Why did Japanese samurai shave the tops of their heads, leave the sides long, and have a small pony tail tied in the back?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨WeebLife@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

I’m reading Vagabond and noticed that the samurai who are learning swordsmanship at a dojo will have this hairstyle, so is it just to show that they are students st a dojo?

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Votes@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chonmage

Seems like the pony tail helps keep their helmet in place and the shaved pate is a sign peace after their civil war.

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- WeebLife@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Thanks! That’s really interesting, I didn’t expect that. The media probably throws that in cuz it is kinda the stereotypical hairstyle for old school samurai.
  
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- 8BitRoadTrip@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I’ll add that the shaved top of the head helped them stay cool in battle while wearing the aforementioned helmets.
  
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Ghoti_@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
The hairstyle is to make it easy for their helmets to stay on their heads

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ChrisLicht@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
To quote Lil Sis: “It’s for decoration. That’s it, and that’s all.”

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TheRealLinga@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I don’t know but this makes me want to play Ghost of Tsushima again

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- WeebLife@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  That game was so awesome. I never finished it though because it became quite tedious with taking out the Mongol camps. I really want a PC port though.
  
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Nemo@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I think it’s just male pattern baldness.

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