Where can I find instruction on how to tie a samurai topknot?

Question

Where can I find instruction on how to tie a samurai topknot?

Answer 1

The chonmage (丁髷, ちょんまげ) is a form of Japanese traditional haircut worn by men. It is most commonly associated with the Edo Period and samurai, and in recent times with sumo wrestlers. It was originally a method of using hair to hold a samurai helmet steady atop the head in battle, and became a status symbol among Japanese society.

A traditional Edo-era chonmage featured a shaved pate. The remaining hair, which was long, was oiled and tied into a small ponytail which was folded onto the top of the head in the characteristic topknot.

In modern times, the only remaining wearers of the chonmage are sumo wrestlers. This style of chonmage is slightly different, in that the pate is no longer shaved, although the hair may be thinned in this region to allow the topknot to sit more neatly.

Sumo wrestlers with sekitori status are allowed, on certain occasions, to wear their hair in a more elaborate form of topknot called an oicho or ginkgo leaf style, where the ends of the topknot are splayed out to form a semicircle. Given the uniqueness of the style in modern Japan, the Sumo Association employs specialist hairdressers called tokoyama to cut and prepare sumo wrestlers' hair.

Answer 2

I found this link:

Answer 3

The topknot is not something you can properly tie yourself. The hair must be combed out straight, held in place with traditional combs, oiled, and tied using a paper cord to be done properly. Tokoyama, the hairdressers, learn the job in a traditional apprentice style relationship, spending years first learning to do plain chonmage, then ornate styles.

Answer 4

To add what the others have already chimed in,  there aren't really "written instruction on the net you can seek out.  If anything , here's a pic that might give you an idea and play around with it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajpscs/1007...

Answer 5

I guess you will have to go to Japan:

The chonmage  is a form of Japanese traditional haircut worn by men. It is most commonly associated with the Edo Period and samurai, and in recent times with sumo wrestlers. It was originally a method of using hair to hold a samurai helmet steady atop the head in battle, and became a status symbol among Japanese society.

A traditional Edo-era chonmage featured a shaved pate. The remaining hair, which was long, was oiled and tied into a small ponytail which was folded onto the top of the head in the characteristic topknot.

In modern times, the only remaining wearers of the chonmage are sumo wrestlers. This style of chonmage is slightly different, in that the pate is no longer shaved, although the hair may be thinned in this region to allow the topknot to sit more neatly.

Sumo wrestlers with sekitori status are allowed, on certain occasions, to wear their hair in a more elaborate form of topknot called an oicho or ginkgo leaf style, where the ends of the topknot are splayed out to form a semicircle. Given the uniqueness of the style in modern Japan, the Sumo Association employs specialist hairdressers called tokoyama to cut and prepare sumo wrestlers' hair.

Answer 6

Special scissors, peinetas and oil, holds to the hair in two places with a cord "motoyui" done with paper washi.

The chonmage (丁髷, ちょんまげ) is a form of Japanese traditional haircut worn by men. It is most commonly associated with the Edo Period and samurai, and in recent times with sumo wrestlers. It was originally a method of using hair to hold a samurai helmet steady atop the head in battle, and became a status symbol among Japanese society.

A traditional Edo-era chonmage featured a shaved pate. The remaining hair, which was long, was oiled and tied into a small ponytail which was folded onto the top of the head in the characteristic topknot.

Worn since ancient times, the chonmage style became defunct after the Meiji Restoration (1868) when Japanese men cut their hair by government order in the short Western style of the times. Sumo wrestlers were exempt from the order, as the traditional topknot served as head protection.

In modern times, the only remaining wearers of the chonmage are sumo wrestlers. This style of chonmage is slightly different, in that the pate is no longer shaved, although the hair may be thinned in this region to allow the topknot to sit more neatly.

Sumo wrestlers with sekitori status are allowed, on certain occasions, to wear their hair in a more elaborate form of topknot called an oicho or ginkgo leaf style, where the ends of the topknot are splayed out to form a semicircle. Given the uniqueness of the style in modern Japan, the Sumo Association employs specialist hairdressers called tokoyama to cut and prepare sumo wrestlers' hair.