Teeth blackening
Teeth blackening is often done in conjunction with traditions of tooth sharpening and dental evulsion, as well as other body modification customs like tattoos.
The practice survives in some isolated ethnic groups in Southeast Asia and Oceania but has mostly disappeared after the introduction of Western beauty standards during the colonial era.
At the end of the Heian period, at the time when aristocratic men and women reached puberty and celebrated their genpuku or mogi, the Taira clan and other samurai, and pages working at large temples, dyed their teeth using kanemizu, a solution made from ferric acetate, created from soaking iron filings in vinegar, and tannins, derived from vegetables or tea.
[5] The Imperial family and other high-ranking aristocrats who had finished their hakamaza (ceremony where a child is fitted with a hakama) blackened their teeth and painted their eyebrows (hikimayu (引眉)).
It is said that military commanders who were struck in the head on the battlefield and who did not want to be ugly[citation needed] would wear average women's makeup and would blacken their teeth.
For rural people, ohaguro was done only at times of special celebrations, such as Japanese festivals, wedding ceremonies, and funerals.
As for the respected individuals, they lacquer their teeth.Another passage in the 12th century Chinese book, Lingwai Daida (simplified Chinese: 岭外代答; traditional Chinese: 嶺外代答; pinyin: Lǐngwài Dàidā) notes that, 其國人烏衣，黑齒，椎髻，徒跣，無貴賤皆然。 The people of that country (Vietnam) wear black clothes, have black teeth, wear their hair in a bun, go barefoot, and there is no distinction between noble and commoner; all are the same.In the 17th century book, An Nam chí nguyên (安南志原)[a], it also records, 南越外紀云其人或椎髻或剪髮，文身跣足， 口赤齒黑，尊卑皆食檳榔 The Outer Chronicles of Nanyue states that the people there either wear their hair in a topknot or cut it short, have tattooed bodies, and go barefoot.
Their mouths are red and their teeth black, and both the rich and poor chew betel nut.In the 17th century book, A Description of the Kingdom of Tonqueen by Samuel Baron, notes Both boys and girls, when they are past sixteen or seventeen years of age, black their teeth as the Japanese do, and let their nails grow as the Chinese, the longest being accounted the finest, which has place amongst persons of quality and those of wealth only.The 16th century Ming dynasty book Shuyu Zhouzi Lu (simplified Chinese: 殊域周咨录; traditional Chinese: 殊域周咨錄; pinyin: Shūyù Zhōuzī Lù) which recorded history and customs of foreign nations around China had a section regarding teeth blackening in Vietnam, 推髻剪髮，紋身跣足，口赤齒黑，好食檳榔。 They push up their hair into a bun and cut their hair short, tattoo their bodies, go barefoot, have red mouths and black teeth, and like to chew betel nut.During a brushtalk between Korean envoy (I Sangbong; Korean: 이상봉; Hanja: 李商鳳) and Vietnamese envoy (Lê Quý Đôn; chữ Hán: 黎貴惇) on 30 December 1760, I Sangbong mentioned the Vietnamese custom of teeth blackening that he observed in Lê Quý Đôn and the other Vietnamese envoys.
[12] The Vietnamese people were ordered to stop cutting and instead grow their hair long and switch to Han Chinese clothing in only a month by a Ming officials.
[13] After regaining independence, a royal edict was issued by Vietnam in 1474, forbidding Vietnamese from adopting foreign languages, hairstyles and clothes like that of the Lao, Champa or the "Northerners" which referred to the Ming.
[14] There is also a famous exhortation by emperor Quang Trung (1753–1792) before a battle with the Qing army where he mentions the customs of the Vietnamese people including teeth blackening,[15] 打未底𨱽𩯀 (Đánh cho để dài tóc) Fight to keep our hair long.
打朱伮隻輪不返 (Đánh cho nó chích luân bất phản) Fight them so none of their war chariots could run off.
打朱伮片甲不還 (Đánh cho nó phiến giáp bất hoàn) Fight them so that not a single piece of armour returns.
打朱使知南國英雄之有主 (Đánh cho sử tri Nam Quốc anh hùng chi hữu chủ) Fight to let them know the heroes of the South has its own lord.
They dye them a black color, which is lasting, and which preserves their teeth until they are very oldThe late 19th century Filipino nationalist, writer, and polymath, José Rizal, commented in his annotations to Morga's account that: "This custom still exists...
The use of missī, thought to be sanctified by Fāṭimah, the Prophet's daughter, became deeply engrained in Islamic culture across much of the subcontinent.
Geographically and culturally distinct traditions of teeth blackening also prevailed among diverse indigenous groups living along the slopes of the Eastern Himalayas, from Nepal through Meghalaya and Assam to Nagaland.
These practices related technologically and culturally to the wide-spread teeth blackening traditions of island and mainland South-east Asia and beyond.
