Hello - I'm not Japanese but I just watched two movies: Ran (very old) and Millenia Actress (good film!). I noticed in both films, females from the samurai era had two painted dots on their foreheads. Could anyone inform me of their meaning?

how come krelin from dragon balls had 6 dots on his forehead that looked liek this:

. .
. .
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? i always thought that was the mark of the beast (devil) haha....

I think those dots are different - their not paint but incense burns. In Shaolin tradition, once you get to a certain level of concentration and your Master deems right - you can perform vows that involve the burning of special incense on your forehead. To a normal person it's hot - but to suped up Shaolin Monks its nothing - hell they can rumble on those kick @$$ posts all day! The 6 stands for the Sic Prajnaparamits (in Viet that's "Lục Độ Ba La Mật") and roughly stand for the 6 vows/practises of Bodhisattvas

1) Perfect Offering
2) Perfect Patience
3) Perfect Precepts
4) Perfect Diligence
5) Perfect Concentration
6) Perfect Wisdom

Other common numbers of dots are 3, 9, and sometimes 12. They all have their corresponding meanings

Dragon Ball is a cartoon and I think they just copied the image without realizing what it means.

Not quite sure, but I would wager, with fair reason, that the dots on the head are symbols of chastity or fidelity or possibly marriage for ladies of aristocratic carriage. I don't think the practice is Japanese in origin, my venture would be that it is actually either Indian or turko-islamic that managed to spread into Japan. I am fairly well acquainted with cultural practices of classical Japan and the "dots" if you will, as far as I know, were not present in female customs up until the end of the Heian period.

a costume of artificial eyebow.??

I think it's a custom that only nobles or ministers in Kyoto court would have them.

And I think not only ladies had them, male had them too, from the experience of playing games like Nobunaga's Ambition.

cool - thanks dudes - just wondering about other cultures

Are those marks permanent? I would imagine there would be some scarring.