Japan is a country of contrasts and bizarre combinations, which during the first meeting can not only discourage, but shock, however, any, even the wildest combinations, look very organic in the bright and multifaceted world that the Japanese have created for themselves. It only takes one visit to Tokyo to fall in love once and for all. Japan is like a sunstroke that you miss madly, dreaming of once again plunging into the atmosphere of an enchanting holiday at the forefront of the cyberpunk generation.
What are they, Japanese beauties? The ideal of beauty in the Land of the Rising Sun was very flexible, but its main distinguishing feature was the predominance of the spiritual over the physical. A woman could be forgiven for her low-profile appearance, but her lack of manners could not be ignored.
It is difficult to say what influenced this prioritization, however, until the tenth century in many parts of the country one could hear such a phrase: "I was subdued by her voice." The fact is that female beauty was largely tabooed, but at the same time, nudity was far from always wearing an erotic connotation.
The young man did not see his bride before the wedding, they could communicate while sitting in the same room, but separated by a thick fabric curtain, and therefore, it was simply not possible to fall in love with beautiful eyes or an exceptional figure, but the ability to talk and sing was highly valued .
The original ideal of beauty assumed a very narrow section of the eyes, a small nose, small lips, but the face had to be wide, with plump cheeks. Then the requirements for the shape of the face changed, and the owners of pear-shaped faces became the obvious favorites. From the point of view of a European, such a girl can be called beautiful with a very big stretch, however, the Japanese paid attention primarily to the manner of behaving, controlling their emotions and demonstrating their dignity through conversation.
Japanese women practically did not use shadows, although they nevertheless achieved certain nuances of appearance with the help of cosmetics. The subject of special pride of the woman was pale, clean skin. Paleness was considered a sign of aristocracy and wealth, and in pursuit of perfection, a woman was ready to go to great lengths. To achieve the perfect skin color, special lead-based whites were often used.
They really helped to make the beauty's face look like a chiseled face of a porcelain doll, however, the skin structure gradually collapsed and by the age of forty it was covered with ugly age spots. Lips could be distinguished on the face, and therefore different shades of red were especially popular, which brought the woman's appearance closer to that unattainable ideal of the beauty depicted on an old scroll. Only eyeliner was used to emphasize the shape of the eyes.
Hair is the pride and concern of every Japanese girl. They should have been blue-black and very thick. Often the hair reached to the woman's ankles or even fell to the ground. A white-skinned beauty with a scarlet bud of lips and a black cascade of hair covering her body was the object of dreams of many men.
A separate point is to highlight the requirements for the figure. The ideal for many centuries was a flat, slightly angular silhouette, more suitable for a teenage girl than an adult woman. Traditional kimono emphasized this requirement, smoothing the contours of the body and making it almost even.
Modern Japanese women hold diametrical views on the concept of beauty. Some seek to imitate European actresses, but they do it in a very "Japanese" way, applying a thick layer of self-tanner, lightening their hair and constantly using colored lenses. Other girls still gravitate toward asceticism, choosing for themselves a modest, almost puritanical image. The possibilities for self-expression among Japanese women are practically unlimited, because real beauty lies not in external attractiveness, but in self-awareness.
