I'm in your Middle Ages, expounding on Japanese stuff

[gurdymonkey]

I managed to stay out of the "Is coffee/tea/cacao/kola period?" discussion. Then aureelia  wrote something about a possibly lower incidence of tooth decay in medieval populations, which reminded me of the conversation on Saturday with Aurelia D'Ouessant (the other Aurelia) who was somewhat creeped out by my "shadow smile," so I figured I'd explain it to the rest of the class (or at least sca_west) because I figured some people are curious but maybe haven't had the nerve to ask: 

"Japanese tangent time: Someone was asking about my fashionable black teeth on Saturday. Japanese aristocrats of the Heian period (794 - 1192 CE) ate a diet that relied primarily on white rice, with a smaller ratio of vegetables, fish and other meats. One of the diaries from the period mentions a New Year's tradition of making an offering of "tooth hardening foods" to the young Emperor. I have not been able to determine what those tooth hardening foods were or why they were believed to have that quality, but it's part of the annual observance and that says something. There's also a passage in Sei Shonagon's diary in which she describes a little girl who already has "elegantly black teeth." I suspect that the carbohydrate-
heavy diet of the average court member probably resulted in tooth decay and possibly other dietary issues. All it might have taken was one Empress with really bad teeth to set a fashion which lasted into the 1870s.

The period formula would've been nut galls or iron filings left to sit in an acidic solution of rice vinegar or even tea. Ironically, the theatrical formula I use, once it comes off with a bit of brushing and
toothpaste, leaves my teeth feeling like I've just had a cleaning at the dentist's.'"

Others theorize that it has to do with the horror of death and the pollution of death in pre-Modern Japan, and the association of a smile with the bared teeth of a skeleton.

Nonetheless, Japanese-born women often have a tendency to cover their mouths with their hands when smiling or laughing. One wonders how many of them have any idea why.

Don't believe me? Watch carefully at the 35 second mark of this video clip from "Kill Bill Vol. 1."

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Comments

[aureellia.livejournal.com]

If it helps, my mother in law told me that showing your teeth was slightly ill-bred. Not rude, but best not done with the gusto of an American woman. She speculated that dirty/smelly teeth were hidden by the hand and proper teeth hidden by dye. I guess we should make a list of questions.

[didjiman.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I thought I read way back when (the dinosaurs walk the Earth) that married women blackened their teeth to signify their new status. but that was 650 million years ago so I could be wrong.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

I suspect I am going to owe your MIL much giri.

Not wrong at all.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Ohaguro became fashionable for married women in the Edo period (1600-1853). It mostly fell out of fashion in the 1870's when the Empress appeared publicly in Western dress with unstained teeth. Maiko (geisha apprentices) still blacken their teeth when they formally become full geisha.

[gottasing.livejournal.com]

Interesting. My female students of Japanese background often cover their mouth in class when they respond to a question. I wondered if it was a shyness thing but maybe it's something they've unconsciously (or overtly) gotten from their mothers. Sadly it often makes them difficult to hear.

[aureellia.livejournal.com]

Let's just make a list of questions. She may not know the answer but she will give us clues. She will appreciate details too.

....pearly blacks, ugh...

[karisu-sama.livejournal.com]

That's it. If I ever have time to do SCA, and do Japanese persona (Western is so overdone :p), I'm gonna be a GUY.

[masahide.livejournal.com]

I had been reading in my Japanese Language textbooks that the proper formation of the mouth for phonics keeps the mouth mostly closed. It specifically mentioned that baring teeth was considered rude. I had actually made a bit of a reverse supposition, that if baring teeth were rude, perhaps that is where the teeth-black came from.

On another thought, white, being the color of death, may be part of the answer.

[erink.livejournal.com]

Great! Now can you explain why modern fashionable Japanese women walk knock-kneed? I'm sure it's an affectation.

Karisu-sama, you might not be off the hook there. I know there's a reference in 47 Ronin Story to a male court official blackening his teeth.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Because they think it looks cute and little-girlish?