with the locality of her home and the class of her patrons. Rusticity can never be charged against it; and it is either gay without tawdry or sober without sombreness. It is, however, not only in her dress that the geisha shows her taste; but the style of her hair also excites admiration. There are various styles of coiffure in Japan, the total number known past or present being said to exceed a hundred; but those actually in use are comparatively few if we set aside the slight variations that come into fashion from time to time. The formal coiffure of the geisha is the shimada, so called
THE “GEISHA’S” COIFFURE.
from its coming into vogue two centuries ago at a postal town of that name on the highway between Yedo and Kyoto. In this a tuft of false hair is tied at the crown to the natural hair; and the whole is made into a large chignon fastened down in the middle and spread out in front, with the ends gathered in on the crown. Sometimes the marumage, or the rounded coiffure of married women, is affected, in which the entire chignon is turned upon a thick
