Why did the ancient Japanese shave the hair in the middle of their heads?

It wasn't the Japanese, it was the Japanese samurai who did this.

This was done solely for military combat.

A lot of times in ancient times, Japanese samurai had to fight on horseback.

And the Japanese of that era began to value hair as much as the Chinese.

They believed that hair was the dignity of the samurai and could not be touched, so they wore it in a bun like the Chinese.

But the infantry fought quite well, the cavalry had a lot of problems.

Japan's mountainous terrain makes riding a horse very bumpy. And when riding at high speeds, the bun on the head would easily fall out.

Because the hair is very heavy, it's normal for it to fall out when it's turned upside down.

Once the hair falls out, it is easy to block the vision in front of your eyes.

So, not to mention the enemy to take advantage of the opportunity to kill you, you may not be able to see the road to lead to the fall of the horse.

If you fall off your horse during a high-speed ride, you're not going to die, but you're going to be disabled.

As for infantry combat, there is actually a danger of this.

If your hair falls out of your bun during a fierce physical fight, you're dead for sure.

So in order to avoid this danger, cutting your hair is a must.

In fact, most of the nomadic people are like this, for example, the Khitan, Xixia, Jurchen, and Mongolian hairstyles are also like this.

A similar hairstyle in Japan is called Tsukiyo, which means that the hair on the forehead is cut off. Some samurai, simply cut off the hair on top of their heads as well.

However, it would be too ugly and unattractive to turn into a big bald head, so the Japanese samurai had hair on the side and the back of the head, not a katsura head.

This is a hairstyle called "Tsukiyo" that was popular among samurai after the Muromachi period, about 500 years ago. It is somewhat similar to what we often call the "Mediterranean hairstyle", but it is a bit more complicated.

In Japan, during the Yayoi and Kofun eras, more than 1,500 years ago, influenced by the Chinese culture, the Japanese upper class men popularized a hairstyle called "Miradou", which was very similar to the total angle hairstyle of the Chinese uncrowned boys at that time.

After the Ancient Burial Mounds period, Japan studied the culture of the Tang Dynasty and imitated the Tang in both dress and hairstyle. At this time, Japanese men wore their hair in buns and hats to resemble the Tang Dynasty, and this hairstyle was very popular more than 900 years ago.

During the Shogunate period, the newly born samurai class wore their hair in a bun, which was tied with a knot on top of their heads. This hairstyle was called "ichibun" and the color of the knot was used to represent status.

At the end of the Heian period, the samurai class began to grow, and the power of the imperial court declined. After the establishment of the Kamakura Shogunate, the samurai class developed a unique martial culture, and at the end of the Muromachi period, a new hairstyle was born, called the "tea-brush bun".

The hairstyle consisted of growing the hair at the top of the original stick-shaped bun and spreading it out so that the bun resembled a tea brush used to clean tea utensils. The "tea-brush bun" was most popular among the common samurai during the Warring States period in Japan.

There is no fundamental difference between the "bun" and "tea-brush bun" hairstyles, and the revolution in samurai hairstyles took place after the Muromachi era, with the emergence of the exclusive martial arts hairstyle of the "Tsukiyo head". "The reason for this was simple. The reason for its emergence is also very simple.

After the Shogunate came to power, the Japanese samurai often had to go to war to fight. Initially, they wore helmets directly on their heads to cover their hair, but sometimes the helmets were easily dislodged during the fight, resulting in their hair often falling out and blocking their vision, affecting the efficiency of the battle.

In the summer, the hair on the neck would make the samurai itchy, and they were often injured. Over time, the samurai decided that the hair on the top of his head was too much of a nuisance and decided to cut off the front piece of hair in order to solve this nuisance.

At first the samurai used a simple and crude method, which was to use clips to bring the hair down one by one, but they soon realized that this was both a nuisance and prone to dermatitis, and finally resorted to using a razor to shave the top of the head straight away, similar to the resting top.

This type of hairstyle, even if it falls apart in the battlefield, just drapes over the sides and back of the head and does not interfere with its field of vision. The effect was so immediate that other samurai followed suit, and the Tsukiyo hairstyle evolved.

But there were some who did not want to wear this hairstyle, because it was too much trouble to take care of, and there was the added expense of a haircut. Many ronin don't want to wear the Tsukiyo hairstyle, and prefer the "total hair" hairstyle with their hair intact.

There are many styles of Tsukiyo head. Before the genbutsu, men only shaved the top of their heads, which is called a "wakazu bun", and after the genbutsu ceremony, they shaved off the front of their hair to become a standard Tsukiyo head. The bun at the back is called the "Erzuan bun".

In the Edo period, when the wars subsided, the Tsukiyo head lost its original utility and became a symbol of the Japanese warrior. As a result, men who performed martial arts had to shave their heads, and the hairstyle became customary and customized.

After the Muromachi period, the Tsukiyo head was also shaved by Japanese commoners. This hairstyle never appeared in the imperial family, and most of the commoners did not shave their heads, except for ministers and ronin. However, among the merchants, the "honda bun" was popular.

The general appearance is similar to the Tsukiyo, but not exactly the same. In this style, the hair at the base of the ear and the back of the head is raised, and the hair left out of the bun is pressed on the top of the head, and the front view is in the shape of a zigzag, which covers part of the top of the head where it is shaved.

In addition, there was the ginkgo bun, which was popular among the samurai class, and the tatami bun, which was worn by the elderly. Towards the end of the Shogunate, the nobles began to wear the total hair, and with the change in aesthetic concepts, the majority of people wore the total hair, and the Tsukiyo head retired from the stage of history.

In summary, the Tsukiyo head was popular among the ancient Japanese samurai, initially because it was a way to fight more effectively, and as the wars gradually subsided, the head style slowly became a symbol of the samurai, and was popular in Japan for about four hundred years.

I am Peng Zheng! I'll answer! I'm Pengzheng, an elementary school student who loves the military and history.

The Japanese why the middle of the hair shaved, in fact, shaved the middle of the head are very high status samurai, while others do not have to shave, in Japan, this hair is called "Tsukiyo head" is the ancient Japanese samurai combed the unique head shape.

In fact, the Japanese samurai shaved this hair is also forced, the samurai are high-risk occupations with people killed, the Japanese samurai in battle, the samurai because the battle will often be more intense and lead to hair, if this happens, it will be very affected by the ability to fight, will obscure their own field of vision, will allow the enemy to take advantage of the natural and unwritten rules. So there are Japanese samurai who shave the hair on the center front of the head so that even if the hair falls out in battle, it is only on the "sides" and "back" of the head so that it does not interfere with the field of vision.

At the same time, there will be some alternative, such as leaders, they do not have to go to the front line, and is not the first line of samurai, they do not have to life to Pin, only need to be in the back of the command both, so naturally do not have to cut into this alternative hair. The reason why the samurai cut city like this, page is forced, if not cut into this look, in combat is likely to affect the field of vision, by the enemy a knife killed, so they can not take their own life to joke, but also can only cut.

I'm a big historian, I'll tell you, "Why did the ancient Japanese shave off their middle hair?

The head type mentioned by the questioner is called "Tsukiyo head", at first it was only the samurai or ronin in ancient Japan who would keep this kind of hairstyle, but nowadays we often see it in some movies and TV dramas against the Japanese invaders, and we can tell that this is Japanese at a glance, except for their different costumes, I guess the most obvious thing is the head type. Of course the small eight-beard is still very special. Why is such an ugly and quite strange hairstyle popular in Japan?

As a Japanese samurai, if you don't shave off the hair in the middle, there is a possibility that those hairs on the top of your head will obscure your vision in battle and combat, thus affecting the fight, so in order to avoid the hair falling out due to various reasons, you can simply shave it off and forget about it, and only keep the sides of your head and the back, so that it won't affect your vision. This was so effective that everyone followed suit, and over time it became an unwritten tradition among the samurai class. Later, this hairstyle gradually became popular among the commoners as well.

There is also the view that, at that time, Japan's constant war, to long time fighting, and will often take to wear a helmet, it is easy to pull to the hair, in order to alleviate the pain of taking off the helmet, so the top of the head of the hair are shaved off, so this shaved off the top of the head of the middle part of the hair style is so generated! After that, the Japanese folk civilians also learn this way, all shaved off their head of hair, so it became a popular hairstyle in ancient Japan.

There are also those who believe that this is just a hairstyle to cater to some of the leaders! We all know, when the leaders are generally older, the head of the hair is really not much, it is easy to form a kind of shape called Mediterranean, not particularly beautiful. So there are rumors that the Japanese moon generation head is in fact to cater to the leadership of the hairstyle, to avoid the leadership of a person to appear "Mediterranean" phenomenon, so that everyone is the same will not be so embarrassing!

The woman's hair is more related to the love of beauty, while the man's hair is often connected to the life. Human history, because of the hair and head things, and not a few. In addition to the familiar shaved hair and easy to dress order, in fact, the ancient men's hair, often also determines its survival chances in the war. Friends who like war, in fact, are clear about a phenomenon, that is, in modern wars, most soldiers will shave their hair very short, which is mainly to facilitate the post-injury bandaging and reduce the probability of infection. In fact, in ancient Japan, also popular a very "weird" hairstyle, that is, the head of the center of the hair shaved off.

If you watch the Japanese costume drama, it is easy to find an interesting phenomenon, that is, the Japanese samurai have a very funny hairstyle, they will shave a piece of hair on the top of the head, but left the hair on both sides of the head, looks very comical. This discovery is known as the "Tsukiyo head". Why did the Japanese samurai shave the center of their heads?

It turns out that the Japanese samurai did this in order to prevent the hair in the center from spreading out and covering their eyes during a duel. In a duel, the moment can be put to death, if in the critical moment, the hair happens to fall down to cover the eyes will be dead, this is a lesson learned. When the Tsukiyo hairstyle was not popular, a samurai was killed by his opponent when his hair was swept by the tip of his opponent's sword, and the braid that held it together broke, and his hair was immediately spread out to cover his eyes.

This caused a great shock among the samurai, and in view of this, from about the latter part of the Heian period in Japan, some samurai began to pull the hair off the top of their heads by hand. Note that initially it was plucked, not shaved, so as to make the samurai look brave. Since hair pulling would get bloody and there were frequent problems with follicle infections, it was only later that shaving the middle part of the hair with a razor was practiced. It was a gradual change.

It is also believed that the Japanese samurai in order to disseminate the body of the Yang Qi to shave the hair on the top of the head, the samurai convergence of real energy, will use an internal force out of the body of the Yang Qi, this scenario can be seen in the martial arts drama. For example, when Ouyang Feng practiced the "Nine Yin True Strength", the top of his head would emit true qi, i.e., the top of his head would be hot and steamy. The Japanese shaved off the hair in the center to ensure the flow of true qi. There is also a theory that the Japanese samurai in order to wear a helmet convenient and cool before shaving off the center hair.

By the end of the Warring States period with the Sekigahara Battle of the Eastern Army won a great victory, after the Battle of Osaka, Tokugawa Ieyasu Yuan and lay down the military, and in the Tokugawa Shogunate under the rule of the relatively stable Edo period compared to the previous generation, in this period, in addition to the Secretary of State, the moon generation to be popularized, and became the status of the general status of the martial arts family and even the commoner family men in the Yuan suit when the choice, and according to the different industries engaged in, and even a subtle differentiation. Because of the elevated status of the samurai, the Tsukiyo hairstyle, which originally represented the samurai, spread rapidly in Japan, and the Tsukiyo hairstyle soon became the standard hairstyle for young Japanese men in the Warring States period, when force was absolutely worshipped.

This question leads to another question: what is "beautiful"? What is "handsome"?

What is beauty?

What is beauty?

It's brutal!

Japanese culture is a culture of force, and since ancient times, the wealth of Japanese society has been dominated by the samurai, or the daimyo and generals who owned the samurai's violent machine.

Japanese culture is different from Chinese culture, where the wealth of society was distributed among the scholars.

Japanese culture is also different from Western culture, where the wealth of society was distributed first by clergymen and later by merchants.

Until the modern era, the wealth was distributed by the samurai class.

So everything about the samurai became the Japanese popular standard.

The samurai also had a pretty tough job, fighting and killing as a profession, and their hair was often a weakness on their side.

Originally, it has been to learn from the Tang Dynasty clothes, but in the Great Tang, the upper class will not go to fight in person, they have all the time in the world to take care of their hair.

The hair of the Tang dynasty seeks to sit down and look good on the line.

The Japanese samurai needed to fight in person, and it was crucial to have hair that was easy to fight with.

That is, it became what it is now.

As mentioned above, in Japanese society, the samurai had a high status and a lot of wealth, so the society chased after their "fashion", taking their fashion as beauty and their samurai hairstyle as handsome.

It's like this.

It is indeed ugly.

This magical hairstyle is called Tsukiyo head.

The Tsukiyo head is a hairstyle worn by ancient Japanese samurai, which may seem a bit funny today, as they shaved off all the center part of their hair directly. And there are two rather popular theories about why ancient Japanese samurai shaved off all the hair in the middle of their heads.

The first is that the emergence of the Tsukiyo head had something to do with war.

During the wars that broke out in ancient Japan, the hair of Japanese samurai would often fall apart because of bad hair quality and other reasons.

During the war, the hair that suddenly fell apart would often cover the vision of Japanese samurai, which was more dangerous because it not only directly affected the victory or defeat of the battle, but also directly related to their own little life. Later, a part of the Japanese samurai shaved off all the hair in the middle of their heads.

In this way, they didn't have to worry about the loose hair affecting the battle. Because even if the hair fell out in battle, it only fell on the sides and back of the head and did not obscure the view.

And because the Tsukiyo head was so effective, other Japanese warriors followed suit, and it gradually evolved into an unwritten tradition, and even became one of the most common hairstyles for men in ancient Japan. This is the first statement.

The second, in order to dissipate heat.

This is also a widely circulated speculation, in the past, the Japanese samurai out of battle often have to wear armor for a long time, the head to wear a helmet. When the weather got hot, some of the Japanese samurai couldn't take it anymore, so they shaved off all the hair on the front of their heads, and that's what the Tsukiyo head originally looked like.

All in all, there are many reasons for the appearance of the Tsukiyo head. But one thing is for sure, the Tsukiyo head is very demanding on the man's face and the shape of his head, because if you're not careful, it's very likely to get a one-size-fits-all magical effect.

It is said that the Qing Dynasty braided head ugly, more ugly than this braided head when the Japanese before the Meiji Restoration bald hairstyle, unique, funny and ridiculous. This hairstyle in Japan is called "Tsukiyo head", at that time, not everyone can stay in such a hairstyle, only the Japanese samurai have such a qualification.

In fact, before the Song Dynasty, the Japanese people's clothing, food, housing and behavior are imitation of China, but also long hair, wide sleeves, fluttering clothes, look suave. But in the late Heian period in Japan, the Japanese actually better than blue, another way to create a "moon generation head" such a strange hairstyle.

As we all know, the Chinese people keep pigtails, that is under the butcher's knife was forced to accept. How did the Japanese Tsukiyo head come into being, and is there any similarity with the Chinese braid experience? In fact, the two have nothing to do with each other. There are three theories about the origin of this Tsukiyo head hairstyle.

One: It is said that this peculiar hairstyle is inspired by baldness. Throughout the past and present, all people with status and position are most likely to uncover their tops, to put it bluntly, there is no hair on the top of their heads. The main reason is that these people overuse their brains for power, money and status, resulting in less and less hair. Japan is also a country where long hair is beautiful, and baldness is a disgrace. So, these people of status made up a lie and claimed that it was their newly created hairstyle. The low status samurai then tried to imitate it, and the Tsukiyo hairstyle became popular among the samurai.

Two: this Japanese Tsukiyo hairstyle, in the Chinese impression is not some déjà vu feeling. Yes, it is extremely similar to the hairstyles of the ancient Chinese Khitan and the female genitalia. After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, it was first bullied by the Khitans, and then destroyed by the Jurchen, so it was too weak compared to other Chinese dynasties. The Japanese have always respected the strong and despised the weak. They feel that they can replace China is the Khitan and the female true, they are the real strong, so the Japanese began to have followed the Khitan, female true hair.

Third: for the convenience of battlefield killing. Japanese samurai in ancient times is to fight on the field, stay long hair is very easy to block the line of sight and was the opponent a knife results in life. In order to facilitate the fight, to save life, there is a clever samurai, invented the Tsukiyo hair style, gradually popularized in the samurai. So why did the Japanese samurai come to have a shaved head? This may be related to the samurai's love of beauty, after all, they are not monks, bald head how to look ungainly!

Japan is a good learning nation, after the Meiji Restoration, Japan, whether from food, clothing, housing and transportation began to Westernize the whole, the moon generation head of the hairstyle gradually withdrew from the stage of history. To this day, we can only from the Japanese costume drama, can see the "moon generation head" hairstyle Lushan true colors.

In some Japanese costume movie and television, we can often see some of the samurai ronin inside the center of the top of the head do not leave hair, there are a lot of partners can not understand, in fact, we all know that each era has a different hairstyle, just like our Qing Dynasty period of the back of the man to stay braided! Every era has its own era of popularity, different styles of dress, as well as different hairstyles, and it was the same in ancient times. In China, women in the Han Dynasty wore flowers in their buns, and women in the Chu Dynasty wore their hair in a step-in hair style. A dynasty will have different types of hair accessories, so why do the Japanese people want to stay in this kind of hairstyle, in fact, with the current Mediterranean especially like, what is the reason for it?