their own hairpins, combs and other furnishings, and keeping up their parlor cost a great deal.
Sources
General trivia only. For anything that needs a medical call, talk to a doctor. All characters are adults.
Translated from the Japanese original. Sources are unchanged.