Inspired by the Historical Splendour Skin Contest in March I did one more skin, this time a japanese oiran or more specifically tayuu. My actual contest piece was a maiko.

Oiran (花魁) used to be fairly high ranking courtesans and the tayuu (太夫) were the highest of them. (A more indepth description on the rankings and variation in time here.) In addition to the more obvious requirements they were expected to be able to play different musical instruments, dance and to be well read to partake in sophisticated conversation. These days the few oiran still working in Kyoto provide high quality company but without the sexual side of it. One opportunity to see tayuu/oiran is during the Asakusa Kannon-ura Ichiyo Sakura Festival in April when there is an oiran parade (oiran dochu). There is also a similar event in the autumn.

I'll be using the term "oiran" to refer to them in general but when necessary I'll refer to specifically the tayuu:

Uchikake, obi and kimono
Here I've chosen a red uchikake ("overkimono"), green kimono and purple obi. The juban ("underkimono") showing at the hem is always red for oiran. Red is a neutral color in Japan, purple is royal and otherwise I've gone for a spring color combination called koubai (plum pink), taking influence from its Heian period definition. The pattern on the uchikake include: kusudama (flower ball with curly strings), itomaki (spools of thread) and jigami (fan shape). The uchikake is worn over the kimono and the obi. The obi of oiran is tied at the front (this is why you never tie your obi at the front) and here I've chosen hitotsu musubi, one fairly commonly used by tayuu (different oiran musubi here). The obi features shiki no hanabana (四季の花々, four season flowers), one of the more obvious ones here is the fuji (Japanese wisteria). Another obvious feature of oiran appearance is how they lift the hems of the kimono and uchikake up to reveal the red juban and to protect the trailing hems from contact with the ground. The hems are also heavily padded to trail beautifully indoors, to achieve this I've added a second layer. Also the obi is often very plumpy.

Hair
The hair is done trying to follow pictures of tayuu, including for example "shirokou no yoshichou" (white turtle shell hairpin). At the back I've made "hijirimen no tegara" (decorative cloth) more obvious and left out the "kishin no kazari musubi" (gold thread decorative knot) as I thought I saw somewhere but couldn't find later ^^;;;


See the picture with better resolution: https://66.media.tumblr.com/29d6a3c43d574bfbab86d68231e3a7ca/tumblr_nqusw3RV2C1tplsbvo1_1280.jpg

Makeup, footwear and other tiny details
The back of the collar of kimonos is always pulled down to reveal the nape of the neck (apart from young children and men) but oiran pull it back very far, even possibly revealing the shoulder blades. This is because the nape of the neck is considered an erotic area. The face and neck of the oiran is painted white, three strips at the back are left unpainted to draw the looks. Because of the pixels on a minecraft skin I only did two but they are there below the hairline.

Tayuu wear very high koma geta and their walking style is very distinct. Oiran do not wear tabi (socks) to appear tempting but to preserve decency they yet paint their feet white.

Kimonos are a hobby of mine and I did some extra research to actually know how to do a tayuu. I hope I got most of the details right! ^___^