Tenugui

Several ways to wrap a Japanese head scarf at link.

On her blog, the writer compares headscarves in Japan to those used until modern times in Sweden...called a klut.

Those who have read Kristen Lavransdattir will know about her headscarves play a minor part in the novel.

More on Swedish folk dress HERE.


With all the controversy about Muslim headscarfs, one needs to remember that it wasn't so long ago that Christian women also covered their heads...
Headscarves outdoors kept the dirt/chaff out of the hair, and African women, whose dark hair would absorb the sunlight, traditionally wear scarves, turbans or Dukhas to prevent sunstroke.

In nothern climates, scarves kept the head warm, helped keep hair clean with chores, and kept the hair out of the food and from catching fire (which is why cooks wear hats and when I worked in a cafeteria, was required to wear a hair net).

And of course, scarves or small bonnets as a fashion statement helped keep one's hair covered when your hair was thin or absent (Queen Elizabeth the first lost her hair from typhoid, for example, and wore wigs...poor women would wear scarves). Nowadays, the most common reason for turbans and scarves is from chemotherapy.

As for the Japanese scarves:

Tenugui(te=hands, nugui =wipe) are Japanese cotton towels. These towels are not only for wiping your hands but also have a number of traditional uses and applications. As far back as the ancient Kofun Era (250 - 538 AD), a clay figurine called haniwa was found with a tenugui wrapped around its head. Tenugui has as many uses as your imagination. There are several ways of using this simple cloth to bring a unique part of traditional Japanese culture into your life. Here are three: (1) Wrapping; (2) Decorating; and (3) Well-being.

on the other hand, kitty looks a bit annoyed at her headscarf...