International Exchange in 倉敷コミュのTraditional Japanese beauty....

I was wondering what you all think a traditional
Japanese beauty is. I think the image of a beautiful
Japanese woman that you see in ukiyo-e seems to
be very different to what modern Japanese see as
beautiful.
Today eye surgery and breast augmentation is
common. 300 years ago Japanese women blackened
their teeth.

When you see a woman who has those features which
were valued in the past do you think they are beautiful
by modern standards?

コメント(3)

最初
全て
最新の40件

[1] mixiユーザー 05月07日 09:17

It's an interesting and difficult question.
The value of beauty changes as time goes by.
Ohaguro, black teeth, seemed to be considered beautiful, but nowadays
I've never seen such a custom. On the contrary, whiter teeth are preferable
and some people go to dentists to make their teeth white.
Women want to be tall and slim, and TV programs featuring effective diets
are popular. I think this trend comes from Western culture. Super models or actresses
in the movies are tall and slender with big breasts.

However, the spirit of trying to keep traditional Japanese beauty still remains.
You can see female college students in kimono with long sleeves in their graduation ceremony,
or coming of age ceremony. It takes to keep a good posture to wear kimono,so I imagine
women in the old days were patient and elegant. Onono Komachi, who lived in the Heian
era, has still been described as one of the most beautiful women. In my understanding,
she was not only beautiful, but also intelligent. Though I couldn't find any clear pictures of her,
I imagine she would have been beautiful even by today's standards if she were alive now.

[2] mixiユーザー 05月08日 16:24

it's funny but when I think about black teeth, my first
thought is that it must be unattractive but my second
thought is that it should be beautiful. I think the Japanese
women who blackened their teeth must have been
trying to emulate a beautiful lacquer ware dish.

Do you think the Japanese value women who are
submissive? When you read the stories of Onono Komachi
she seems very strong willed. Even Murasaki Shikibu was
widely celebrated for her intellect. Most of the Japanese
women I know are very strong willed and determined
but there seems to be this idea in the West that
Japanese women are submissive. I've never actually
met a submissive Japanese woman and I wondered
where that idea came from.

[3] mixiユーザー 05月15日 16:05

I think that image came from the old idea ―a good wife walks
three steps behind her husband. In the old days, marriage was one of the ways
to make a living for women. While men worked outside, women stayed home,
did housework and took care of their children. But now, working women
increased and many people think men and women are equal. So today's women are
more independent than those in the past. I understand Onono Komachi
was creating a lot of waka, worked at a palace. Many men asked her a date, but no one succeeded.
Murasaki Shikibu was also talented and famous for “Genji-monogatari.”
But sometimes it may be more clever to be submissive once you get married if your partner is
bossy(亭主関白）. If both a wife and husband are bossy, there would be conflict.
Some women may look submissive, but I think they are pretending.
The Japanese women are strong in their hearts, I believe.
Do you prefer submissive women?

ログインすると、みんなのコメントがもっと見れるよ