The Ohaguro-bettari is a female Yōkai with a startling appearance. It has a black face and a large red mouth with teeth stained black. She is said to appear towards evening and has been known to bite, scream, scratch and generally make a nuisance of herself. Female Yōkai get quite a bad rap in Japan, either being demonic monsters or troublesome terrors. The Ohaguro-bettari is often depicted in a wedding dress, possibly an folkloric allegory about the troubles of marriage?
The black teeth are similar to the common style of women in Edo period. who dyed their teeth black with a solution of vinegar and iron fillings. This was an aesthetic fashion at the time but also a practical remedy against tooth decay.This practice ceased shortly after foreigners began to arrive in Japan after 1868. Apparently no one told the ohaguro-bettari.
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