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.
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, 3.5 ri from here, and
its ex-daimiyo supports a high-class school or college there, which
has had two Americans successively for its headmasters.
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