The oiran is also compared in a poem by Senryū to the “renge-s�� (Astragalus lotoides? a small wild flower of a whitish pink colour closely resembling a lotus blossom in shape) when he says:—
“Te ni toru na! Yahari no ni oké, Renge-s�.�
“Gather not the blossom of the Renge-s�. Better leave the flower blooming in the meadows.�
This poem conveys a warning to young men not to choose wives from among the denizens of the Yoshiwara.
The word oiran appears in a famous satirical poem, as follows:—
“Oiran no Namida de Kura no Yane ga mori�
“The tears of an oiran cause the roof of one’s house to leak.�
[27] Mr. Henry Norman says in the “The Real Japan�:—“There is nearly always a large written and framed scroll in a conspicuous position, exhibiting some scrap of appropriate poetry tersely told in the complicated Chinese characters. One I was shown had the four characters matsu kiku nao sonsu, literally, “Pine chrysanthemum still are,� i.e., the pine and the chrysanthemum always preserve their charm, even in winter when other flowers die, and by implication, “My charms are everlasting, like the pine and the chrysanthemum.�
[28] Goddess of Love.
[29] Mawashi-beya 廻�房 is a kind of spare room in which a guest is accommodated when the yūjo he hires has another visitor in her own apartments.