When it comes to plucking ears, probably many people are very fond of it, and even some people spend hundreds to thousands to experience "ear picking". And almost everyone will have one or two ear scoops at home, as long as they feel that the ears are itchy, they will take one out, and the pressure will be decomposed.
When did the ear spoon originate? If people have dirt on their ears, they use their nails to dig, and if their nails don't work, they use grass and wooden sticks, which is common in life. But when the "ear spoon" was made, it is really not easy to determine.
Judging from archaeological findings, the ancients' daily life is most inseparable from three small objects: one is a toothpick, the other is a comb, and the third is an ear scoop. Shaanxi archaeologists excavated an ear scoop carved from topaz at the famous Yongcheng Qin Gong Tomb, dating back about 2,500 to 600 years. In 1976, Jiangxi archaeologists found a dragon-shaped small object made of gold in an ancient tomb in Nanchang, 24.5 centimeters long and weighing 9 grams, its dragon tongue was a digging ear spoon, and the tip of the dragon's tail was a toothpick. The owner of the property is Gao Rong, a native of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period, dating back to about 1700 years ago.
There are also earlier records, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Archaeological Institute "Yin Xu Women's Good Tomb" reported that in Anyang Yin Xu Women's Good Tomb found two jade ear scoops, carved into the shape of a fish; the fish eyes of their heads also have perforations, which can also be worn. She was the princess of Wuding, the King of Yin, more than 3,200 years ago. It can be seen that the ancients paid attention to the use of ear spoons to clean the ear canal very early.
Women good tomb jade fish shaped ear spoon
At that time, it was not known or the average person did not know the physiological protection role of cerumen, that is, ear feces, so that some people dug their ears into habits, and folk also dug ears into the wind, so there was the idiom of "digging ears as a trick".
The Qing Yilu records that The Prime Minister Duzong called the "ear key" "iron matter". Duzong was a person of the Tang Dynasty, which shows that the Tang Dynasty commonly called "ear spoon" as "ear spoon", and one of the aliases was "iron matter". Its texture is made of iron.
China has long had records about "plucking out ears", Jin Gehong's "Baopuzi · The Bi Que (备阙) chapter reads: "The teeth are loose and less than an inch; the ears are not as good as the feathers of the wren." "Picking ears" means "plucking out ears", Deng Zhicheng's "Bone Dong Trivia" Volume II "Picking Ears" Yun: "That is, scratching the ears now." "During the Southern Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Yu period (961 ~ 975), Qi Han, the king of the Painting Academy, created the "Ear Picking Diagram" (also known as the "Survey Book Map"), which painted a huge three-fold screen, the front of the screen was slightly left as a long large case, and in front of the short case on the right, a person sat on a chair, holding an ear key, his left eye was closed, and his unique demeanor and comfort when digging his ears were very expressive.
Hongcun, located in the northeast of Yi County, Anhui Province, has many ancient architectural masterpieces. One of the wood carvings of "Tang Suzong Banquet Officials" is carved on a whole piece of beam, and the picture shows that Tang Suzong feasted on the civil and military officials, and everyone carried out various entertainment activities before going to the banquet, the piano, chess, books, paintings are all collected, and even the small places such as boiling water and plucking ears are also depicted beautifully.
From archaeology and written records, it can be seen that it is such a small ear scoop, and the materials used from ancient times to the present are also different. In the early days, ear scoops were often made of animal bones, but later generations mostly used bamboo, wood, and metal, of which metal was the most common. Metal is also divided into gold, silver, copper, iron, etc., and the highest grade is naturally the gold ear scoop. Most of the ear digging tools found by archaeology are made of gold, silver and copper.
The ear-digging tools found during the Wei and Jin dynasties varied in size and had some differences in style. For example, the larger ones are two golden ear digging hairpins excavated from the Eastern Jin Dynasty Tomb in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, one of which is thin at one end, the other end is curved into a Z shape, the end head is ear scoop shaped, the body is engraved with dragon patterns, the length is 23.1 cm (Figure 1), and the other is straight and slender, and the bamboo knot pattern after the ear scoop is decorated with a bamboo stripe pattern, which is 28.4 cm long (Figure 2). These two ear digging hairpin heads should be able to be used to tie knot pendant ornaments, such as a small rectangular hole in the Z-shaped ear digging hairpin near the head of the hairpin, a bamboo knot-shaped bulge near the head of the hairpin, or it is designed to fix the knot, the hairpin crosses the bun, and the ornament is suspended in the ear, such a hair ornament or a popular hair ornament for women in the upper class at that time, "Hair ornament", according to the "Book of Jin · The Chronicle of Public Opinion reads: "The princesses, concubines, princesses, princesses, princesses, the purple silk of the golden seal of the king, the Xuanyu of Peishan ... Its eldest princess must have a step to shake, all have a hairpin, and the clothes are made together. ”
For those with smaller shapes, a copper ear excavation excavated from the Wei Jin Tomb in Xigou Village, Jiuquan, Gansu Province (Fig. 3), with a length of only 6 cm and a cylindrical handle with a thick upper and lower thickness. In addition, the silver ear digging excavated from the Northern Wei Tomb Group on Datong Yingbin Avenue in Shanxi (Figure 4), the ear excavation is two sets, one is ear excavation, and the other is a columnar storage tube for placing ear excavation, the ear excavation is flat and long, there is a small neck connection between the ear spoon and the handle, and the ear excavation and storage cylinder are 5.5 and 5.75 cm respectively. The habit of equipping a storage tube has been spread until the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the popular gold and silver "three things" of the Ming Dynasty often have a storage tube, such as a Ming Dynasty gold four things excavated from the tomb of Ming Murui in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, with a storage tube.
Tang Dynasty popular a kind of copper ear digging, this kind of copper ear digging generally length of 7 to 15 cm range, one end of the ear digging, the other end is often made into tweezers, the shape of the tweezers has two kinds, one for the pointed head, for ear tweezers, one for the wide head, used to repair eyebrows.
The Tang Dynasty Tombs of Kuishan In Xuzhou City and the Tang Tombs of Zhongxing West Avenue in Xingtai, Hebei Province, have all unearthed such copper ear excavations. This kind of copper tweezers with ears should be able to be used as hairpins, Liang Chaojianghong's "Song Ji Poem": "Bao Tweezers see pearl flowers, clear and beautiful makeup." Yuan Longfu's "Female Red Yuzhi" said: "Yuan Shu Ji Feng Fangnu, there are thousands of gold treasure tweezers, inserted to increase the charm." It can be seen that in the Han and Wei and Jin dynasties, tweezers were used as hairpins, and this fashion was also followed until the later Ming and Qing dynasties.
In the Tang Dynasty, both men and women attached great importance to the trimming and depiction of eyebrows, and there were more than ten kinds of eyebrow shapes for makeup, and the Yuan Dynasty Tao Zongyi's "Sayings" volume 77 downloaded Tang Zhangbi's "Makeup Lou Record" contained: "Emperor Ming Xingshu, ling painting work ten eyebrows, horizontal clouds, oblique moon are its names." ”
According to the "Deeds of An Lushan", in the tenth year of Tianbao, An Lushan had a birthday, and Among the objects given to him by Yang Guifei was a copper tweezer: "The first day of the first month of the tenth year is Lushan's birthday." First of all, he gave the utensils and clothes, and the truth was also rewarded. Emperor Yuanzong gave the golden flower a large silver pot two... The other end of the tweezer is made into an ear digging, which shows that the Tang people regard the cleanliness and hygiene of the ears and the grooming and beautification of the eyebrows as equally important things in life. From the above, it can be found that in the period from Wei Jin to Tang, the shape of "ear digging" and "ear digging hairpin" was not fixed, but they all had certain characteristics of the times.
The popularity of gold and silver ear digging and ear digging hairpins began in the Song Dynasty, and the ear digging hairpins were mostly used, and the Song people called it "Yizhangqing", "This hairpin is called Yizhangqing, also commonly known as 'ear digging', its shape is: a sharp head; the other end has a small pole chiseled for human ears." This title was also used until the Ming and Qing dynasties. The length of the Ear Digging Hairpin in the Song Dynasty is generally between 12 and 18 cm, which is shorter than the length of the "Hairpin" in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and its basic shape is flat and long, with one end sharpened, and the other end is dug ear-shaped, and the digging ear is connected to a small section of the neck at the handle of the hairpin. The silver ear excavated from the Song tomb in Changjing Town, Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province, is plain, with a length of 12.3 cm, and the flat plane is engraved with the inscription "Northern Zhou Paving".
The commodity economy of the Song Dynasty was very developed, and there were many private workshops producing gold and silverware and jewelry, in order to maintain business reputation or industry competition, craftsmen would engrave inscriptions on products to promote their own brands and display the craftsmanship of craftsmen. For example, a Song Dynasty silver ear digging hairpin excavated from the Tang and Song tombs of the Six Dynasties in Chengguan, Leiyang, Hunan Province, is very delicately made, the hairpin is 13 cm long, the whole is flat and long, the lower part of the hairpin handle is slightly squared, and the back is engraved with cirrus clouds.
In the Yuan Dynasty, digging hairpins developed two styles, one is practical, its shape is basically similar to the Song Dynasty ear digging hairpin, the other is ruyi hairpin, although it has appeared in the Song Dynasty, such as the top of the Zhejiang Qu hairpin head hit a bend, but from the Yuan Dynasty Ruyi hairpin end of the small ear digging, should be closer to the Song Dynasty ear digging hairpin in the source, but the Yuan Dynasty Ruyi hairpin end of the small ear digging can not be practical, because its thin neck part connecting the hairpin handle is very short, such as using its ear digging, obviously can not enter the ear hole freely, And the handle of the ruyi hairpin is often to create a complicated decoration, and it is difficult to hold it for a long time, so the ear digging of the ruyi hairpin can only be used for decoration, such as a ruyi golden hairpin excavated from the cellar of the New Heyuan Dynasty in Hunan.
The use of ear digging hairpins was more popular in the Ming Dynasty, and it was a common thing on the hair buns of wangsun nobles or ordinary commoners. Ming Dynasty popular books "Supplementary Miscellaneous Characters for Easy to Know " · Gold and silver jewelry boots and shoes door" has: "... Earrings, rings, ear crawls, tooth holders, button beads...", of which "ear crawling" is this. Judging from the physical discovery of ear digging hairpins, it is also the most abundant in the Ming Dynasty. Different from the previous hair tie, in the Ming Dynasty, both men and women, almost all hair tie was used. And because crowns or mesh scarves are often worn on the bun, the hairpin used as a hair tie is always very short, usually around ten centimeters, generally no more than thirteen centimeters.
The style of ear digging hairpins in the Ming Dynasty has changed significantly compared with the Song and Yuan dynasties. Different from the flat and long shape of the Song and Yuan ear digging hairpins, the Ming Dynasty ear digging hairpin handle is conical or four-sided cone, six-sided cone, etc., and the connection between the ear digging and the hairpin handle is connected by a thin round neck, and this part of the connection is usually decorated with multiple strings, which are bamboo knot-shaped. In addition, there are some Ming Dynasty ear digging hairpins with a thin neck smooth. The Ming Dynasty also had Ruyi Hairpins, although the Ruyi Hairpins of the Ming Dynasty still have similarities with the ear digging hairpins, but they have basically got rid of the influence of the small ear digging at the end, and the style characteristics of ruyi are more obvious and more decorative. Decorators have basically got rid of the influence of the inherent shape of the ear digging hairpin, exaggerated the ear digging part, and the decorative meaning is stronger.
Ming Dynasty ear digging hairpin (excavated from the tomb of the Song Hui family)
The Ming Dynasty ear digging hairpin has greatly improved its function compared with the Song and Yuan Dynasties. First of all, the Ming Dynasty ear digging hairpin cone or six-sided cone-like handle is more conducive to the firmness of the hand, but also convenient for flexible rotation when digging the ear. Secondly, the bamboo slub design of the neck not only plays a decorative role, but also more conducive to the cleaning of earwax, modern ear picking appliances have such a design, third, is the length design of the ear digging hairpin, from the existing data, the Ear Digging Hairpin of the Ming Dynasty is mostly around ten centimeters, the length is significantly shorter than the Song and Yuan Dynasties, more convenient to hold the comfort, whether it is their own cleaning of the ear or by the other party to assist in the implementation, such a size is more appropriate.
The origin of services such as ear picking is still uncertain, but the popularity of ear picking customs has a certain relationship with the popularity of Buddhism in China. The ear root is one of the "six roots", "ear root purity" is a category of "six roots pure", and the word "ear root purity" appears in the volume of "Circle Consciousness Purity": "Smell pure, ear root is pure; root is pure, ear consciousness is pure." Among the Eighteen Arhats of Buddhism, the "Ear Digger Arhat" is the most at home because of his discussion of the root of the ear, and the statue also represents an ear digger arhat who is idle and self-satisfied.
The Upanishads list ear gouging together with ruyi and claw picking as almsgiving, which shows the importance and promotion of personal hygiene in Buddhist scriptures. A gilded bronze ornament was unearthed from the Tang Dynasty Underground Palace of Famen Temple, which also directly confirmed that ear digging was often carried by Buddhist disciples who went out to give alms.
Although the specific time is unknown, but the art of ear picking should have existed earlier than the Song Dynasty, the "City" article of the "West Lake Old Man's Prosperity Record" records that the things sold in the market are: "thin buttons, downtown (E) children, news, money." The "message" here is also an ear twister, which is also a kind of ear picking, ear twister, ear digging and tweezers are all indispensable tools for ear picking. The "Instructions for Purifying Hair" compiled by the Yongle Canon for the Song and Yuan combing and shaving artists contains three "Message" poems on the volume, one of which reads: "The shape is like an arrow hitting a crane hair, and the fine and soft can enter the ear Cao." The tweezers are like cicada noise, and people are refreshed and afraid. It vividly depicts the form of "message". Liu Ruiming commented on the "message" in the "Three Annotations of Feng Menglong's Folk Song Collection": "According to the Suzhou Common Sayings: 'Carrying: Digging ears. ’”
"Carrying" is the same as "message", "dissipation" means rotation, that is, "message" or "ear digging" in the ear twisting for local massage, Song Zhoumi's "Zhiyatang Miscellaneous Notes" volume "Medicine" contains: "The news of the present, do not know when, but the prescription "Qianjin Fang" has its own massage techniques, such as ten duan jin and the like, Tang Shi has a massage doctor. Song Chen Shufang's "Yingchuan Zhixiao" said: "There are people in the well of Imaichi, and their massage techniques are also. ”?
How comfortable was the ear picking of the ancients? The second part of the "Message Poem" also writes: "The cicadas in the ears are like a piano, and the body has no air pulse and no ventilation." The clever hand is exquisite and light, teaching people to be happy and exquisite. "The sensory pleasure of ear picking is evident. In the Ming Dynasty, ear picking was very popular as a way to maintain the body, and Gao Lian's "Eight Notes on Zunsheng · The Thesis Room Appliances not only counts the stationery and play that are commonly prepared in the living room of the study, but also lists the daily combing and shaving utensils in the "Inner Hidden Bucket": "There is also a trick to open, the hidden bucket, there are knife cones, tweezers, finger files, scraping teeth, messages, digging ears, scissors, collecting one, breaking open into scissors." "Message" and "Ear Digging" are listed in it. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the social atmosphere of advocating extravagant pleasures prevailed, and the ear picking, as a matter of health and pleasure and leisure in life, was loved and respected by the upper class of society and scholars, and in the folk song tune of the Ming Dynasty, the ear was even used as a metaphor and symbol of male and female sexual affairs.
In the Qing Dynasty, people's pursuit of ear picking was even more undiminished, and for ordinary people, the general ear picking was served by knife tweezers.
Knife tweezers are also known as "knife tweezers", that is, knives and tweezers. The knife was the main tool for removing hair and trimming the head surface in ancient times. Tweezers, both a tool for removing hair and a tool for attracting customers, are welded from one end of two iron pieces (sticks), and the welded part is added to a hand-held iron rod, and another iron rod is used to cross the two iron pieces (sticks) to make a sound. Knife tweezers are craftsmen who specialize in facial hair cleaning, trimming, combing, and body part massage in ancient times, such as combing hair, trimming, beard trimming, eyebrow trimming, etc. This profession is also known as knife tweezers, knife tweezers, and tweezers. The term "haircut" first appeared in Zhu Xi's "Biography of Poetry" as "its example", "栉, barber also", referring to combing hair. In the Qing Dynasty, the knife tweezer service increased the shaving of hair, so the knife tweezer was also called shaving head, shaving head, and there were officials such as "to be commanded", "to be recruited", "three flags military service" and so on.
Wang Zhe of the Yuan Dynasty said in "Bing Shan Xi Gift Liu Ge Will Shave His Face": "Gongneng knife tweezers, will be the face of the other posture, scraping and retrieving, even stop, the heart is worried." Like a painting, the eyebrows are beautiful and the beards are aligned, adding tenderness, reducing the appearance, and increasing the speed of speech. Inner spirit and harmony, no quality and no cheeks, what is the description of the clever hand, dare to twist this, clearly. If he still gets it, the Sword of Wisdom will be sharpened, with a white blade, showing green steel, and shaving out a circle into a ye. This song basically covers the main services of knife tweezers, such as manicure and massage.
After the Qing Dynasty, knife tweezers had to master sixteen kinds of skills, including eight top skills, namely shaving (head), shaving (face), combing (head), braiding (braiding), plucking (ears), cutting (nasal whiskers), culling (eyes), and dyeing (hair). There are also eight techniques for the whole body, namely pinching, holding, pounding, pressing, picking, living, soothing, and replenishing. There are also eleven kinds of sayings, namely pinching, pinching, pounding, pinching, kneading, rubbing, chopping, playing, pinching, knocking, and stabbing. Later, this rich technique was reduced to shaving the head, shaving the face, cutting the nose, and plucking the ears.
Dudwell's album (1876-1895) features knife tweezers digging ears for guests
Unlike today's barbers, knife tweezers not only trim facial hair, massage and ear gouging are also their basic functions. Massage is also a work content that knife tweezers cannot ignore. Knife tweezers dig out the ears at greater risk, ranging from infection and inflammation to deafness. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Oriental Magazine, Volume 33, No. 11, there is a record that reads: "The left ear was able to hear, but six years ago it was dug up by a hair-cutting smith, and when it was heard, it was like a thunderclap that was far away, and the ears roared endlessly for the next few months." After the Healing, the hearing is like the old one. Later, the official and private sector began to emphasize the issue of haircut hygiene. On October 17, 1922, Chen Songping's "Discussion on Health Experience" was published in the "Morning Post Vice Engraving", which called on the people to "never let the barber pluck out his ears, and use a knife to fix his eyes, curl his ears and nose hair, etc." ”
Nowadays, more and more people are engaged in ear picking, and the patterns are also dazzling, but compared with the knife tweezers of that year, I am afraid that there is no special professional, in case of mistakes, it is also prone to ear infection or injury and other consequences. And excessive cleaning is not conducive to ear maintenance, although digging ears is really comfortable, but it is still necessary to maintain rationality and health as well.
References: "Ear Digging" and "Ear Digging Hairpin" Research: With the Wei Jin to Ming Archaeological Discoveries as the Core" Deng Lili; "General History of Chinese Customs and Song Dynasty Volumes" Xu Jijun, etc.; "The Ancients' Ear Scoop" Wen Shuopeng; "Disappearing Occupation" Jiang Lan; "Feng Fei Jing Hualu Past Dynasties Collecting Customs and Customs Classics Hook Shen" Qu Yanbin.
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