The Search for the Beautiful Woman: A Cultural History of Japanese and Chinese Beauty

303 Pages·2012·2.74 MB·English

by  Cho Kyo

The Search for
the Beautiful Woman

ASIA/PACIFIC/PERSPECTIVES
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The Search for
the Beautiful Woman
A Cultural History of Japanese
and Chinese Beauty
Cho Kyo
Translated by Kyoko Selden
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
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10 Thornbury Road, Plymouth PL6 7PP, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2012 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cho, Kyo, 1953– author.
[Bijo to wa nani ka. English]
The search for the beautiful woman : a cultural history of Japanese and Chinese beauty
/ Cho Kyo ; translated by Kyoko Selden.
p. cm. — (Asia/Pacific/perspectives)
Translation of: Bijo to wa nani ka : nitchu bijin no bunkashi / Cho Kyo. — Tokyo :
Shobunsha, 2001. — 464, x, p. : ill. ; 20 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4422-1893-2 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-1895-6 (electronic)
(print)
1. Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)—Japan—History. 2. Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)—
China—History. I. Selden, Kyoko Iriye, 1936– translator. II. Title.
HQ1220.J3C5313 2012
305.40952—dc23
2012032384
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Translator’s Note ix
Preface to the English Edition xi
Prologue: The Search for the Beautiful Woman 1
Chapter 1 Favored Appearances 15
1. Lucent Irises, Lustrous Teeth; Moth-Feeler Eyebrows, Willow Waist 15
2. Adoration of White Skin 24
3. Charms of Subcutaneous Fat 28
Chapter 2 Feared Beauties 41
1. Beauty Is Ill-Omened 42
2. Beautiful Women Are Cruel 48
3. Beautiful Women Are Hapless 55
4. Enchantresses in the East and the West 61
Chapter 3 The Rhetoric of Representation 71
1. Japanese Beauties, Chinese Beauties 71
2. Who Is Beautiful? 76
3. Allegory of Beautiful Women 85
4. Beautiful Women in Art 93
Chapter 4 Beauty as a Construct 107
1. Fluctuating Meanings of the Beautiful Face 107
2. Transmission of Safflower 111
3. Whiter Skin, Darker Eyebrows 116
4. Makeup Methods from Ethnic Groups 122
vii
viii Contents
Chapter 5 Beauties in Chinese Verse and Prose, Beauties
in Japanese Literature 131
1. Images of Beautiful Women in Sugawara no Michizane’s Chinese Verse 131
2. Reception and Rejection of Continental Aesthetic Sense 137
3. Descriptions of Beautiful Women in Japanese Prose 141
4. Beautiful Women in Japanese Narrative Literature 149
Chapter 6 Resonance of Aesthetic Views 159
1. Heian Aristocratic Women 159
2. Beauty of an Emaciated Look 165
3. Beautiful Women in Tales of War 171
4. Yang Guifei and the Image of Beauty 176
Chapter 7 Edo Culture as a Filter 185
1. “Adaptations” of the Image of Beauty 185
2. From Japanese Courtesans to Sino-Japanese Fragile Women 190
3. Portrayal from Outlaws of the Marsh 195
4. Allegory of Flowers 202
Chapter 8 Until Naomi Was Born 215
1. Encounter with Western Beauty 215
2. Creation of the Image of the Modern Beautiful Woman 224
3. Physical Appearance as Information on Customs and Manners
of the Day 230
4. Westernization of Heroines 234
Epilogue: Where Beauty Will Go 247
Afterword 255
Glossary of Selected Chinese and Japanese Names, Titles, and Terms 257
Selected Bibliography 277
Index 281
Translator’s Note
In the text and glossary, Chinese and Japanese names are given surnames
first. In certain cases, well-known Japanese figures are referred to in ab-
breviated fashion following Japanese practice: Michizane for Sugawara no
Michizane (a premodern name), and Sōseki (an independent pen name) for
Natsume Sōseki.
This translation benefited from the generous editing assistance of Marc
Peter Keane.
ix