COURTESAN USUGUMO OF THE TAMAYA (C.1838): Japanese Greeting Card

Text on the reverse side:

The Japanese word for the highest ranked courtesan is “oiran”. It is debated how this name came about, but one theory comes from how the girls working for them would call them “oira no tokoro no nee-san”, which shortened became a word “oiran”. The sentence translates as “the older sisters of our place.”