The Tachibana

Finally a more sophisticated and mature hairstyle, we are slowly moving away from Kamuro and Shinzo styles to a more womanly and grown up hairdo: The Tachibana that invokes imagery of Japanese citrus fruits, flowers and everlasting youth. But we are still not in the realms of traditional Tayuu nihongami.

Source: Uemurakiichi on Instagram

The Tachibana still has a round shape and some red accents though so these indicators help us understand who wore this hairstyle during its inception and the time during the later Edo period when it was the most fashionable: Bandou Shinzo and taiko Shinzou. Things are getting complicated with the different types of Shinzo, but this is why we have so many different hairstyles to help set them apart. For modern observers, this is just a pretty nihongami with the cute flowers, always seasonal and most appropriate in April when all eyes are on sakura. But in the Edo period the wearer of the Tachibana wanted very specific signals conveyed.

Source: Aoi Tayuu on Instagram

Taiko Shinzo, named after drum instruments, were very talented and promising girls who were not pretty enough to become splendid and legendary Tayuu, but talented enough to be exempted of sexual duties. A very strange place to be in in the pleasure quarters indeed. Many girls in this situation had been invested in to advance in training but had not shown a promise in any other field than in the musical arts. So they were on the edge of being a Geisha and a more lowly Yuyo, still too talented to be only a prostitute but not unique enough to be a great courtesan on the level of Daimyo. So what to do? Well, in most cases it was more lucrative to neglect the musical arts in favor of more time spent in the bedroom, many of these girls got crushed in the machine that were places like the Yoshiwara and Shimabara. But if they were lucky and had a good relationship with their Tayuu onesans and brothel owners, they might become a Bandou Shinzo: A type of retainer and personal assistant to the Tayuu. They coordinated their dochu, their client appointments, their Kamuro, their time spent in the baths, their expenses and were also discreet confidantes and witnesses. On the one hand it had its perks: These women did not have to engage in sexual favors (for the most part) if their onesan was working and they had the luxury of a relatively sheltered life in the pleasure quarters. But on the other hand, not much is known about these women and in the rare times they are shown in prints and art, they are displayed as mousy, grey shadows, nameless girls with spent futures, not important enough to get the time of day, not even worthy of a name. A rather depressing fate for intelligent and talented women, artists born into the life of crushing slavery.

Source: Earth-traveller.com

But one can only imagine the incredible luxury to be able to wear this colorful and splendid hairstyle if your existence was reduced to being dust on the roadside of a Tayuu’s splendor. On the other hand, it made sense to make up your Bandou Shinzo in this flowery manner to get the clients attention drawn because one of the Bandou Shinzo’s duties was to negotiate an even more outrageous price for her onesan, in the end it would profit the whole entourage. But sometimes the Bandou Shinzo and Taiko Shinzo took on customers of their own to make ends meet or to make some money on the side of their main job so the impressive and youthful hairdo of the Tachibana might still indicate the innocence of the wearer, the desirable flowery image of a Tayuu in training or the connotation of the intricate Tayuu would rub unto the wearer. In the end it is a very impressive hairstyle with a very impressive history, worthy of the modern Tayuu’s image.