Changes

Originally, the system included six colors of headgear (purple, yellow, red, blue, green, black), covering everyone from the aristocracy down to the peasants; later, ''hachimaki'' came to be associated more strongly with only the aristocracy, while commoners wore hairpins indicating their status.<ref name=okpref>Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.</ref>

Originally, the system included six colors of headgear (purple, yellow, red, blue, green, black), covering everyone from the aristocracy down to the peasants; later, ''hachimaki'' came to be associated more strongly with only the aristocracy, while commoners wore hairpins indicating their status.<ref name=okpref>Gallery labels, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.</ref>

The highest ranking members of the Ryukyuan aristocracy<ref>The ''ôji'' (Princes), ''[[anji]]'', and Upper First Rank of ''[[ueekata]]''.</ref> wore a different type of court cap; those in the ranks immediately below them<ref>The Lower First, and Upper & Lower Second Ranks</ref> wore purple ''hachimaki'', and the lowest ranking nobles<ref>The Eighth and Ninth Ranks</ref> wore red ''hachimaki'', while everyone in the middle<ref>The Third to Seventh Ranks</ref> wore yellow caps. Since the yellow caps were thus by far the most common, all such court caps were sometimes referred to as ''chiiru hachimachi'', or "yellow ''hachimaki''."

The highest ranking members of the Ryukyuan aristocracy<ref>The ''ôji'' (Princes), ''[[anji]]'', and Upper First Rank of ''[[ueekata]]''.</ref> wore a different type of court cap, called ''ukiorikan'' (lit. "floating embroidered cap"); those in the ranks immediately below them<ref>The Lower First, and Upper & Lower Second Ranks</ref> wore purple ''hachimaki'', and the lowest ranking nobles<ref>The Eighth and Ninth Ranks</ref> wore red ''hachimaki'', while everyone in the middle<ref>The Third to Seventh Ranks</ref> wore yellow caps. Since the yellow caps were thus by far the most common, all such court caps were sometimes referred to as ''chiiru hachimachi'', or "yellow ''hachimaki''."

The ''hachimaki'' was made from roughly thirteen feet of fabric, wrapped around an oval-shaped rigid board to form eight layers of wrapping, and secured to the head, worn over the topknot, with several ties and a pair of hairpins.

The ''hachimaki'' was made from roughly thirteen feet of fabric, wrapped around an oval-shaped rigid board to form eight layers of wrapping, and secured to the head, worn over the topknot, with several ties and a pair of hairpins.