Kidai Shoran (detail) © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Asiatische Kunst (Asian Art Museum, National Museums in Berlin), former collection of Hans-Joachim and Inge Küster, gift of Manfred Bohms 2002, photography: Tadao Kodaira

19Traveling hairdresser

Wealthy townhouses would contract with a hairdresser like this one to make regular visits for shaving and hairdressing. His vermilion lacquered box contains a set of tools. Female hairdressers would come to do the ladies’ hair, even though this was periodically forbidden as something extravagant and ostentatious. Among regular townspeople, men would go to a barbershop, while women would have someone in the family do up their hair in the latest styles.