William Vollmann - Kissing the Mask - Beauty, Understatement and Femininity in Japanese Noh Theater, with Some Thoughts on Muses (Especially Helga Testorf), Transgender Women, ... Geishas, Valkyries and Venus Figurines

206: Mishima’s resolution to cultivate his body — Sun and Steel , pp. 7–8.

206: Procedures of Molly Sims — InStyle, January 2008, pp. 109 (“Your Most Stylish Year Ever: 365 Star Style Secrets,” no. 23), 119 (no. 233).

206: Mr. Shozo Sato’s abstention from water before performing — Information by him, given at a Kabuki costuming and makeup demonstration at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 23 February 2008. This form of preparation is also common among Noh actors. Regarding a ko-omote carved by Yamato, the actor Katayama Kurouemon reports: “I once performed Kenreimonin in “Oharagoko” with this mask. Since the colors are very delicate and I wore a flower hat on my head, I didn’t drink any water from the day before so that I would not sweat” (Hori, Masuda and Miyano, trans. for WTV by Yasuda Nobuko and slightly rev. by WTV; p. 36).

206: The Goodbye Cellulite, Hello Bikini Challenge — Marie Claire , vol. 15, no. 4 (April 2008), p. 59 (Nivea advertisement: “Ready for the Challenge?”).

206: “We’ve all been there…” — Allure , January 2008, p. 32 (advertisement for CoverGirl TruBlend).

206: Vaginal rejuvenation + balancing ethnic features — New Beauty , winter-spring 2008, p. 172 (“Vaginal Rejuvenation & Aesthetic Surgery”); p. 149 (“Balancing Your Ethnic Features”) + p. 141 (“The Details About Rhinoplasty”).

207: Reoperation rates for breast augmentation and reconstruction — Allure , January 2008, p. 54 (safety addendum to ad for the Natrelle Breast Enhancement Collection).

207: Description of the buttocks lift — New Beauty , winter-spring 2008, p. 111 (“Remove Excess Skin”).

207: Danger of Brazilian hair-straightening treatments — Allure , January 2008, p. 44 (“Letters from the Editor: January ’08: Vanity Cases”).

208: Details of vaginal graft and dilator — Ames, p. 239 (Aleshia Brevard).

208: “Literally melts away fat…” — New Beauty , winter-spring 2008, p. 87 (advertisement for “Smartlipo Laser Body Sculpting”).

208: “It’s no fun being a geisha…” — Goossen, p. 48 (Nagai Kafu, “The Peony Garden”).

208: “Ultimately, ours is a journey of anguish.” — Ames, p. 236 (Aleshia Brevard).

208: Noh lessons of Mr. Mikata Shizuka — Observed in his studio in Kyoto, 2004.

209: Dilation of neovagina with plastic stents — Rose, pp. 150–51.

209: Definition of muga — De Mente, pp. 47–49.

209: Remarks on Agnes — Stryker and Whittle, pp. 83, 82 (Harold Garfinkel, “Passing and the Managed Achievement of Sex Status in an ‘Intersexed’ Person”).

211: Iwasaki Mineko’s punishment and self-discipline — Op. cit., pp. 224, 231.

211: “More of a painted doll than a woman…” — Peabody Museum, p. 25 (Lesley Downs, “A World Behind Closed Doors”).

211: “The truth and what looks like it are two different things.” — Zeami, p. 146 (“Shugyoku tokka”).

211: The tale of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf — Op. cit., pp. 46, 44, 92, 102.

15: SUZUKA’S DRESSING ROOM

212: Remarks of Suzuka — From an interview in Kanazawa, January 2008; translated by Kawai Takako.

215: Morris on ideal waist-to-hip ratio — Op. cit., pp. 160–61.

215: Footnote on average female hip width — Morris, p. 169.

215: “The tightly laced young woman…” — Ibid., p. 164.

215: “Compactness and stability…” — Clark, pp. 85–86.

216: Maikos and the wooden pillow — Information from Masami-san, same ochaya, same month and year.

16: “THEY JUST WANT TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR”

222: Makeover — Interview with Yukiko, January 2008.

225: Desmond Morris on long hair and puffed-out lips — Op. cit., pp. 18, 79.

226: Sei Shonagon’s list of things that have lost their power — Op. cit., p. 145.

228: Footnote: Morris on blonde hair — Op. cit., p. 18.

228: The Vimalakirti Sutra — De Bary et al., pp. 60–61.

17: “I SIT WITH MY LEGS CLOSED”

230: Breasts created with padded apron; paragraph on elongated kimono sleeves & c; immediately following paragraph on types of feminine movement — Information by Mr. Sato Shozo, Kabuki costuming and makeup demonstration at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 23 February 2008.

231: Remarks of Mr. Ichikawa Shunen — From an interview in Tokyo, January 2008; translated by Kawai Takako.

231: Footnote: Mishima on onnagatas — Five Modern No Plays , pp. 298, 297, 293.

234: “Grasp the logic of the fact that the eyes cannot see themselves…” — Zeami (Rimer and Yamazaki), p. 80 (“Kakyo”).

236: Visible and interior effects of waist constriction — Kunzle, pp. 15, 30–31.

18: “THERE’S NO UGLY LADY FACE”

239: “A double of the super ego” — Bellmer, p. 66. In the same work (pp. 28–29), he decribes a paralytic in love with a young girl: “Gradually her physical reality superimposed itself over his own… internally at prenatal depths he became the woman he was preparing to possess… he transformed into his opposite,” namely a woman.

239: “Never created or annihilated by themselves…” — De Bary et al., p. 138 (Huisi, “The Method of Calming and Contemplation in the Mahayana” [sixth cent.]).

19: THE PHALLUS OF TIRESIAS

244: “Entertainment enacted by a loosely defined occupation…” — Rath, p. 10.

244: The ancient Hungarian figurine — Depicted in Gimbutas, p. 231.

245: “By this unnatural differentiation…” — Zweig, p. 73. See also pp. 71–72.

246: Tomimoto Toyohina and her two colleagues — Utamaro book, trans. Yasuda Nobuko. Picture 7: Toji-sanbijin; Tomimoto Toyohina, Naniwaya Kita and Takashima Hisa; around Kansei 5 (1793). Large Nishikie. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

247: “… with a view to maintaining women in the conventional, subordinate role…” — Millot, p. 14.

247: Tips on feminine-style self-touching, on walking and on sitting — Danae Doyle Productions, “Feminine Movement Basics Vol. 1,” DDP & Feminage, 2007.

247: “A woman’s nature is such…” — De Bary et al., p. 404.

248: Description of Amelia — Maxwell, p. 60 ( Bright Center of Heaven , 1934).

248: Reshaping procedure for lip line — Aucoin, p. 45.

248: As depressing as an out-of-season red plum-blossom dress — Shonagon, p. 40.

249: “Now all at once he realized what the repulsive aura was…” — Böll, p. 199 ( Der Zug war pünktlich , 1951).

249: Tale of the transvestite at Caesar’s house — Cicero, vol. II (vol. XXII in the works), p. 35 (I.13, Cicero to Atticus, Rome, Jan. 25, B.C. 61).

249: Poem of love separation from the year 1232 — Brower and Miner, p. 271 (“Next Morning Love,” by Teika, slightly “retranslated” by WTV).

250: Description of Vanesa Lorena Ledesma — Amnesty International, p. 58. This case occurred in Argentina in 2000.

250: “If we eliminate the pressure to pass…” — Mattilda, p. 19 (“Reaching Too Far: An Introduction”).

250: The collection of mid-twentieth-century snapshots — In Hurst and Swope.

250: “One might say that the grace of them is not derived from avoiding strain…” — Denby.

250: Bone, flesh and skin — Zeami (Rimer and Yamazaki), pp. 69–70 (“Shikado”).

250: “Let there be brought to me twenty women…” — Simpson, p. 17 (“Third Tale: The Marvel Which Happened in the Reign of King Snefru”).

250: “All I am able to do is teach you the form…” — Iwasaki and Brown, p. 297.

250: “A fan must be carried…” — Ito and Inoue, p. 99.

250: “This is a higher-level mask with strength…” — Hori, Masuda and Miyano, trans. for WTV by Yasuda Nobuko and slightly rev. by WTV; p. 54.