Wimples and Zukin
I've been working lately on a complete outfit for my SCA Japanese persona. One of the sticking points I'm having is with my hair, which varies between red and blonde (depending on how I'm coloring it at the moment) and is fashioned in a short modern cut. However, medieval Japanese women tended not to cut their hair, and for the most part wore it uncovered and usually tied in some variation of ponytail straight down their backs. The complex hairstyles often associated with Japanese women (as worn today by Geisha) were a product of the Edo period, which is past the time periods covered by the SCA.
So what to do? Some women don't worry about it, and just wear their hair as it. Personally, I think that ruins the effect of the outfit. Some wear long black wigs, which is an acceptable-enough solution, but alas, my complexion is quite ruddy, and black hair looks terrible on me. (I tried to dye my hair black once in college. Ooooh, disaster!) And wearing a long red or blonde-haired wig with Japanese costume would just look like something out of anime. So what is left?
Well, there were a couple of instances where Japanese women wore haircoverings (besides hats, which were only worn outdoors). One was while doing manual labor--they would tie a cloth around their head. Farming women were often shown sporting these headcloths. I'm not sure what they were called in period, but now the cloths are called tenugui. They're made of cotton and come in a variety of patterns. You can see a selection here on this Ebay search. But my persona is kuge-class (noble). She wouldn't be caught dead with one of those towels on her head.
The other option is to take a tonsure and become a nun. Long hair was so important to the sense of Japanese female beauty that the only time a woman would cut it is to while taking religious vows or as a dire punishment. Buddhist nuns shave their heads (as to monks), but there were instances where a woman could cut her hair short in a partial tonsure. This could be as an act of piety, or because she could not leave her home to go to a convent as yet, or as the first step in becoming a "real" nun.
And Buddhist nuns, like Catholic nuns, wear headcoverings. In English, we use the term wimple. In Japanese, they are called zukin. They somewhat resemble each other, but there are some structural differences. This site explains medieval Anglo-Norman wimples very well.
Zukin seem to be shaped slightly differently. They do not cover so much of the neck (it sags down in folds) and I've seen pictures of them in other colors besides white. It could be that the looser fit is due to the warmer climate?
Here are some historical pictures of zukin:
This portrait of the nun Eshinni, wife of Shinran (the founder of Shin Buddhism) is the best example I've seen of zukin. Note how tightly it clings to the top of her head, yet comes down in many folds.
While historical TV dramas are not good sources for historical research, I do want to include some pictures which more clearly show the distinctive shape of the zukin:
I must admit I am not very good at making patterns, so I wasn't quite sure where to start on this venture. I decided to try to make a pattern off of the cone-shaped base of my Anglo-Norman wimple. The pictures from the taiga dramas did not look like the women had rectangular pieces of cloth pinned about their heads. It looked like a cone-shaped piece of cloth that had been pinned in some way to be tight across the forehead.
First, I worked out the pattern. In this case, I simple measured out 3 inches or so from my existing one as shown below:
The other option might be to wear something closer to what this modern nun is wearing:
I'll continue my experimentation. Any feedback on the subject would be greatly appreciated.
