Japanese Women's Hairstyles Through the Ages

Kepatsu - Hair Bound with a Red String, c. 600 A.D.

Wall mural depicting Japanese women, c. 600 A.D.

Public domain due to age.

Japanese noble women in the seventh century A.D. wore their hair very high and boxy at the front, with a sickle-shaped ponytail at the back.

This hair-style, known as kepatsu, was inspired by Chinese fashions of the time.

The illustration is from a wall mural in the Takamatsu Zuka Kofun, or Tall Pine Ancient Burial Mound, in Asuka, Japan.

• Kepatsu - Hair Bound with a Red String, c. 600 A.D.
• Taregami - Long, Straight Hair, c. 794 -1345
• Shimada Mage - Tied-back hair with a comb on top, c. 1650-1780
• Shimada Mage - Tied-back hair with a large comb on top, c. 1750-1868
• Box Shimada Mage - Tied-back hair with a box at back, c. 1750-1868
• Vertical Mage - Hair piled on top, with a comb in front, 1790s
• Yoko-hyogo - Mountains of hair on top with wings on the sides, late Edo Period
• Gikei - Two topknots and many hair tools, Edo Period c. 1804-1808
• Maru Mage - Huge, waxed bun with a bincho spreader, 18th -19th centuries
• Osuberakashi - Simple tied-back hair, with a high front, c. 1850-1912