Unique Japan

– How Japanese aesthetics changed over time

Here in Japan, we are about to celebrate Hina-Matsuri (Japanese doll festival or girl’s day) on March 3rd. Families with daughters usually display Ohina-sama at their home to wish for their young girls to grow up healthy.

Since we are celebrating my daughter’s first Hina-Matsuri this year, we decided to check out what kind of Ohina-sama are out on the market.

Choosing the right Ohina-sama is very important business. There are variety of sizes, prices, and kimonos to choose from. But the most important decision to make is the face.

I remember staring at these dolls for a long time to soak in every little detail when I was little. Interestingly enough it never occur to me that these dolls look nothing like us.

Let’s look at their faces. They tend to have exceptionally fair skin, almost too pure white with extremely long and lush pitch black hair. Their cheeks are so full they could be considered chubby. The eye slits and small mouth reveal a slight smile and if you take a close look at their face, they have black teeth!

Hum… slightly different from what we consider beautiful isn’t it?

The reasoning is because these features are the beauty standards of the Heian period (794 to 1185).

In the Heian period food was scarce and a plump face was a clear indication of wealth and plenty, which usually meant a healthy and fertile body. Slit eyes helped to emphasize plump faces and long lush hair symbolized maturity. It seems strange to us today but blackened teeth were part of popular cosmetics of that time. (There might have been some hygienic purposes to it.)

I guess as we progress in time our needs and wants change and so does our appreciation for beauty.

So what are the beauty features of today?

Maybe modern dolls might give us answers.

Two popular dolls come to my mind; Licca-chan and Jenny.

They both have big sparkling eyes with long eye lashes. Their rosy cheeks tell us they are healthy. Their faces are round but not overly plump. Oh did I mention they both have blonde hair?

(By the way, Licca-chan celebrated 40th anniversary in 2007. In fact since she has such a wide audience, she became a special fashion editor for a magazine called Numero. )

After WWII, Japan was enormously influenced by the US and our aesthetic standard changed dramatically. Bigger eyes, tall noses, slender bodies, and of course white teeth became popular barometer for beauty among Japanese ladies. This trend is still strong nowadays. Make-up techniques that make the eyes appear bigger are in style among girls. Even plastic surgery is now well accepted. Bleached or manicured hair is everywhere. Being fat or even a little chubby is a big no-no, like in most places in the world, the skinnier the better. And many dentists now provide teeth whitening services.

Yet Beauty is in the eye of beholder, right?

Surprisingly enough even today we can appreciate the beauty of the Hina-Maturi dolls.

Perhaps it’s their content expression that tell us that despite the constantly changing standards of beauty over time, there is something that would never change; inner beauty.

No matter which historical period of faces young girls have, as long as they grow-up happy and healthy the dolls have achieved their purposes.

Now I’m off to celebrate Hina-Matsuri with my own daughter.

Cheers.