Where’s Your Ideal Japanese Girl? The Almighty “Yamatonadeshiko” Girl is Extinct?

Throughout periods, there have been many ideals of what was considered to be cute or beautiful. And most girls follow the trends of their times. although there have been many that were very popular yet died out, one ideal hasn’t changed for a very long time. That is “Yamatonadeshiko”.

What is Yamatonadeshiko?

In the dictionary, “Yamatonadeshiko” means a beautiful and neatly dressed woman. The word itself is the Japanese name of the Dianthus flower. We imagine this kind of girl to have black virgin hair, and white skin. If you neatly dress her, it would be like this.

This is Sayuri Yoshinaga, in her young ages. She is a famous actress popular for her graceful and bright character.

Yamatonadeshiko is the synonym of a beautiful Japanese woman in no matter what times. There has even been a drama titled Yamatonadeshiko on the most often viewed time zone on TV. Even the woman’s soccer team is named Nadeshiko Japan.

However Yamatonadeshiko isn’t something just about her visual characteristics. It also has the image that she laughs quietly, steps three steps back from men, and never uses any kind of words that would give someone an untidy impression. Now she seems to be perfect! But does this kind of girl even exist? Or maybe she never even existed.

The start of Yamatonadeshiko

We don’t know exactly when this started, but it is said to have come from the times when men came before woman, during war. We have a word “Yamatodanshi” meaning a dignified man that should protect the weak woman and children. Yamatonadeshiko were there to support these men without standing out, and not clearly saying their opinions but just truly supporting their husbands with loyalty.

Anything in common?

Now we use the word kawaii for a wide range of types of girls. The history started to change from gyaru culture.

Although the peak of popularity has passed, their fashion is still very popular among young people.

It even has come to the point that not only girls who dye theirhair in a relatively natural hair color, but also girls like Kyari pamyu pamyu who dye their hair in all sorts of colors are kawaii too.

Do you see anything in common between these types of girls? White skin has always been in common (although once when gyaru culture was at the peak tanned skin was popular). But of course, the words we use, especially among young girls, have changed very much since the ideologies during the war periods have almost completely died out and many woman have been social progress and proving new roles.

Yamatonadeshiko are extinct?

It seems that it would be almost impossible to find the Yamatonadeshiko girl in the time we live now. However maybe there aren’t any people who really really think that Yamatonadeshiko are the best, and also girls who want to become one. If you come across one, you’re probably very lucky!