ing herself. Allusion is
also made to the custom in the "Yeiga-mono-gatari," an ancient book by
the same authoress.

The Emperor and nobles of his court are also in the habit of
blackening their teeth; but the custom is gradually dying out in their
case. It is said to have originated with one Hanazono Arishito, who
held the high rank of _Sa-Daijin,_ or "minister of the left," at the
commencement of the twelfth century, in the reign of the Emperor
Toba. Being a, man of refined and sensual tastes, this minister
plucked out his eyebrows, shaved his beard, blackened his teeth,
powdered his face white, and rouged his lips in order to render
himself as like a woman as possible. In the middle of the twelfth
century, the nobles of the court, who went to the wars, all blackened
their teeth; and from this time forth the practice became a fashion of
the court. The followers of the chiefs of the Hojo dynasty also
blackened their teeth, as an emblem of their fidelity; and this was
called the Odawara fashion, after the castle town of the family. Thus
a custom, which had its origin in a love of sensuality and pleasure,
became mistaken for the sign of a good and faithful spirit.

The fashion of blackening the teeth entails no little trouble upon its
followers, for the colour must be renewed every day, or at least every
other day. Strange and repelling as the custom appears at first, the
eye soon learns to look without aversion upon a well-blacked and
polished set of teeth; but when the colour begins to wear away, and
turns to a dullish grey, streaked with black, the mouth certainly
becomes most hideous. Although no one who reads this is likely to put
a recipe for blackening the teeth to a practical test, I append one
furnished to me by a fashionable chemist and druggist in Yedo:--

"Take three pints of water, and, having warmed it, add half a
teacupful of wine. Put into this mixture a quantity of red-hot iron;
allow it to stand for five or six days, when there will be a scum on
the top of the mixture, which should then be poured into a small
teacup and placed near a fire. When it is warm, powdered gallnuts and
iron filings should be added to it, and the whole should be warmed
again. The liquid is then painted on to the teeth by means of a soft
feather brush, with more powdered gallnuts and iron, and, after
several applications, the desired colour will be obtained."

The process is said to be a preservative of the teeth, and I have