Once again on the subject of teeth. This print (below), which just happens to be one of my favourites, from Utamaro's series Customs of Beauties around the Clock (Fūzoku bijin tokei), shows a young woman (the subtitle says 'a kept woman'), at about ten o'clock in the morning, brushing her teeth whilst her female servant holds a basin of water before her. In her hand the young woman is holding a bag of toothpowder, and over her shoulder a hand towel is draped. The thin length of wood which she is holding in her mouth is a tufted toothpick.
During the Edo period (1603-1868), a tufted toothpick (fusayōji) served as a toothbrush. The use of toothpicks originated with the Buddhist monks who travelled to Japan from India, via China, who were required to chew 'shiki' ('toothwood') each morning. Chewing on one end of these wooden sticks created a tufted section which was then used to clean the teeth.
Fusayōji were made from willow ('yō' means 'willow tree', and 'ji' means 'branch'). The end was beaten to create the required tufted brush. Those for men were made from the trunk of the willow tree, whilst those for women were made from the branches of the tree and were softer, to prevent the accidental scraping away of the meticulously applied ohaguro. Fusayōji were usually around 12cm long, with a 2cm tufted end, and the non-tufted end was tapered to provide a tool for tongue-scraping. One widely held superstitious belief, which was taken very seriously at the time, was that terrible consequences would befall anyone who did not break the fusayōji in half before throwing it away.
Toothpaste was made by mixing a polishing powder called Boshusuna (sand from Boshu) with a scented toothpowder and water. A polishing salt was added to the mixture, and possibly camphor also, and the paste was then put onto a wet fusayōji and used to clean the teeth.
