Kyoto Boxwood Combs

Traditional Japanese hairstyles (Nihon gami) are impossible to style without combs. The comb is an ancient implement that has been found at Jomon period (c. 10,500 BCE–c. 3rd C. BCE) sites, and it is thought that combs made from boxwood (tsuge) were in use from around the Nara period. Boxwood combs do not generate static electricity, and are said to be gentle to the skin. The more they are used, the more attractive their amber color becomes, and their enhanced beauty makes them favorite possessions. The word in Japanese for comb is kushi, whose syllables also could be read as the numerals nine (ku) and four (shi). For this reason, Edo period (1615-1868) comb shops often used the number thirteen (jūsan), the sum of four and nine, in their shop names. Even today, there are still comb shops in Kyoto containing the name: Jūsan'ya ("Thirteen Shop," a pun on "Comb Shop") or Nijūsan'ya ("Twenty-three Shop"). Nijūsan'ya is a further pun: ten plus thirteen is twenty three, and one of the words for ten (jū or tō) is a homonym of a word for China (tō). So the name "Twenty-three Shop" is a pun on "Chinese Comb Shop." 

Traditionally, Kyoto combs were made from Satsuma boxwood grown in Ibusuki, Kagoshima prefecture. In recent years, imported wood has also been used; the choice of materials is closely related to pricing. The ideal wood for a comb comes from a boxwood tree that is around 35 years old. It is harvested at a time in August or September when the weather is hot but humidity is low. The wood is dried in the sun, its  core removed. After drying, a process called board binding (itajime) is carried out. Wedges of wood are fitted into a pie-like circle and bound together tightly with plastic parcel tape (in the past, they were bound with bamboo hoops). This process helps to correct any warps or malformations that may have occurred during the initial drying. In this bound form, the wood wedges are fumigated by smoking them for around ten days. The smoking process strengthens the wood and removes any insects. Because of this smoking, the boxwood sawdust gives off a pleasant, smoky scent. After that, the wood is stored away to cure for a minimum of five years, but more often one or several decades. After the wood becomes completely straight and sufficiently stable, the manufacturing of the comb can finally begin.

Next, the teeth are filed (hazuri) to smooth and sharpen them. The file is placed between the teeth at the tip and bits are shaved off. The base of each tooth is also shaved between the teeth. When one side is finished, the task is repeated on the other side. The task is carried out with a metal file. The comb does not come out well if the teeth are filed “square on” first. Therefore, they are initially filed at an angle from the right and then at an angle from the left, and finally square on from the front.

When the teeth are ready, the back of the comb is shaped using a guide. Then the comb surface is sanded and smoothed with a tokusa (horsetail plant board) and, recently, an electric saw has come to be used. Finishing is done with a triangular filing rod (suribo)—a wooden triangular rod affixed with ribbed pieces of horsetail plant. A more recent technique is to smooth down the comb with sand paper, but this always leaves tiny scratches in the surface. Horsetail plant, which does not leave flaws, is thus the preferred choice, especially for high-quality products.

Sometimes decorative patterns are carved onto combs by specialist craftsmen in places like Kyushu and Osaka. Expertise is required to carve detailed decorations onto such a small surface and, in recent years, as the craftsmen become older, fostering successors has become an urgent matter. The same is true for the comb makers themselves. The processes for comb makers today are somewhat eased by the modern tools often used in various stages involved in making combs. The cutting of teeth, for example, is now generally done with an electric saw, whereas in the past teeth were cut with a hand saw.  Some textures and finishes, however, cannot be achieved with modern tools. Also, combs used in festivals and religious rituals (such as those used as an offering in the Sengū ceremony at the Grand Shrine of Ise and those worn by the Saiōdai in the Aoi Festival) are polished using horsetail plant or muku leaves, in accordance with traditional hard-won skills.

 

 

These vertical combs, shaped like forks, are specifically for use in hairdressing and are called bindashi. In the world of Japanese hairdressing, the word bin refers to sections of hair at the temples which are combed out and then carefully arranged and put up.  The handle part of the comb is used to arrange these puffed shapes at the temples and swelling hair at the nape of the neck and back of the head (called tabo, or tsuto in the Kansai region), as well as to insert fallen hair pieces back into the temples.

 

Sujidate are vertical combs for tidying the hair. They vary in terms of the thickness and number of their teeth. In addition, some sujidate combs are used by Nishijin weavers in the production of silk tapestry weave textiles. Such combs have narrow, evenly distributed teeth because they are used to beat down the weft threads.

The middle comb with teeth of different widths on the left and the right is a hakekoki—a specialist implement for fixing men’s mage or chonmage top-knots. It is used to adjust the very top of the motodori (gathered hair). The top and bottom combs are bingushi.