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.
The hair is grown long. It is oiled and tied into a ponytail which is then folded up onto the top of the head giving a so-called topknot. In the Edo Period the top of the head was usually shaven.
Modern Sumo wrestlers do not have the area shaven, 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 wrestler's hair.
The chonmage (丁髷, ちょんまげ) is a form of Japanese traditional haircut worn by men.
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.
The chonmage was de rigueur for Japanese men until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, when the government ordered all men to cut their hair to a short Western style.
The exception being sumo wrestlers who, as long as they remained active, were allowed to retain the traditional topknot to protect their head when they fell.
When all his hair, including the fringe, could be brushed around the back of his head and touch his chin-the standard length test-it was fixed in a chonmage topknot.
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