chonmage hairstyle

[Budomaru]

I've noticed this hairstyle worn without having the top of the head shaven, sometimes in anime. is this historically accurate? or did everyone who cut their hair like this shave the top as well?

[Ren]

たとえば。。。 これ です か
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... aisuke.jpg

[AJBryant]

I've noticed this hairstyle worn without having the top of the head shaven, sometimes in anime. is this historically accurate? or did everyone who cut their hair like this shave the top as well?

Both shaven and not were common.

Tony

[kanadajin]

Chonmage hairstyle?

[tanuki]

kanadajin wrote:
Chonmage hairstyle?

Yes, [url=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chonmage]chonmage hairstyle[/url].

[Budomaru]

finally Tony's reply! and *wham* on me for not checking wikipedia thanks ^_^

[two_heads_talking]

AJBryant wrote:

I've noticed this hairstyle worn without having the top of the head shaven, sometimes in anime. is this historically accurate? or did everyone who cut their hair like this shave the top as well?

Both shaven and not were common.

Tony

I seem to remember that originally the differences were geographical (pun intended) in that the southern warriors had one style and the northern warriors had another..

Later on, again, if I remember correctly, it notated rank or senior status.. Am I correct in my remembering Tony?

[keatonatron]

two_heads_talking wrote:
the differences were geographical (pun intended)

That one went right over my head. Pun intended!

But seriously, I don't get it.

[two_heads_talking]

when a person loses his hair, it is sometimes refered to as geographical hair loss. .. meaning the different areas of the head affected.. front to back, back spots, etc.. etc..

[AJBryant]

Later on, again, if I remember correctly, it notated rank or senior status.. Am I correct in my remembering Tony?

There were definitely status cuts, and peon cuts. But it was, ultimately, personal preferences (coupled with prevailing norms) that mattered. The shaving of the head showed up fairly late (around the 1500s, judging by iconographic evidence), and never became totally universal although by the Edo period it was so pervasive that even commoners were doing it (for no logical reason).

What's interesting is that there are certain hair "archetypes" that are so prevalent that if someone shows up in an Edo-period TV drama or movie, you can often tell whether he's (supposed to be) a townsman, a peasant, a samurai, an Important Person, a criminal, or a layabout merely by the wig they put on the actor.

Tony

[two_heads_talking]

see, now that's the kinda info i can eat up all day long.. thanks Tony.

[AJBryant]

Tony

[clay]

There was a Korean drama called Changumu (don't know the Korean name, but that is how it was pronounced in Japanese). Yumi got hooked pretty quickly. I began calling it 'chonmage.' Of course Yumi would get a little irritated knowing I was doing that on purpose. Then one day I found out her mother called it 'chonmage' too!

[two_heads_talking]

Clay, you have just crossed the threshold of no return. you are now the same as Yumi's mother.. I feel oh so sorry for you.. lol