Geisha

The hairstyles of geisha have varied through history. In the past, it has been common for women to wear their hair down in some periods and up in others.
During the 17th century, women began putting all their hair up again, and it is during this time that the traditional shimada hairstyle, a type of chignon worn by most established geisha, developed.

There are four major types of the shimada: the taka shimada, a high chignon usually worn by young, single women; the tsubushi shimada, a more flattened chignon generally worn by older women; the yuiwata, a chignon that is usually bound up with a piece of coloured cotton crepe.

These hairstyles are decorated with elaborate hair-combs and hairpins (kanzashi). In the seventeenth century and after the Meiji Restoration period, hair-combs were large and conspicuous, generally more ornate for higher-class women. Following the Meiji Restoration and into the modern era, smaller and less conspicuous hair-combs became more popular.
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