Vintage Guru Reveals Her Glamour Secrets
The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
The Beautiful Chaos of Improvisational Quilts
Our Dad, the Water Witch of Wyoming
This 1959 Goggomobil Is Insanely Cute and Gets 55 MPG. Why Can’t Detroit Do That?
California Cool: How the Wetsuit Became the Surfer's Second Skin
The Unfiltered History of Rolling Papers, Plus Tommy Chong's Big Fat Jamaican Vacation
World's Smallest Museum Finds the Wonder in Everyday Objects
Fightin’ Femmes: Unmasking Female Superheroes with Author Mike Madrid
Posted 2 years ago
iamken
(31 items)
Starting from the basics, I got these dolls in year 2004.
The dolls represent the Emperor and Empress of Japan. Notice the spots above the dolls' eyebrows.
Alan Pate told me just now through email:
"Those are called "okimayu" or sky brows. In Heian court culture the natural eyebrows would have been shaved and these higher brows would have been painted in. Later they became a symbol of nobility. Any doll figure with skybrows would depict someone from the imperial court."
Japanese DollsWhile “ningyo” or human figurines can be traced to ancient Japanese rituals…