English Version
Have you heard of foot binding? In Japanese, it is called tensoku, but the custom itself was practiced in China. It is said to have existed from around the 10th century, and if it were practiced today, it would be treated as a serious human rights abuse.
What Was Foot Binding?
Foot binding was the practice of tightly wrapping a young girl’s feet in cloth to prevent them from growing. It was not simply a matter of bandaging the foot. According to historical accounts, the toes were bent inward and wrapped tightly in place.
If a child’s feet were bound like this from an early age, they could not grow normally. In some cases, it is said that the bones of the toes were deliberately broken to make the feet smaller.
Naturally, children who underwent foot binding suffered extreme pain. They cried, bled, and sometimes developed pus and infections. Even so, mothers still bound their daughters’ feet because it was part of the culture and social expectations of the time. As a custom, it is horrifying to imagine.
An adult foot is usually around 22 to 25 centimeters long, depending on the person. But feet that had been bound were said to remain only around 10 centimeters long, even after the girl grew up. Reference: Wikipedia.
Was Foot Binding Only for Women?
Foot binding, which prevented the feet from growing naturally, continued in China for several hundred years. When the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, the government banned the practice. Even after that, however, foot binding reportedly remained in some areas for a time.
Why did such a cruel custom survive for so long? The answer is closely connected to women and marriage.
In China at the time, women with small feet were considered desirable. The way they walked, almost dragging their feet because of the binding, was seen as attractive. In other words, small feet became a kind of feminine charm point.
A woman who had endured the long-term pain of foot binding was also seen as obedient: someone who listened to her parents and could tolerate suffering. Once that idea became rooted in society, women with normal, unbound feet were often judged as “not beautiful” or “badly raised.”
That made romance and marriage more difficult. Women with larger feet were reportedly looked down on, and women without bound feet were sometimes mocked as “big-footed women.”
Foot Binding as a Way to Control Women
In old China, small feet were treated as beautiful. But foot binding has also been described as a method of controlling women.
This was not an era when most women could freely work, earn money, and live independently. For many women, marriage and maintaining the household were the main ways to survive. A woman with large feet might struggle to marry, and not marrying could make life extremely difficult.
For that reason, parents inflicted the intense pain of foot binding on their daughters, believing it would help them survive socially.
There is also a theory that foot binding made it harder for women to escape. When the feet became extremely small, the body’s balance was affected, and walking smoothly became difficult.
Foot binding is said to have begun among the upper classes. By making it difficult for women to walk or go outside freely, it may also have been connected to ideas of chastity and keeping women inside the home. Reference: World History Window.
Were Bound Feet Considered Sexy?
In China at the time, bound feet were common among women. Even so, women usually kept their feet hidden. Some accounts say they even wore shoes while sleeping so their feet would not be seen.
Because the feet were hidden, showing them to a man could be treated as sexually exciting. Bound feet were wrapped for long periods, so they often had a strong smell, and that smell was also reportedly considered part of the erotic appeal by some men.
There were also customs involving placing objects or food between bound feet, admiring beautifully decorated shoes, and enjoying the movements of women wearing them. In other words, feet that had been broken, tightly wrapped, and permanently altered became an object of desire.
Naturally, women did not show their bound feet to anyone except a husband or lover.
Some sources also claim that foot binding strengthened the muscles of the inner thighs, which was believed to increase sexual pleasure during intercourse. It is a difficult worldview to understand today, but it was part of the culture surrounding foot binding. Reference: HuffPost.
How Long Did Foot Binding Continue?
Many people know that China went through the Cultural Revolution. Foot binding was banned in 1949 after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, but it still remained in some regions afterward.
The practice faded after World War II, and during the Cultural Revolution it was treated as a reactionary custom and strongly rejected. That is when foot binding finally disappeared in a more complete sense.
Because foot binding forcibly made the feet smaller, women who had undergone it often could not run or move quickly. In disasters, some reportedly died because they could not escape. If a husband died first, a woman with bound feet might also struggle severely because she could not easily do farm work or other physical labor.
Summary
Foot binding was a custom in which young girls’ feet were tied, bones were bent or broken, and the foot was shaped into something almost like a permanent high heel. It grew out of an aesthetic ideal that treated small feet as beautiful.
Bound feet were also treated as objects of sexual fascination. Women did not show them to anyone except a lover or husband, and some even slept with shoes on.
It was a cruel and painful custom, but even after the People’s Republic of China banned it, foot binding survived for a while as one of history’s most disturbing practices.
Japanese Language
纏足って言葉をご存知ですか？。「てんそく」と読むのですが、昔の中国で行われていた慣習です。中国では１０世紀頃からあったと言われているこの文化…今だったら大問題になっていることでしょう。纏足とは？。。画像 Pixaboy 。纏足は女性の足を小さくするために、まだ 幼い頃から足に布などをきつく巻いて成長させないようにする という文化です。それも、ただ足に布を巻くだけではなくて指を内側に折った状態でぐるぐる巻きにしていたんだとか。子供の頃からずっと足をこんな風に巻かれていたら成長できずに足が小さくなります。
時には指の骨を折って足を小さくすることもあったんだとか、これが纏足です。当然、 纏足をされた子供は痛みで泣き叫びますし、足から出血や膿がでてかなりの痛み を伴いました。それでも母親は自分の子に纏足をしたのです。文化や風習とはいえ、恐ろしいものです。大人の足のサイズはもちろん人にもよりますが、22センチから25センチ位ですよね。ですが、 纏足をした人の足は成長しても１０センチ程度 だったそうです。参考資料: Wikipedia 。纏足は女性だけだった？
その理由。。画像 Pixaboy。足を成長させないようにする纏足は、中国で難百年も続いた文化でした。1949年に中華人民共和国ができたときに中国政府は纏足を禁止したのですがそれでもなお纏足文化は残されていました。何故こんなに残酷な文化がなかなかなくならなかったのか…それは、女性と結婚に理由がありました。まず、中国では小さな足の女性が、足を引きずるように歩く姿が「好ましい」とされていました。つまり、小さな足は女性のチャームポイントのように捉えられていたんです。
そして、纏足のような長時間の痛みを伴う事を耐え抜いてきた女性は、親の言うことをよく聞き痛みにも耐える「よい子」だと思われていました。こんな文化が根付いてしまうと、纏足をしない普通の足の女性は、「綺麗じゃない」とか「しつけがなってない」なんて見られ方をするようになるのは自然な流れ…。そうなると結婚も恋愛もしにくくなるんです。足が大きな人は差別の対処のように軽蔑されていたそうです。纏足をしていない女性や足が大きな女性は「大足女」と揶揄されたんだとか。
纏足は女性支配の方法だったとも言われている。足が小さい女性が美しい…とされていた昔の中国ですが、纏足は女性支配の方法でもありました。今のように女性がバリバリ働いてお金を稼げるような時代ではありませんから、女性は結婚して家庭を守ることが生きていく方法でした。つまり、大きな足の女性はなかなか結婚できず…結婚できないことは生きていくことが難しくなることを意味します。だから女の子が生きていくために、親は激しい痛みを伴う纏足を自分の娘に貸したのです。
また、 纏足をして足が極端に小さくなると身体のバランスが崩れるのでスムーズに歩くことが難しく なります。女性が逃げられないようにするためだったのではないかという説もあります。纏足はもともと上流階級からスタートした文化でした。うまく歩けないようにすることで、外に容易に出られなくなりますから、貞操を維持するという目的もあったのではないかと考えられています。参考資料: 世界史の窓 。纏足の足はセクシーだった?。当時の中国では女性の纏足は当たり前でした。
が、女性は足を普段は隠して生活していました。寝るときも靴を履いて足をかくしていだんだとか、そんな足を男性に見せると、 男性はその足に性的な魅力を感じた んだそうです。纏足した足はずっと足に布を巻いているので臭いがきつくなりますが、その臭いも性的な興奮の要素だったんです。纏足の足にものを挟んで食べたり、きれいな装飾の靴を履かせて仕草を楽しむ文化もありました。つまり、骨をおられてグルグル巻きにされて、臭う足がエクスタシーだったというわけ。当然、女性は纏足の足を夫や恋人以外には見せることをしませんでした。
。また、纏足をすると内股の筋肉が発達するので性行為のときの快感が増しました。。なかなか理解できない世界ですが、そういう文化があったのは事実です。参考資料: HUFFPOST 。纏足はいつまであったのか。中国には文化大革命という歴史があることは皆さんもご存知かと思います。纏足は中華人民共和国ができ1949年に禁止されましたが、それ以降も一部の地域で残っていました。纏足がなくなったのは第二次世界大戦後のこと。ちなみに文化大革命では纏足は反革命的行為と見なされて忌み嫌われました。
そこでようやく纏足がなくなったのです。纏足で足を無理やり小さくするわけですから、災害が起こったときに纏足の女性は逃げられずに死亡することも多くありましたし、夫が先に亡くなった場合は、女性は農作業などができずにかなり生活に苦労することもありました。まとめ。女の子の足を縛って骨を折りまるでハイヒールのような形にする纏足文化は、足が小さな女性が美しいという美的感覚から生まれたものでした。纏足の足は性的興奮の対象とされていて、恋人や夫意外には見せることがなく、寝るときも靴を履いたままでした。
かなり痛みを伴う残酷な纏足文化ですが、中華人民共和国ができて禁止された後もしばらく残っていた奇習です
