long hair and tenegui

[Confound]

I'm having problems with my tenegui. It always loosens partway through practice, sometimes three or four times. The problem seems to be my hair, which isn't overly long, but putting the tied up hair inside the tenegui seems to weigh it down, and lead to the loosening. Yet, when I tie the tenegui with my hair outside, it still, mysteriously loosens.

This may seem frivolous, but it's really annoying to waste practice time fixing a tenegui. So, people with long hair, what do you do with it when putting on your tenegui?

c

[Critical_Bill]

hmm, well, everyone i know with long hair wears it in ponytails, and that seems to work.
I have no idea how comfy this is though, since i cut my ponytail in the early 90s (thank gawd)

[mingshi]

mmm... I only know the without-knot faster tying method. So far it hasn't caused much trouble.

1) Use the Tenegui to pull the hair around your forehead back, to keep a clear vision...
2) Make sure the 2 flaps that go around your ears are secured...
3) You know, the last flap in front of your face at the end is of the shape of a triangle. You can try pulling its bottom folds at the 2 base corners to the sides horizontally.
4) Finished piece should end up showing your forehead. Be careful not to move it and loosen it up when you put your Men on.

There is another tying method called "swirl-around-the-head-and-make-a-knot". It seems even more secured, but it takes longer to do.

Anyone else?

[alexpollijr]

You might try the alternate way of tying the tenugui that Mingshi mentioned. It's a little less practical (read: slower) but it's more tight and covers a wider area on the head.

You can check it out here
http://www6.big.or.jp/~budogu/manu/topm.htm

[Atama]

Confound
I had the same problem with my tenugui until tried the method were you make a little cap out of the tenugui as oppose to the wrappin around the head way. It worked a treat for as i have my hair tied back too.

[Paburo]

my hair is not too long so i just tie it in a topknot and wrap the tenugi in the style I according to this image:

http://kenwakai.org/tenugi.gif

i wrap it low, in the front at my eyebrow level, and in the back just above the neck. it doesn't move at all during training.

recently i saw some girl with longer hair use her tenugi in the style III. she had her pony tail low. she took literally less than a second to put on/off her tenugi this way.

try different forms til you find the comfiest for you. hope it helps.

[scbang]

I want to do style 1 because it covers my ear and also Miyazaki does it :-) But I can only do style 2 because my Tengui is not big enough for style 1. Is my head too big ( I don't think this to be true ) or are there bigger tenguis out there for style 1?

I also noticed many ladies use style 3 but It does not give me tight enough fit.

SC

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by scbang
I want to do style 1 because it covers my ear and also Miyazaki does it :-) But I can only do style 2 because my Tengui is not big enough for style 1. Is my head too big ( I don't think this to be true ) or are there bigger tenguis out there for style 1?

I also noticed many ladies use style 3 but It does not give me tight enough fit.

SC
I have a large head (62 cm hat size) and style 1 works well for me. There are bigger and smaller tenugui.

[scbang]

There are bigger and smaller tenugui.

How come I don't see that designation in any of the websites selling them?

SC

[Neil Gendzwill]

I dunno, I've never bought a tenugui in my life. I just aquire them through various sources (visitors, tournaments, etc).

[scbang]

Me too - but they are all same small sizes so I was checking to see anyone carries big one but I din't see it..

I'm assuming you use large ones for style 1. How do you use small ones? Can you do style 1 with smaller ones?

SC

[Confound]

I'm going to try the third style (party hat), for a while. It covers the ears a little. With the incompetence of the school kendou team, it might be safer for my eardrums to have that little bit of extra space.

c

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by scbang
I'm assuming you use large ones for style 1. How do you use small ones? Can you do style 1 with smaller ones?

Most of the ones I have are large enough. I've had one or two that were too small but the standard size is OK. Perhaps you're doing something wrong. If your tenugui loosens up or moves around when you put on the men, slightly dampening it before class will help it stay put.

[scbang]

Neil, as I understand, Style 1 calls for tying two corners in front of you after you wrap your head. None of my tengui is long enough to be tied. Oh well.. SC

[alexpollijr]

Usually japanese tenugui are bigger and fit nicely for style 1.
I too have smaller and bigger tenugui; small ones were either gifts or made in Brazil or Korea.

I have one that was handed me by the ZNKR director once that is pretty big, and a couple tozando's one that do the trick.

But I'm a style 2 adept so, whatever.

[aru-ma]

Now here's a strange one, how do you put the tenugui if you have an afro ? I mean a real afro. I shaved mine 2 years ago just before I got into men, just curious.

[Paburo]

Originally posted by aru-ma
Now here's a strange one, how do you put the tenugui if you have an afro ? I mean a real afro. I shaved mine 2 years ago just before I got into men, just curious.

ask MAX!

:D

p.s. you shouldn't have shaved your afro. now you'll score less or none for that... never understimate the mysterious sensual power of the afro.

[aru-ma]

hmm...maybe I should grow my afro back and call myself afro-ken:D, wait that's a dogs name, nevermind.

[Confound]

Ah, but J-girls love Afro-ken... The question is, do you love J-girls?

c

[reicheru]

I used to pull back my hair in a very low ponytail, then tie my tenegui really tight (or, in my pre-Japan kendo days, use the little cap). Never had much of a problem with the tenegui getting loose.

Then I cut my hair very short last summer. It didn't make any difference in how I tied the tenegui, but I did notice for a while afterward that my ears suddenly hurt a lot more. This confused me, because my hair hadn't been cushioning my ears before I cut it (as I said, it was pulled back in a ponytail). Eventually I realized that when I had a ponytail, I was tying the men himo above it, in the middle of my head. With short hair, I was tying my men himo lower without even realizing it, and thus the smooshed and blistered ears. Now I simply pretend I still have a ponytail, tie it above that imaginary spot, and my ears are fine.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Originally posted by scbang
Neil, as I understand, Style 1 calls for tying two corners in front of you after you wrap your head. None of my tengui is long enough to be tied. Oh well.. SC
There's no knot in style 1. Hold the two corners and let the front hang down. Pull the edge taut and slide it back along your head until it crosses over the occiput (the bump on the back). Bring the corners around to the front, the tenugui should naturally fold on both sides as you do this. Pull one corner taught around your forehead, then hold it there. You'll have to kind of flip up that elbow at that point. Then pull the other corner around. You'll have a triangular flap hanging in front of your face. Fold that back over the top of your head. You'll probably have to fold the end of that flap over to avoid the unsightly "flag" sticking out of the back of your men. This is all much easier with a slightly damp tenugui.

[scbang]

Neil, I must've mistaken. I couldn't make out the picture very well from the website. If you ever seen Miyazaki ( I'm sure others too ) he bites a piece of tengui put it over his head then make both side go around ( wrap the whole head ) then tie both end in a knot in front of his forehead. Then flip the front flap to back. Is this Style 2 ? I use the method you describe above with no problem.

SC

[aru-ma]

how many ways can you wear a tenugui anyways? I've only seen 3 and I only use 1 (the one where you make a head cap out of it).

as for j-girls I dont know, only the nice ones.
personally I find the j prefixes funny j-girls, j-phone, j-league, j-Lo:D:D

[nodachi]

The prefixes are funny, but don't mock J-Pop man! That stuff rocks!

[Ares2907]

Nothing wrong with J-girls. I own one. ;)

btw, for those who don't know about afro-ken et al you might like to search for it on jlist.com (er I always enter the 'non-adult section. . . .yeah).

[kendo_chick]

I always tie my hair back right at the base of my neck. It may not get all my hair, but what the elastic doesn't get, the tenugui holds back. I also use the wrap to the front style for tieing it on.