星期日, 11月 30, 2008

Cosmetics through the ages

Karen Hsu



Japan has the largest cosmetics
industry in Asia today, which consists of a combination of Western
methods and Japanese methods as a result of the large culture shock
that occurred in Japan during the 18th to 20th centuries. After the
first Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Japan became one
of “The Great Powers.” Along with the Second World War,
these wars prompted the cultures of Japan and of Western countries to
mix. The cosmetics industry was included as a part of this.
Afterwards, Japanese cosmetics became much more multicultural, which
it still is today. The history of the geisha can be traced back to
the 17th century with their golden age beginning in the 18th century
and lasting until 1947. The reason for its breakdown in 1947 was
that, prior to this year, the “Children Rights Law” and
“The Labor Standards Law” had been outlawed; these laws
had prohibited children from working before they were educated. This
essay will provide information about Japanese cosmetics and trace
back over its history to find a link between the geisha and how
today’s Japanese women use makeup.







Cosmetic history in Japan can be
looked at from as far back as the 7th century when people began
dyeing their teeth black as decoration. Up until the Edo period
(1603-1868), this habit became the sign of married women. From
ancient times to the middle of the Edo period, men would wear powder
on their faces when they attended the court. This became less
frequent toward the end of this period, but some warriors still used
some light foundation makeup when meeting with their masters. Also at
this time, wearing makeup started to become more common. Females wore
a lot of white powder on their faces and lipstick that only covered
the middle of the lip, which gave the appearance of a “cherry-like
small mouth.” This tradition was in fashion until the Taisho
period (1912-1926). From this time onward, married women would dye
their teeth black and pluck their eyebrows when they had a child. In
the Taisho period, the kimono came into focus, so wearing white
powder on the neck also became popular.







The Geisha culture in Japan started in
Kyoto, which is an ancient city in western Japan. This culture can be
traced back to the 17th century and began with girls who sold tea and
some desserts. They sang and danced to attract customers. Through
hundreds of years of adaptation, they became geisha. Geisha worked in
food service and mainly provided entertainment for customers. Geisha
would have been educated in traditional dancing, music, and some
particular type of drama in their childhood. They were generally
considered artists in Japan. In terms of cosmetics, geisha needed to
wear heavy kimonos and a lot of makeup. They used a huge amount of
hair wax to set their hair and wore thick white foundation and bright
red lipstick. Japanese think bright skin is beautiful, so the
geisha’s face had to be all white to show off their beauty and
the presence of nobility. Knowing this, it’s much easier to
understand why today’s Japanese women are so crazy about skin
whitening and think that the most important part of makeup is
foundation. It’s almost impossible to find a woman in Japan
today who isn’t wearing foundation makeup.







In the 18th and 19th centuries, the
materials used to make white powder were the same as in Western
countries and contained mercury and lead. Long-time use could cause
lead poisoning and the skin to change colour, which was discovered
during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Beginning in 1900, some
cosmetics companies provided harmless white powder as a new product,
but because the quality of products that used lead was better, even
though it was known the powder could be harmful, there were still a
lot of people using them until the beginning of the Showa period
(1926-1989). Looking at the largest Japanese cosmetic website
“@cosme,” it can be seen that the most popular foundation
product used today in Japan is emulsion foundation. When we look back
to the geisha, we see that the foundation they used was a thick
liquid similar to emulsion foundation, which is a combination of
lotion and white powder. This may be why the Japanese cosmetics
industry usually puts emphasis on clearing and lightening of skin and
also on the most important process of all, skin whitening.







What about lipstick? In ancient Japan,
lipstick used to be made from red flowers. As a result, lip reddening
cost a lot of money, so the process was usually only popular in
peeress’ circles. The shape that was drawn on with lipstick
also changed a lot from the Edo period until now. Before 1923 (when
the Kandou Earthquake occurred), women only wore lipstick in the
centre of their lips. The shape was a circle about 2 cm wide. After
the earthquake, because of the culture shock from Western countries,
lipstick started to cover the entire area of the lips. The things
used to make hair easier to comb also changed a lot. They used to use
hair wax and perfume to set their hair. Today, not only is
good-smelling wax still used, but there is also something like “hair
lotion” to keep hair in good condition.







In an article on JCNN
News Summaries - Japan Corporate News Network

from April
13, 2006
, Aki
Tsukioka
said “the market for skincare
products reached 973.8 billion yen (US $8.2 billion) in 2005 and is
expected to grow to 990.6 billion yen (US $8.4 billion) in 2006. The
market for fragrance products was 37.4 billion yen (US $317 million)
in 2005 but is likely to shrink to 36.0 billion yen (US $305 million)
in 2006.” Japan also has the largest cosmetics industry in any
Asian country. Someone once said, “You won’t see any girl
on the street without makeup in Japan.” In Japan, wearing
makeup has been seen as a way of showing respect to others from the
geisha to today’s women. Females in Japan are much more
beauty-conscious than before. Nowadays, there are numerous websites
that are updated everyday with cosmetics information. Even males have
begun paying more attention to makeup in recent years. There is
always a market for different types of cosmetics such as face
whiteners and hair wax. During the Japanese nationalization, they
sought perfection in methods used to perfect their imperfections, so
Japan still has many different types of makeup that other countries
don’t have and don’t need. This is also part of the
reason Japanese culture attracts so many foreigners these days.

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