I read a newspaper and it said that Transportation Bureau of Tokyo and TripAdvisor started in April a collaborative project, "TOKYO 100", which asks people about their favorite spot of Tokyo and ranks them. The final result will come next March and the interim one has just been shown.

It showed that Ninja Trick House came in the first place and Samurai Armor Photo Studio, second.

Ninja and samurai are quite eccentric beings even for Japanese and one of what I guess makes you wonder about samurai is their hairstyle.

It was not really eccentric when samurai started to exist about 1,000 years ago, just like a ponytail which a guy with long hair sometimes wear but the hair knot was tied upright so the helmet could be fixed with the knot through the hole in the helmet. Long hair was better for protection of the head but it also made the inside of a helmet stuffy and samurai warriors didn't like it.

As wars between feudal loads became constant about 500 years ago, armors were improved and the hole was closed for better protection but, as a result, the inside became more airtight so the hairstyle started to change into what you've probably seen to try to make the frequent usage of a helmet a little more comfortable.

Even after the war period ended and the peace came about 400 years ago, the well-shaved head with a neat knot was considered a part of samurai's etiquette and ordinary people copied it, but not completely. They tied the knot more roughly or got the side of hair puffy, for example, to show that they copied the hairstyle but it didn't mean they obeyed samurai.

Their hairstyle changed into what we have nowadays to suit it to Western standard after Japan opened the country in 1854.

I hope we won't get back to this hairstyle. Yes, it's a bit too strange to wear this modern times but also it's a kind of symbol of nervous preparation for military emergency and I'd like to keep enjoying the peace.

CULTURE

Why samurai have that hairstyle