White face, black teeth

[great_badir]

No, it's not another Oscar race thread.

I've been re-watching a lot of Japanese historical films lately, and I've noticed a recurring makeup theme - whenever a character (usually a eunuch, the wife of the Shogun/Emperor, or a male in a position of political power) has that white makeup/powder/whatever it is[NB]drenched in spunk[/NB] on their face, they also have black teeth.

Anyone know what that's all about?

[samadriel]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohaguro

[Noodle Lizard]

No, it's not another Oscar race thread.

I've been re-watching a lot of Japanese historical films lately, and I've noticed a recurring makeup theme - whenever a character (usually a eunuch, the wife of the Shogun/Emperor, or a male in a position of political power) has that white makeup/powder/whatever it is[NB]drenched in spunk[/NB] on their face, they also have black teeth.

Anyone know what that's all about?

The prozzies (or geisha or whatever) used to do it too.  Reckon it'll be back in vogue soon enough.