# What's with feudal Japanese guys and the "bald look"?



## Felon (May 15, 2005)

Having seen my share of feudal Japan recreated in movies and TV, I've often wondered why Japanese men apparently shaved their pates bald. I can't think of any practical value, which leaves aesthetic reasons. Can't think of too many cultures where alopecia was regarded as fashionable. 

Anyone out there have any insights on this?


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## Dr. Strangemonkey (May 15, 2005)

Normans did it too.  At least in their conquerin period, I don't know how wide spread it was in other cultures of the period.

In a lot of cultures it indicates military status since you take off the front hair and shorten the back to make putting on and using a helmet easier, keeps it from getting slicked down and gettin your eyes or dripping sweat onto 'em.  Among other things.

The specific haircut for samurai also has a lot to do with preparing yourself to have your head lopped off.


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## Umbran (May 15, 2005)

Dr. Strangemonkey said:
			
		

> In a lot of cultures it indicates military status since you take off the front hair and shorten the back to make putting on and using a helmet easier, keeps it from getting slicked down and gettin your eyes or dripping sweat onto 'em.  Among other things.




People always say things like that, but I'm guessing that it is mostly rationalization.  Because at various times, military men have had everything from shaved heads to long hair braided or tied back.  And nobody's ever made a solid connection between the military hairstyle and unit performance.

I think the choice of hairstyle is pretty arbitrary.  The important thing is not the specifics of the hairstyle, so long as there is a particular style chosen for the military.  The point is the same as having soldiers all dress alike - to make them _uniform_.  If they all have that similarity, they feel more tightly bonded into a group, and work together as a unit.  Hairstyle isn't about the mechanics of war, it's about the psychology.


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## Felon (May 15, 2005)

Dr. Strangemonkey said:
			
		

> In a lot of cultures it indicates military status since you take off the front hair and shorten the back to make putting on and using a helmet easier, keeps it from getting slicked down and gettin your eyes or dripping sweat onto 'em.  Among other things.




Hmm. That wouldn't explain them accentuating their pseudo-baldness with the stupid little ponytail that's flipped-up and tied in place like some kind of ponytail-combover.



			
				Umbran said:
			
		

> I think the choice of hairstyle is pretty arbitrary.  The important thing is not the specifics of the hairstyle, so long as there is a particular style chosen for the military.  The point is the same as having soldiers all dress alike - to make them _uniform_.  If they all have that similarity, they feel more tightly bonded into a group, and work together as a unit.  Hairstyle isn't about the mechanics of war, it's about the psychology.




Well, that's all good and well, but I don't think it was just a military haircut, though my fiction may be lying to me.


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## Dirigible (May 17, 2005)

> And nobody's ever made a solid connection between the military hairstyle and unit performance.




"The side with the shortest haircuts always wins. English Civil War... cavaliers versus the roundheads. Result? One nil to the pudding basins! Vietnam... crew cuts both sides. Result? No score draw!"

~Arnold J. Rimmer.


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## FreeTheSlaves (May 17, 2005)

Dirigible said:
			
		

> "...Vietnam... crew cuts both sides. Result? No score draw!"
> 
> ~Arnold J. Rimmer.



Umm, I think the little guys in pyjamas won that pretty decisively.


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## John Q. Mayhem (May 17, 2005)

Depends on how you look at it, but I think it's too recent to count as non-political


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## Hand of Evil (May 17, 2005)

Oh, I thought it was because of head hunting, Samurai would take the head of fallen foe and it was important to look good and hair only got in the way.


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## Ankh-Morpork Guard (May 17, 2005)

Hand of Evil said:
			
		

> Oh, I thought it was because of head hunting, Samurai would take the head of fallen foe and it was important to look good and hair only got in the way.



 I think you're close! They went bald so that Samurai who took their heads couldn't grip them by the hair! So if they didn't have basketball-palming skills, the Samurai would look like idiots and keep dropping the heads!


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## Felon (May 17, 2005)

...Except that they had the aforementioned ponytail-combovers to act as servicable handles.


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## redmetal (May 17, 2005)

from what I've been told, it was basically a way of masking hair loss...


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## Aristotle (May 18, 2005)

You would have to look this up to verify it, the far east isn't really an area I study with any regularity, but I think it had something to do with a caste system for the most part. Different casts would wear different hairstyles.

Of course there were other reasons to shave ones head outside of the caste system (at least I presume they are ouside of the system). I know some monastic orders (the shaolin maybe?) kept their heads shaved as a religous rite.


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## Angcuru (May 18, 2005)

You know something is awry when you spend a good portion of the day making life easier for the guy who kills you.   



			
				FreeTheSlaves said:
			
		

> Umm, I think the little guys in pyjamas won that pretty decisively.



Nah.  Had to send the troops home to quell the hippies.

The military significance of a short haircut is uniformity.  The most equal haircut is...you guessed it!  None at all!   Or at least just a bit of peachfuz.


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## D-rock (May 18, 2005)

I assume that I am probably wrong, but it could be they didn't want the opponent to get a handfull of hair.  If you are in close combat fighting, with weapons no less, it could be the difference between life and death.  Most professional fighers cut it short for similar reasons.  Then again they did have pony tails so who knows.

Maybe it was just the style.  Or it could of been something that was once practical, that then ended up having cultural or religious significance later.  Those are my best guesses.


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## Maldur (May 18, 2005)

and wearing a helmet is more comfertable with short or no hair, but long in the back so you can look cool


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## Desdichado (May 18, 2005)

Umbran said:
			
		

> People always say things like that, but I'm guessing that it is mostly rationalization.  Because at various times, military men have had everything from shaved heads to long hair braided or tied back.  And nobody's ever made a solid connection between the military hairstyle and unit performance.
> 
> I think the choice of hairstyle is pretty arbitrary.  The important thing is not the specifics of the hairstyle, so long as there is a particular style chosen for the military.  The point is the same as having soldiers all dress alike - to make them _uniform_.  If they all have that similarity, they feel more tightly bonded into a group, and work together as a unit.  Hairstyle isn't about the mechanics of war, it's about the psychology.



That's not entirely true.  There were some cultures, particularly of Central Asia, who had thick, long hair behind their heads as a form of armor for the neck.


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## Krieg (May 18, 2005)

Angcuru said:
			
		

> The military significance of a short haircut is uniformity.




Hygiene


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## driver8 (May 19, 2005)

I think the ideas about helmets and such arent really true. Like the west, hairstyles changed and developed over time, for the same puzzling reasons. Usually because it looked good to them. I mean in the 16 the century, noble women in the court of Edo had blackened teeth because that was an aesthetic ideal.  Go figure.

 In earlier periods, the Japanese wore hair long and in "ponytails" similar to the mainland Chinese. Later the shaved pate became popular, maybe because of sanitary reasons, and for aesthetic reasons as well. Peasants and commoners adopted this style as well. But there are many hairstyles associated with pre meiji Japan, and the style we attribute to samurai happened later in fuedal Japans history.

Heres a chart of various hairstyles in Japan's history. Its in Japanese but can be translated with google or bable fish:

http://www.cosmo.ne.jp/~barber/kamigata.html


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## Prince of Happiness (May 19, 2005)

It's so they can hide the AC adaptors for their iPods.


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## silentspace (May 19, 2005)

Joshua Dyal said:
			
		

> That's not entirely true.  There were some cultures, particularly of Central Asia, who had thick, long hair behind their heads as a form of armor for the neck.




what?


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