Tayū
Videos
Tayū were the highest rank of female entertainers in early modern Japanese licensed quarters. Tayū were distinguished historically from other courtesans and entertainers by their intensive training in
One of the tayū from the Wachigaiya okiya in the Shimabara district of Kyoto
Teeth blackening
Videos
Teeth blackening or teeth lacquering is a custom of dyeing one's teeth black. It was most predominantly practiced in Southeast Asian and Oceanic cultures, particularly among Austronesian, Austroasiati
Tayū
…to some apprentice geisha, they do not use wigs for their traditional hairstyles, but instead use their own hair. Tayū wear white face makeup and blacken their teeth. Tayū are accompanied by an older female attendant and two kamuro (young girls wearing red livery bearing the tayū's name). When outdoors, tayū wear…
An Akha woman from Myanmar with blackened teeth
Ukiyo-e by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 'Twenty-Four Hours at Shinbashi and Yanagibashi', print 13, showing a woman applying ohaguro
Ukiyo-e of yama-uba with blackened teeth
Vietnamese statues depicting the traditional practice of teeth blackening (nhuộm răng đen).