Figure 1.--The Japanese teen ager in this Ambritype was Okuda Michitaro. We believe the porrait was tanen in the 1880s. Note the sept back hair which we think ws worn with a bun at the back. We are not sure how common this style was, but beliece it was a traditionl style more popular before the Mejii Restoration. By the time this portrit was taken, Japan had founded a modern school system. We are not sure if boys wore this style to school. This boy my have been from a welthy family and tutored at home.

we note some boys with swept back hair. We think that this was primarily a style for teenagers and men nd not very common for younger boys. Here we still assessing this style, but we have not yet found many exmples in the photographic record. We are not yet sure about the 19th century s our archive is still limied. Mny biys ha ckise0cripped hair, but we re not sure how commin this was in the 19th century. We know that close-cropped hair was very common in the early-20th century so few boys anbd schoo-age would have had this style. Our limited 19th century archive means that we can not fully assess this style, especially because we have virtually no images from the early- and mid-19th centyry. We do note one young teenager with swept-back hair in the 1880s. This may have been a traditional style,perhaps worn by well-to-do boys who were tutored at home and did not attend school. The young teen-ager here Okuda Michitaro (figure 1). At least in the 19th century there may have been a bun in the back. We see European boys with swpt back hair, but of course not with a bun or pigtail in back, at least by the 19th century.

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Created: 10:56 PM 6/4/2012
Last updated: 10:56 PM 6/4/2012