Ohaguro

by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, number 13 in the series 24 hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi. The word is composed of the honorific prefix , the term , and the term . Due to a phonological process called , the "k" in kuro voices to become a "g" sound, and the compound term is pronounced , not . The term ohaguro arose among upper-class women in the early Edo period as part of nyōbō kotoba or "women's language", as a shift from the much-older term . alluding to the liquid used in the process. This alternative spelling also has a separate pronunciation, tesshō. Synonyms include , , , and . == Origin and meaning ==

existed in Japan in one form or another for hundreds of years, and was considered a symbol of beauty for much of this time. Objects with a deep black color, such as those lacquered to a glossy black, were considered to be of great beauty, and many shades of black were used in dyeing kimono, with different shades holding different meanings. The reasons for the invention of are still unclear: just as in other Southeast Asian cultures; the fact that teeth are the only visible part of the skeleton, which links them to death and makes them taboo; or the Japanese and other Far Eastern cultures holding a preference for concealing the public display of feelings with the combination of (white makeup), the complete plucking of the eyebrows, and their repainting – a practice known as – and the dyeing of teeth creating a masklike appearance. The current Japanese female custom of covering the mouth when smiling derives to a greater or lesser degree from this consideration and from the preference until the 19th century for black-toothed rather than white mouths. Among the samurai, its origin is associated with the idea of loyalty expressed by the color black. When a samurai dyed his teeth black, it reflected his decision not to serve another lord for the rest of his life, and, from the time of the or regents of the , the nobles applied it with similar regard for loyalty. and in the story , in English The Lady Who Loved Insects, from the 12th century, included in the . In the story, the protagonist's eccentric behavior is considered less reprehensible than her repulsive natural appearance, and a maiden describes her completely unplucked eyebrows as "hairy caterpillars" and her undyed teeth as "skinless caterpillars", while a captain of the guard who shows attraction to her is repelled by her lack of makeup and, above all, by her teeth which "shone horribly when she smiled." which was soon followed by women of all social classes. During the later Kamakura period, when aristocrats such as those belonging to the Taira clan, other samurai, In the particular case of samurai and members of the nobility of these periods it was customary to dye their teeth for the first time upon passing their or initiation ceremony, at the age of fifteen or sixteen. This was also how it was done in the court of the Imperial Family until the end of the Edo period. especially among married women and geisha, it was a forbidden practice for the marginalized or , vagrants and the poorest of the poor. and especially girls entering that stage, Throughout these convulsive centuries, which saw the emergence of a multitude of at odds with each other and led to the wars of the Sengoku period, samurai would take the heads of their enemies and collect them as trophies after battle to enhance their reputation in the eyes of their . The heads were identified and in many cases received after decapitation to enhance the combatant's glory in defeating a notable enemy. In the , in English The Story of Oan, the daughter of a servant of Ishida Mitsunari narrates this process after surviving the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600: }} It was towards the end of this period that the men engaging in the practice became a minority. in addition to the impression among young women that it made them look older, was only performed on women who were getting married or engaged, In 1870 the government banned the practice of on men, and the tradition gradually became obsolete, especially from 1873 among married and noblewomen, when the Empress Shōken decided to appear in public with white teeth. and in some (geisha districts), where some apprentice geisha have their teeth blackened during the last stage of their apprenticeship, , before graduating to geisha status. The application of and the hairstyle known as , both traditionally characteristic of Japanese newlyweds, is a symbol of their "marriage" to the arts they practice. == Social consideration and role ==

, from the series Three beauties making up their faces (1815). A geisha is seen making use of the complete set of traditional elements for blackening, most notably the and as a support for the others. Following the ending of Japan's self-isolation policy in the 1860s, a large number of Westerners who visited Japan – including Engelbert Kaempfer, Philipp Franz von Siebold and Rutherford Alcock, who visited Edo-period Japan – described as "an abhorrent Japanese custom that disfigured their women", whom, in fact, many of them considered to be of great beauty until they smiled. Alcock surmised that its purpose would be chastity by intentionally making women unattractive, and his view of this custom hardly changed during his three-year stay in Japan: {{blockquote|Once they have renewed the black varnish on their teeth and plucked every last hair from their eyebrows, Japanese married women could assert their unparalleled preeminence in artificial ugliness over the rest of their sex. Their mouths thus disfigured are like open sepulchers [...] Japanese sociologist Kyouji Watanabe disagrees with this theory. Considering that Japanese girls were allowed a high degree of social and sexual freedom until the moment of receiving the , when they accepted their responsibility as a wife and mother, Watanabe posits that this was a social ritual by which both society and the young woman affirmed the determination of the woman who had matured. == Dye ==

The main ingredient was a dark brown solution of iron acetate called , created by dissolving iron filings in vinegar. Bertram Freeman-Mitford transcribed in his Tales of Ancient Japan (1871) a recipe which he claimed had been described to him by a reputable apothecary in Yedo: In kabuki theatrical performances, actors painted their teeth black whenever they played married women, courtesans, and with some noblemen, for which they traditionally used a mixture of brown sugar and pine resin. The mixture used in kabuki was given the name , and in more complex formulations could include wax, pine resin, carbon black, red pigment, rice honey, and lamp oil, all softened over a flame. == Application ==

For the treatment, preservation and application of the dye, various containers and tools were used. Among these were the , a large bowl with handles on which was placed the , a thin tray to hold the elements with which the dye was applied. The set of smaller items was kept inside a larger case: the , in which were kept the or small box for the gall powder; the , with which the dye was administered; and the , a small porcelain bowl for gargling after the process. Each time the procedure was repeated, the teeth were carefully rubbed with the peel of a pomegranate to form an adhesive surface for the dye. According to Freeman-Mitford, the dye should be applied at most every two days, because even after the first day without a new coat, the teeth lost their lacquered shine and pieces of gray were mixed with those that maintained the desired black color, resulting in an undesirable appearance. == Superstitions, legends, and popular expressions ==

• During the Meiji period, an urban legend spread that the coal tar used as insulation at the beginning of the extension of electrical wiring throughout Japanese cities was actually composed in part of the blood of virgins, an idea that became associated with the Westerners who were originally in charge of installing the wires. To avoid being attacked and having their blood drawn, many young women decided to change their appearance to look like married women: they dyed their teeth black, painted their eyebrows, wore simple kimono, and styled their hair in the style. • In Yamada Norio's book , in English Journey through the ghost stories of Tohoku, there is a story about Fukushima prefecture called . It is about a , more specifically a type of , dressed and made up in the old Japanese women's fashion, but on her made-up face appears only a large mouth full of black teeth. • The main red-light district in the country between the 17th century and the prohibition of prostitution in Japan in 1958 was Yoshiwara, in Edo. The district was surrounded on all four sides by a small moat with water that received the name , literally 'Black Tooth Canal', because of the abundance of prostitutes with dyed teeth. == Other parts of East Asia ==

girl with black painted teeth, chewers. In China there has been knowledge of the custom of teeth blackening throughout history, although it was not practiced in the domains of the Middle Kingdom, nor did the majority of its ethnic groups. It is found preferentially among older women, although the practice still exists among some young girls. Sometimes artificial teeth were used to obtain black teeth in addition to all sorts of plants collected mainly in the jungle. Blang, Dai, Yi, and Lisu. == See also ==