Hikimayu

Aristocratic women used to pluck or shave their eyebrows and paint new ones using a powdered ink called haizumi, which was made of soot from sesame or rapeseed oils.

With the turn away from Chinese culture, Japanese courtiers began to wear elaborate clothing – the jūnihitoe for women and the sokutai for men – in color combinations symbolising the change of the seasons and stylised views of nature.

[citation needed] The practice of hikimayu continued even into the latter portion of the Heian period; men in particular painted their faces white, blackened their teeth and redrew their eyebrows in its later years.

[3] In the modern day, hikimayu and ohaguro are typically only seen in historical drama pieces such as Noh and kabuki, and occasionally in local festivals.

The passage from The Tale of Genji, near the end of the sixth chapter, concerns a girl aged about ten who is living in the palace of the Emperor Nijo.

[6]The translation by Royall Tyler is: In deference to her grandmother's old-fashioned manners her teeth had not yet received any blacking, but he had had her made up, and the sharp line of her eyebrows was very attractive.