A Lady’s Toilet—Hair-dressing—Paint and Cosmetics—Afternoon
Visitors—Christian Converts.
KUROISHI, _August_ 5.
THIS is a pleasant place, and my room has many advantages besides light
and cleanliness, as, for instance, that I overlook my neighbours and that
I have seen a lady at her toilet preparing for a wedding! A married girl
knelt in front of a black lacquer toilet-box with a spray of cherry
blossoms in gold sprawling over it, and lacquer uprights at the top,
which supported a polished metal mirror. Several drawers in the
toilet-box were open, and toilet requisites in small lacquer boxes were
lying on the floor. A female barber stood behind the lady, combing,
dividing, and tying her hair, which, like that of all Japanese women, was
glossy black, but neither fine nor long. The coiffure is an erection, a
complete work of art. Two divisions, three inches apart, were made along
the top of the head, and the lock of hair between these was combed,
stiffened with a bandoline made from the _Uvario Japonica_, raised two
inches from the forehead, turned back, tied, and pinned to the back hair.
The rest was combed from each side to the back, and then tied loosely
with twine made of paper. Several switches of false hair were then taken
out of a long lacquer box, and, with the aid of a quantity of bandoline
and a solid pad, the ordinary smooth chignon was produced, to which
several loops and bows of hair were added, interwoven with a little
dark-blue _crêpe_, spangled with gold. A single, thick, square-sided,
tortoiseshell pin was stuck through the whole as an ornament.
The fashions of dressing the hair are fixed. They vary with the ages of
female children, and there is a slight difference between the _coiffure_
of the married and unmarried. The two partings on the top of the head
and the chignon never vary. The amount of stiffening used is necessary,
as the head is never covered out of doors. This arrangement will last in
good order for a week or more—thanks to the wooden pillow.
[Picture: A Lady’s Mirror]
The barber’s work was only partially done when the hair was dressed, for
every vestige of recalcitrant eyebrow was removed, and every downy hair
which dared to display itself on the temples and neck was pulled out with
tweezers. This removal of all short hair has a tendency to make even the
natural hair look like a wig. Then the lady herself took a box of white
powder, and laid it on her face, ears, and neck, till her skin looked
like a mask. With a camel’s-hair brush she then applied some mixture to
her eyelids to make the bright eyes look brighter, the teeth were
blackened, or rather reblackened, with a feather brush dipped in a
solution of gall-nuts and iron-filings—a tiresome and disgusting process,
several times repeated, and then a patch of red was placed upon the lower
lip. I cannot say that the effect was pleasing, but the girl thought so,
for she turned her head so as to see the general effect in the mirror,
smiled, and was satisfied. The remainder of her toilet, which altogether
took over three hours, was performed in private, and when she reappeared
she looked as if a very unmeaning-looking wooden doll had been dressed up
with the exquisite good taste, harmony, and quietness which characterise
the dress of Japanese women.
A most rigid social etiquette draws an impassable line of demarcation
between the costume of the virtuous woman in every rank and that of her
frail sister. The humiliating truth that many of our female fashions are
originated by those whose position we the most regret, and are then
carefully copied by all classes of women in our country, does not obtain
credence among Japanese women, to whom even the slightest approximation
in the style of hair-dressing, ornament, or fashion of garments would be
a shame.
I was surprised to hear that three “Christian students” from Hirosaki
wished to see me—three remarkably intelligent-looking, handsomely-dressed
young men, who all spoke a little English. One of them had the brightest
and most intellectual face which I have seen in Japan. They are of the
_samurai_ class, as I should have known from the superior type of face
and manner. They said that they heard that an English lady was in the
house, and asked me if I were a Christian, but apparently were not
satisfied till, in answer to the question if I had a Bible, I was able to
produce one.
Hirosaki is a castle town of some importance, 3½ _ri_ from here, and its
_ex-daimiyô_ supports a high-class school or college there, which has had
two Americans successively for its headmasters. These gentlemen must
have been very consistent in Christian living as well as energetic in
Christian teaching, for under their auspices thirty young men have
embraced Christianity. As all of these are well educated, and several
are nearly ready to pass as teachers into Government employment, their
acceptance of the “new way” may have an important bearing on the future
of this region.