Posts
I am fascinated by all things dental (yes, I know that's a little unusual). Keeping that in mind, it shouldn't come as any surprise that I keep an eye out for Japanese prints which depict some aspect of the dental hygiene or beautification process.This print is one from an untitled group of designs by Utamaro, published around 1795. It shows a young woman seated on the ground, holding a black lacquered hand mirror and applying lip rouge with the aid of a brush. She is set against a vibrant yellow background and her form is rendered by a series of dramatically sweeping lines. The composition is wonderfully uncluttered - there is nothing in the design which does not belong to the beautification process. If you look at the image below, which provides a close-up of her face, you will see that she has black teeth, and the image below that one provides a close-up of the paraphernalia she has been using to apply the dye needed to provide that black lacquered coating.
Ohaguro, or teeth blackening, was a common practise amongst married women, with the dye being applied for the first time just before a young bride entered her husband's home. It was also practised within the Yoshiwara, where a young kamuro (apprentice) who was about to come of age and accept her first customer would collect the ingredients from seven friends and dye her teeth for the first time, just as the soon-to-be bride would collect the ingredients from friends and family before her wedding.
The large round container, half of which is visible on the right-hand side of the composition, is called a mimidarai, and sitting on top of that container is a thin tray, or watashigane. On top of the tray is the kanewan, the bowl in which the dye is mixed. On the ground to the left of the mimidarai, the brush which has been used to apply the dye to the young woman's teeth is resting atop a porcelain bowl, and to the left of the bowl is a small box of fushi powder.
Fushi powder was made from the gallnuts of the Japanese sumac tree, and the combination of this powder and kanemizu, which was made by fermenting iron filings in an acidic mixture of tea, vinegar and rice wine, produced a black dye which could be applied to the teeth. Once dry, it provided a rich black lacquer coating. Unfortunately, it faded quickly and the process had to be repeated regularly to maintain a beautiful set of blackened teeth, so no respectable woman who cared about her appearance would go more than three days without applying the dye again. 
The process was labour intensive and the dye was foul-smelling. In order to provide a key, so that the surface of the teeth would hold the dye well, the rind of a pomegranate, or something similar, would be rubbed across the teeth prior to reapplying the dye. The practise gradually died out amongst married women after it was banned by the Japanese government on February 5, 1870.(Utamaro print of a woman applying lip rouge, courtesy of New York Public Library)
' by Francois Place, and I have to say that it is one of the most charming books I've read in a long while. It is a book for young readers, but it is such a lovely volume that I think adults will also find it enchanting... I certainly did. It tells the story of Tojiro, a nine year old orphan who sells rice cakes in nineteenth century Edo, and his relationship with one of his customers, a grumpy old artist... Hokusai. Hokusai takes a shine to the boy, who he affectionately refers to as 'Sparrow,' and soon takes him on as his assistant. The artist teaches him to read, introduces him to the process of woodblock printing, and little Sparrow learns all about Hokusai's earlier works. The relationship between artist and pupil is most endearing and there is a great deal of humour and warmth in the text. On each and every page there is an illustration... either a reproduction of one of Hokusai's designs (when it is relevant to the text), or one of Place's fantastic sketches of Hokusai and his little apprentice or of nineteenth century Edo and its colourful inhabitants. If you want to introduce a young reader, or an adult beginner for that matter, to Japanese prints then this is the book to do it with. I have no little star icons lined up in a row of five here, but if I did all five would be glowing gold.
