TOILET.
Queues—Hair-cutting—Moustaches and beards—Shaving—Women’s
coiffure—Children’s hair—“Inverted maidenhair”—_Shimada_—“Rounded
chignon”—Other forms—The lightest coiffure—Bars—Combs—Ornaments
round the chignon—Hair-pins—The hair-dresser—The kind of hair
esteemed—Lots of complexion—Girls painted—Women’s paint—Blackening
of teeth—Shaving of eyebrows—Washing the face—Looking-glasses.
Among the earliest innovations after the Restoration to which the
Japanese people took kindly was the clipping of their queues. In the
old days men had little queues on the top of their heads. For this
purpose they shaved the crown and gathering the hair around, tied it
at the top with a piece of paper string; then, they bent the queue and
bringing it down forward over the forehead, fastened it with the ends
of the same string so that the queue was tied tightly to the first
knot. The end of the queue was cut straight. Fashion often changed in
the making of the queue, though its general form remained unaltered.
The bend, for instance, between the two knots might vary in size and
shape, and the queue itself in length and thickness, its girth being
regulated by the extent of the tonsure at the crown. Or the hair might
be full or tight at the sides and the back. The front was usually
shaved. In short, there was a wide scope for taste in the dressing of
the queue.
These queues were untied and remade every second or third day, and
the head was shaved at the same time. Hair-dressing was therefore
a troublesome business, especially as one had generally to get
assistance for it. Consequently, when the cropping of the hair came
into vogue, people eagerly adopted it as it saved them time and
expense. At first they cut the hair long, letting it half hide the
ears and come down to the neck behind; but it became shorter by
degrees until now the fashion is to crop it to about a quarter
of an inch, presenting a head which is appropriately known as
“chestnut-bur.”
[Illustration: QUEUES.]
Although pictures of old Japanese warriors represent them with
moustaches, the custom seems to have been under the Tokugawa rule to
be clean shaven about the mouth; only aged men indulged in beards,
while whiskers grown by themselves were almost unknown. After the
Restoration government officials began to grow moustaches, and for a
long time the favourite way of mimicking an official was to twirl an
imaginary moustache. But professional men of all sorts now let them
grow, so that they have ceased to be characteristic of officials.
Tradesmen, artisans, and coolies, however, are still clean shaven, or
at most have bristles of a few days’ growth.
Japanese barbers shave not only the lips, cheeks, and chin, and the
borders of the hair, but they also pass their razors over
the whole face, not sparing the forehead, the eyelids between the
eyelashes and the eyebrows, the cheek-bones, the nose, and the
ear-lobes, and unless their victim objects, they will insert a small
narrow razor into his nostrils and ears and twirl it rapidly round
with great dexterity. The shaving of the nostrils is easier in a
Japanese than it would be in a European on account of their greater
width, and another advantage arising from the shortness of the nose
is that the Japanese barber does not offer an indignity to his client
by tweaking his nose when he shaves his upper lip.
[Illustration: THE “203-METRE HILL” AND “PENTHOUSE.”]
Troublesome as was the man’s queue in the old days, it was a trifle
compared with the woman’s coiffure. In the early days of the present
regime when men began to cut their hair, many women followed suit
and cropped theirs as short. The government, however, interfered and
prohibited the cutting of the hair by women other than widows and
grandames with whom it was a time-honoured custom. In 1887 when the
pro-European craze was at its height, many women tied their hair in
European style; but it was subsequently abandoned by those who found
that by tying the hair in this manner, they spoilt it for the
Japanese coiffure; for having been accustomed to oil it well for their
native style, they discovered that the hair, when bound without any
pomade, became very brittle and snapped short. Still, the European
style is now largely adopted because it does not require expert
assistance and the services of the professional hair-dresser can be
dispensed with. Various styles are in vogue. Soon after the fall
of Port Arthur in 1905, a high knot came into fashion under the
formidable title of “203-metre hill knot,” in celebration of the
capture of that famous hill which was practically the key to the great
fortress. The favourite at present with our women is a low pompadour
known as the “penthouse style.” But though the European way of
dressing the hair has become very popular, it is not likely so long as
the _kimono_ remains unchanged that the Japanese coiffure, awkward as
it is compared with the European, will be entirely superseded by the
other.
Newly-born infants are shaven; but as they grow up, a little circle
at the crown is left untouched. At first the circle is small, but it
grows larger with years; and at six or seven, boys let all their hair
grow and crop them when too long, just like their elders. Girls,
before they leave this “poppy-head” stage as it is called, have little
queues on the crown, tied less closely than men’s in the old days.
Next, at ten or more, they have their hair done in a more complicated
manner; sometimes the tresses are tied together at the crown and made
into bows, and sometimes the hair is gathered at the top and
parted into two tresses, right and left, which are made into vertical
loops, joined together at the side, the joint being covered with a
piece of ornamental paper. It has of late become an almost universal
custom with school-girls to tie their hair with a ribbon and let it
down loose or plaited on their backs.
[Illustration: YOUNG GIRLS’ HAIR.]
From fifteen to well over forty, the favourite style is that known as
“inverted maidenhair.” The hair is in this coiffure first combed into
one bundle, except a triangular tuft over the forehead. It is tied at
the root and divided into two equal tresses, right and left, which are
then looped, the end of either tress being combed into the root of the
other; and the two loops are turned down and brought behind the crown,
and kept in place by being tied together to the first knot. The hair
at the sides and the back is swollen out by a dexterous jerk of a comb
or hairpin from underneath when it is first gathered. That at the
sides is further combed with a rough comb, while the hair at the back
is held in place by a spring hairpin. This is the lightest coiffure as
false hair is not generally required; but it is not the formal way of
dressing the hair.
[Illustration: THE “INVERTED MAIDENHAIR.”]
For young women the formal coiffure is the _shimada_, so called from
the name of the town on the high road between Tokyo and Kyoto, where
it first came into fashion. In this the hair is gathered and tied
tightly at or near the crown together with a large tuft of false hair.
The tip is folded in forward; the hair is then folded twice in the
same direction as the tip so that the edge of the fold is half an inch
or less behind the knot; and the whole is turned over the knot in such
a way that the edge of the second fold is forward of the crown. Then,
by a string passing over the knot the fold is tied down. The chignon
is formed by spreading out the hair; sometimes a piece of paper, of
the size of the chignon, is well pomaded and put under the surface
of the chignon to help it to keep in place. The size of the chignon
varies with the wearer’s taste; but, generally speaking, a young
woman’s is larger than her elder sister’s. Its position too varies,
as it depends upon that of the first knot, whether over or behind the
crown. In the formal coiffure of a young lady of social standing it is
close to the crown; but girls in a lower station of life or anxious to
be thought _chic_ prefer the chignon to be more to the back of the head.
[Illustration: THE _SHIMADA_ AND “ROUNDED CHIGNON.”]
The _marumage_, or “rounded chignon,” of married women is formed by
tying the hair at the crown as in the _shimada_, and then making a
loop at the end. This is wrapped round with a piece of ornamental
cloth, usually of silk and dyed, and then folded forward; a small bar
is passed through the two sides of the loop and the main tuft; and
the latter is folded forward twice and the bar is brought down near
the crown. The hair behind is spread out into a chignon. Unlike the
_shimada_, this chignon is mostly back of the knot; it is held down by
a string tied to the knot and the loop. False hair is used, but to a
less extent than in the _shimada_; and a little paper pillow wadded
with cotton is put under the chignon to hold it in place. A small part
of the loop appears on each side of the chignon around the bar and
displays the piece of ornamental cloth. The size of the chignon varies
with the age of its wearer, the largest being adopted by young women
and the smallest by old matrons.
There are said to be more than a hundred different ways, new and
old, of dressing the hair; and even at the present time there are
a score of them in vogue. But as most of them are combinations or
modifications of the three coiffures above mentioned, we need not
describe them. In all three the forelock is taken in a triangular tuft
and tied with a piece of string, and held down with a comb just in
front of the knot on the crown.
Both the _shimada_ and the _marumage_ are heavy as they require false
hair. The hair needs also to be well oiled. The hair is done once in
three or four days, but is seldom washed, not more than once a month.
The head is consequently heated and a headache is often the result.
Lighter than either of these is the “inverted maidenhair,” which needs
no false hair unless the natural hair is too thin. It is preferred
when one is at home, and especially when a long spell of either of the
other forms of coiffure has ended in a headache. It is also in favour
sometimes for the reason that it does not, like the others, require
hair ornaments. A Japanese woman has no need of jewelry as it is not
the custom to wear brooches, ear-rings, necklaces, or bracelets; and
the only articles of gold or silver are, if we except the watch and
chain and the finger-rings, which are all of recent introduction, her
pipe, the clasp of the _obi_-fastener, ornamental hair-pins, and
sometimes other articles for the hair.
[Illustration: BARS, COMBS, AND BANDS.]
The married woman’s coiffure requires a bar through the chignon. This
bar varies in length with the width of the chignon, beyond which it
appears from a quarter to half an inch. The regulation bar is square
or oblong in section with flat or slightly rounded ends. It
should be made of transparent, light-yellow tortoise-shell; but dark
tortoise-shell or lacquered wood with gold figures is also worn. There
are artists of high repute who make a speciality of the designing and
lacquering of these bars. Inferior kinds are made of black lacquered
wood or celluloid. Sometimes floral or other designs in gold or silver
are attached to the ends of bars intended for young women.
The comb, on formal occasions, should be of the same material as the
bar. Such combs are usually of light-yellow tortoise-shell; they are
worn in front of the chignon and hold down the tip of the hair over
the forehead. They have curved backs and straight ends, and are
thicker than those used in hair-dressing, which are of boxwood. Other
ornamental combs are of various shapes; they may be curved toward the
tips, or may be longer and narrower or more rounded and wider than
the tortoise-shells. They are made, like the bars, of lacquered wood,
common tortoise-shell, or celluloid. The commonest kinds are of
boxwood. The combs used for combing the side-hair are wider at one end
than at the other, while those for gathering in stray locks are only
about an inch wide, close-toothed, and with a long, pointed handle,
and for removing scurf fine-toothed double combs are used.
In the case of the _marumage_ and sometimes of the _shimada_, the knot
of the root is hidden from sight by tying around it a thin strip of
metal, or a string of paste or coral beads. In the _shimada_ a narrow
strip of white paper is also sometimes worn. The piece of cloth wound
round the loop of the _marumage_ is usually of plain common silk
crimpled or netted, and often mottled. That worn by young girls in
coiffure that requires such pieces is plain red; but their elders
prefer quieter tints.
The greatest variety is, however, to be seen in ornamental hair-pins.
These hair-pins have mostly two legs, though very simple ones are
one-legged. They are made of horn, ivory, wood, metal, or celluloid,
and have above the fork, if two-legged, some ornament, a bead, or a
design in metal, horn, ivory, bone, or other material. These designs,
if of the better quality, consist of figures in gold on lacquer
background or on ivory, or chasings of gold or silver. The
hair-pins worn on formal occasions by young girls are surmounted with
a large flower in metal, from which hangs a red silk tassel. Grown-up
women set most value on silver or gold pins with a coral bead,
about half an inch in diameter. The coral most esteemed is pink or
flesh-coloured, though one of a darker hue is preferred by some
people. In the commoner kinds the legs are of German silver as
wood or horn is liable to snap. There is no rule as to the length of
these hair-pins. They are stuck in under the chignon, or a little in
front or behind, but never in the chignon itself.
[Illustration: ORNAMENTAL HAIR-PINS.]
Hair-dressing is no light task; and though a woman may be able
to do her own hair, she almost invariably gets it done by somebody
else as a great deal has to be done at the back of the head.
The professional female hair-dresser is therefore an established
institution; she visits most houses at regular intervals. She has
usually an assistant, or rather an apprentice, who loosens and combs
the hair and prepares it for her to dress. A successful hair-dresser
probably makes more money than any other professional of her sex. The
geisha’s receipts may be larger, but her expenses are correspondingly
great so that her net profit is comparatively small, whereas the
hair-dresser needs neither capital nor stock, beyond a few combs, and
even these are often unnecessary as she uses those of her client.
Besides her regular charges, which are not heavy, she receives many
presents from those who are anxious for her to come at regular
intervals or out of turn, as when they are going out to a party, a
theatre, or some other place of public resort. She is also a great
gossip, a disseminator of scandals, and in this respect she has the
advantage over the barber who has himself no mean reputation in that
direction in Japan as everywhere else; for whereas the barber has to
retail his discourse more or less in public before the other clients
who are awaiting their turn, the woman purveys her news in the privacy
of the lady’s toilet-room. And as the discussion of her neighbour’s
private affairs and the tearing of her character is no less a
favourite occupation with the Japanese woman than with her European
sister, it is not always for the sole purpose of having her hair done
that she eagerly waits for the hair-dresser’s visit.
[Illustration: THE HAIR-DRESSER.]
Our hair is always black until it begins to turn gray; and women
esteem glossy-black, straight hair. Curly hair is held in such horror
that it is said to spoil any face however comely in other respects.
And the hair-dresser’s apprentice, when she comes to undo her client’s
hair for re-dressing, first loosens it and combs it to free it of
tangles, and then with a cloth dipped in boiling water, straightens
it until all traces of former bends and twists have disappeared, and
applies to it a pomade to keep it from curling or getting out of
shape. Next to the glossy appearance of the hair, its borders receive
careful attention. There should be no clusters of short hairs about
the borders, which should show a clear demarcation between the
hair and the skin. Hairy borders are regarded to be as great
blemishes as clumsy hands and feet. The short hair over the forehead
is, however, tolerated as hardly any one is free from it; but at the
same time the border over the forehead should rise from either temple
in a slight curve until it is right over the forehead when it should
meet the other in a faint downward curve. From a fanciful resemblance
of such a border to the outline of Mount Fuji, the forehead is then
known as the “Fuji forehead,” and highly admired as an important
feature of personal beauty.
The Japanese woman does not allow any hair or even down to grow on her
face, and from time to time shaves the whole face like the other sex.
We are not a hairy race, and our women have on the whole very smooth
faces. We hardly ever see them with moustaches or stumps of hairs
on their faces. It is not improbable that this shaving of the face
contributes to the early loss of complexion among the Japanese women;
but the arch-enemy of the clear complexion is certainly the paint, for
painting is an almost universal custom in Japan.
Young girls are painted quite white and present a somewhat ghastly
appearance, for the paint is a thick paste of white powder, coarser
than _poudre de riz_, and is daubed over the face with the hands. The
neck and the upper part of the breast are also painted; but the paint,
it must be admitted, is too conspicuous to be mistaken for the natural
colour of the skin, and the Japanese girl knows it. If the hair hung
over her neck and face in fringes or ringlets, we might suspect her of
attempting to pass the paint for her own skin; but the hair is combed
up into a knot at the crown and the borders of the hair are strongly
marked on the forehead and the neck. As, however, the hair is usually
thick over the forehead, the contrast there between the paint and the
natural skin may not be striking; but at the back it is impossible to
conceal the difference, and as if to make a virtue of necessity, the
paint is daubed at the borders in a very angular zigzag, which
emphasises the difference between it and the brown skin.
The paint is laid on less thickly as the girl grows up; and though
many women, especially those from the country, make a liberal use of
it, the custom in Tokyo is to apply a dilute solution lightly so
that one can hardly tell at a distance whether the face is painted or
not. The neck, however, is more thickly painted. Vermilion is applied
to the lips in degrees varying with the age.
The blackening of the teeth is fast going out of fashion; nowadays in
Tokyo, only middle-aged women and their seniors take to it, though
young married women among the lower classes are sometimes to be seen
with blackened teeth. In ancient times men of rank and position
blackened their teeth; it was a sign of good birth, and the expression
“white teeth” was synonymous with plebeianism. This custom was
subsequently confined to court nobles, and was later still adopted by
married women. The idea seems to be that as black is the only colour
that remains unchanged, the teeth were blackened in token of their
owner’s constancy and fidelity.
The eyebrows are shaven in infants and little children, especially
girls, with the object of making them grow thick. Women touch them up
with Indian ink or burnt-cork powder. They used to shave them off upon
marriage at the same time as the first blackening of the teeth; but
this custom is, like the other, dying out. Many women, however, shave
off their eyebrows when they reach the age of forty or thereabouts, as
they prefer to have none at all to having them thin and irregular.
Before they commence their toilet, women take a bath or wash their
faces, necks, and shoulders over a tub unless it is early morning in
cold weather. Soap is a foreign innovation; and the same purpose was
served by the use of fine bran powder obtained by sifting rice after
its final cleaning in a mortar. A handful of this powder is put into a
little cloth bag, which is then wetted and rubbed against the skin;
and the turbid water which exudes through the texture of the bag is
very efficacious in cleaning the skin. It is now used together with
soap. Young women sometimes put other substances with the bran into
the bag, such as pulverised egg-shells which are said to remove stains
from the skin and the powered bark of a species of magnolia.
Our women, squatting as they do at their toilet, do not need a
dressing-table, instead of which they set before them a small wooden
box with three or four drawers and surmounted with a square
looking-glass hinged on two supports which stand on the box. In the
old days when glass was unknown or at least very rare, a metal disk
highly polished on one face and with a handle was set on a stand.
Now, however, sheet-glass mirrors are very common, though those of
plate-glass are less used owing to their higher prices as they have,
unlike the sheet-glass, to be imported from abroad.