Maro
Do you care about your eyebrow? Yes, I do. Because I have thin eyebrow. I don't like mine very much. In my country, such thin, short eyebrow is sometimes called 'Maro-mayu (Maro-eyebrow).
During the Heian period (794-1185A.D.), noble people had a unique makeup. They used a heavy rice powder to paint their faces and necks white. They plucked their eyebrows, and then, painted on misty new eyebrows high on their foreheads. And also they blackened teeth. It looks very odd to modern sensibilities, but of course there was a reason. When you surprise, your eyebrow rises up or when you have feeling of dislike, your eyebrow is bent. Like that way, face has facial muscles of expression, eyebrow, eye, mouth etc, each has a function to express your emotions.
During Heian period, it was believed that showing their emotion was tasteless, especially among noble people. That's why they tried to display nobleness and honorableness by hiding their facial emotion and expression. It was old Japanese virtue. Virtue was the only true nobility. I think it was one of the reasons that they had always held a fan to hide their face or mouth. It can be read as a sign that modesty was a virtue Japanese valued more.
Not only women but also men did the same thing. Maro is old suffix word after men's names, which was used by noble people. Such odd sensibilities gave us an idea to call 'Maro-mayu'. We sometimes call playfully someone's thin eyebrow as 'Maro'.
During the Heian period (794-1185A.D.), noble people had a unique makeup. They used a heavy rice powder to paint their faces and necks white. They plucked their eyebrows, and then, painted on misty new eyebrows high on their foreheads. And also they blackened teeth. It looks very odd to modern sensibilities, but of course there was a reason. When you surprise, your eyebrow rises up or when you have feeling of dislike, your eyebrow is bent. Like that way, face has facial muscles of expression, eyebrow, eye, mouth etc, each has a function to express your emotions.
During Heian period, it was believed that showing their emotion was tasteless, especially among noble people. That's why they tried to display nobleness and honorableness by hiding their facial emotion and expression. It was old Japanese virtue. Virtue was the only true nobility. I think it was one of the reasons that they had always held a fan to hide their face or mouth. It can be read as a sign that modesty was a virtue Japanese valued more.
Not only women but also men did the same thing. Maro is old suffix word after men's names, which was used by noble people. Such odd sensibilities gave us an idea to call 'Maro-mayu'. We sometimes call playfully someone's thin eyebrow as 'Maro'.
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