Shimada hairstyle

A type of hairstyle worn by young women. After the ban on wearing masks in the early Edo period, women began to walk around with their faces uncovered, and the custom of wearing a topknot on top of the head became popular, and along with the Hyogo-mage and Katsuyama-mage, this hairstyle spread mainly in pleasure quarters. The Shimada-mage first appeared when courtesans in Shimada-juku on the Tokaido began wearing it, and it gradually became more common. However, the original form of the Shimada-mage can be seen in haniwa clay figurines of people from the Kofun period in Japan. The Shimada-mage is characterized by its topknot shaped like a drumstick, and the long hanging hair is tied up on top of the head in the most natural way, by first tying it in a 100-fold knot, bringing the remaining hair from the back to the front, then folding the ends back to the center, and tying the whole thing up. This style was discontinued after the Nara and Heian periods with the spread of hanging hair, but with the spread of hairdressing in the Edo period, people started to remove the forelocks, sideburns, and topknots and established a primitive topknot, which gave rise to the Shimada topknot. It became popular during the Genroku period (1688-1704), and at first there were styles such as the Shimedsuke Shimada and Nage Shimada, in which the sideburns were not protruding, but after the custom of Bunkin-fu emerged among men during the Genbun period (1736-1741), the Bunkin Taka Shimada, in which the roots of the Shimada topknot were raised, became popular, and the Otome Shimada became especially popular among young girls not yet married. The reason Shimada topknots are still worn at weddings in traditional Japanese clothing today is because this is the hairstyle worn before marriage.

[Takeshi Endo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

若い女性の髪形の一種。江戸時代初期に覆面の禁止があってから、女性も素顔で歩くようになって、頭上に髷を置く風習が盛んとなり、兵庫髷、勝山髷とともに、遊里を中心として広がった髪形である。島田髷の発生は、東海道島田宿(じゅく)の遊女たちが結い始めたのが、しだいに一般化したものである。しかし、島田髷の祖型はわが国の古墳時代の人物埴輪(はにわ)像のなかにみられる。島田髷は、髷が撥(ばち)の形をしているのが特色で、長い下げ髪を頭上にまとめるには、一度百会(ひゃくえ)に束ねて、その余りを後方から前に出し、毛先を中央に折り返して、全体を結び留めるという、もっとも自然的な方法である。この方法は、奈良・平安時代以降、下げ髪の普及によって中絶されたが、江戸時代に結髪の普及に伴って、前髪、鬢(びん)、髱(たぼ)をとってから、原始的な髷を設けることになり、島田髷の発生となった。元禄(げんろく)年間（1688～1704）になって流行し、最初は鬢を張り出さない〆付け島田、投げ島田などができたが、元文(げんぶん)年間（1736～41）男性に文金風という風俗がおこってから、島田髷の根を高くした文金高島田が行われ、ことに嫁入り前の若い娘たちには乙女(おとめ)島田が流行した。現代でも和装の結婚式に島田髷が結われるのは、この髪形が嫁入り前の髪形のためである。

［遠藤　武］

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