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| | The kamishimo was normally worn outside of the house, or when expecting visitors. Otherwise, the trusty kimono would do. | | The kamishimo was normally worn outside of the house, or when expecting visitors. Otherwise, the trusty kimono would do. |
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| − | ==Hair==
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| − | The samurai's hair was an important part of his appearance, and most texts and house-codes of the samurai make reference to the importance of its neat appearance. The traditional hairstyle (for the better part of a thousand years) was the topknot, a fashion by no means exclusive to the samurai. Nearly everyone, with the exception of Buddhist priests, wore topknots, making the genesis of this style nearly impossible to guess at it with authority. There is reference to the use of topknots in ancient China, and it might have been one of the many cultural imports introduced to Japan between the Asuka-Nara and Heian Periods. Needless to say, there was any number of styles of topknot by the Edo Period. The ''chasen-gami'', for instance, was produced by wrapping a piece of string around the length of the topknot, producing a spray of hair at the end that resembled a tea whisk. The topknot would then either be worn back or forward, hanging over the center of the head. The ''mitsu-ori'' ("three folds") was a style popular in the later 16th century. The hair was well oiled and formed into a queue and folded forward on the head, then back again, and was tied in place. An abbreviated version, the ''futatsu-ori'' ("two folds"), was only folded forward before being tied, and was trimmed with a razor to give the front an almost solid appearance. Interestingly, these styles were not uncommon among the lower classes.
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| − | Boys typically had the crown of their head shaved around age 11 or 12, and then had what remained cut into right-angles at age 14 or 15 into a squared-off hairstyle called ''sumi-maegami''. This partially-shaved hairstyle was a mark of one's identity as a "youth" or ''wakashû'', and was seen as somewhat alluring or erotic. One finally came of age completely around age seventeen or eighteen, at which time one's forelocks, or bangs (''maegami'') were shaved off as well, completing the shaved pate look of an adult.<ref>Mostow, 19.</ref>
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| − | The style of shaving part of the frontal part of one's head was supposedly developed as a means of making helmet wear more comfortable. By the early Edo Period it had become a simple fashion, and was adopted by many outside the samurai class. There seems to have been no special ordinances or the like regarding the style of one's hair, though such [[sumptuary regulations]] did exist for clothing.
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| − | ==Facial Hair==
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| − | Facial hair was common prior to the Edo Period, and was, unsurprisingly, a show on manliness on the part of the wearer. Moustaches were popular, and among generals these could become quite distinctive. Beards (while typically thin) were also worn, particularly because they made wearing helmet cords more comfortable. Beards appear to have fallen out of favor and/or popularity in the Edo Period, and to this day they are rather rare among Japanese men.
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| − | This trend is illustrated, for example, in portraits of [[emperor]]s. In the medieval period, emperors were typically depicted with beard and moustache; however, [[Emperor Go-Yozei|Emperor Go-Yôzei]] (r. [[1586]]-[[1611]]) was the last to be depicted in this manner, and through the rest of the Edo period, facial hair was far less common, among all ranks of society. Beards and moustaches returned, however, in the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods, into the first half of the 20th century, in emulation of Western styles, and in the case of the [[Meiji Emperor]] and other prominent figures, as a show of masculinity.<ref>Takashi Fujitani, ''Splendid Monarchy'', University of California Press (1996), 173.</ref>
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| − | In the case of women, married women often [[haguro|blackened their teeth]], and after having their first child shaved their eyebrows and drew them back in higher up on the forehead.<ref name=mostow20/> This was originally a practice of Heian period court ladies, but eventually spread to the lower classes.
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| | ==Headwear== | | ==Headwear== |
