"All Women of Nagoya are Beautiful": Travel Records of a Korean Diplomat in 1764.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to ascertain how women of that era looked to a Korean diplomat who visited Japan in the 18th century. During 1763-1764, the "Documents on Joseon Tongsinsa (diplomatic mission)" contain 10 records of Korea and 2 records of Japan. Among them, "The Song of a Grand Trip to Japan" (), a Joseon gasa, was reviewed. In the diary entries dated February 2 and 3, 1764, when he was in Nagoya, the author (Kim Ingyeom) described the physical appearance of Japanese women in the city. The peoples of here are bright and beautiful/ All the women are peerless beauties. With eyes like stars and cinnabar-red lips / A clear complexion like white jade, eyebrows like butterflies,/ Hands like budding sprouts, forehead like a cicada. They look like carved ice and as if lumped together with snow. How are they so beautiful despite having the flesh and blood of a human being? Though Zhao Feiyan and Yang Guifei (queens of China) are called the eternal beauties,/ They would look less beautiful compared to women here. If they dressed in Korean costumes and were decorated with jewels,/ We would forget ourselves and mistaken them as goddesses. He highlighted features such as prominent foreheads, eyebrows shaped like butterflies, star-like eyes, red lips, slender hands, and pale skin. He portrayed Japanese women as having a superior appearance compared to Chinese or Korean women. This record suggests that a diplomat admired the appearance of Japanese women during the Meiwa Era (1764-1772).