We found one such Japanese man to talk to. His mustache has come to define him. Not only that, we hear local legends are abrew around his facial hair. Remember, facial hair in Japan is quite rare, by worldwide standards. Salarymen (and most other people) are expected to be clean shaven. So what’s it like when you go against the bends of the mustache we call society? We “mustache” the expert: Hige-man Ume-chan.

Let’s begin with his stats:

Name: Keisuke Umeda
Age: 31
Length Of Hige: about 7cm
Type of Hige: Kaiser mustache
Morning Setup Time?: 5-10 minutes
Occupation: Designer at a game company
Website: Umeda No Site

And now with the pressing questions…

What do you think of hige history in Japan after reading “Japan’s Epic History Of Discrimination Against The Mustache”?

It’s very interesting. Although I didn’t know that hige was that popular during the medieval period to the beginning of Edo period, I was very surprised that hige was banned and there was even a punishment for having hige. What tough days for hige-holders.

Compared to that, I’d say we entered an era where we can enjoy our hige freely. I’d definitely prefer to freely enjoy having hige.

What do you think about hige in Japan today?

As I mentioned, we can enjoy our high freely in Japan today, but people tend to have the same kind of hige. I want them to find their own style. I believe that the high style that suits you will lead you on a good path.

However, the hige-man population is still such a minority in Japan. Hige doesn’t just make men look manly but also charming, even sexy! I can’t wait until the day comes when all Japanese men have their own hige and can happily live their lives.

What do you think of the hige court cases?

This is a difficult issue. I’m a salaryman, so I might face this issue someday as well. It’s not simply a concern of some stranger I don’t know.

I’d say that the key to acceptance will be found by talking to other people and finding some common ground through compromise. If people around you can learn to accept hige, then everything will be great, but if they can’t, it forces someone to either fight for their hige, or give it up. I really hope that everyone simply comes to understand and accept one another. That’s the best way to form good relationships.

Why did you start growing your hige?

About three years ago, I went on a vacation to India for a little more than 2 weeks.

During the trip, I never shaved my hige. When I came back to Japan, I looked in the mirror and actually thought, “Wow, that’s dirty. It doesn’t suit me at all.” But I had a lot of difficulty saying goodbye to the hige that took me so long to grow, so I decided to keep it. Then, having hige turned out to be pretty fun for me. My friends all liked it, too.

So since then, I’ve grown it and the shape changes from time to time. I even feel as if I’m doing cos-play every day. Every feeling was new to me.

Hige has become my trademark now. Even strangers passing by me on the street often get surprised and start talking to me. Of course all the kids I meet like it too. It’s a good thing to be memorable to people as well. Oh, once I was also mistaken as a member of the Japanese imperial household!

I was surprised to hear a rumor about myself where I had become “Hige-man Ume-chan” among people that I didn’t know. So many fun things happen just by having hige. I actually joined a hige association that was established in Kyoto, too.

I keep growing my hige because I like seeing people’s reactions to it and there are so many fun things related to hige.

What does your boss think? / What does your employer think?

For quite a while I was afraid that I was going to be told to shave it off, but they’ve accepted my hige so far. Some people even praise my hige and say things like, “Such a majestic hige!”.

I think it all depends on how you grow your hige. I believe that my hige-style is a cleanly trimmed style, so it’s more easily accepted than other styles. I even started choosing formal clothes to match my hige-style.

So, I think it’s important to choose a hige-style that suits your circumstance.

What do your family and friends think?

Both my family and my friends were shocked upon seeing me with hige after my trip for India. Nobody in my family has ever had hige, so my parents looked very uncomfortable with it at first. They eventually adjusted to my new look and now they share in my joy of having hige. Since my hige nestles itself between my upper lip and nose so naturally, people say that they can’t even remember me without hige anymore.

Do you have hige friends?

Yeah I do. I mentioned earlier that there was a hige association called “愛髭会” (aihigekai/Love Hige Group) established in Kyoto and I became a member. Almost all of the members are over 60 years old, but I met a lot of great people there and I never would have met them if I didn’t have hige. So, I really appreciate my hige for that.

I also became friends with some foreigners because we had this same thing in common. I believe people with hige can become quick friends.

How did you grow such a passion for hige?

Although I started growing my hige just by letting nature take its course, it is such an essential part of me now.

Now I’m pretty set in my preference to the Kaiser mustache, but I used to challenge myself and tried many hige styles. Every day was a new chance to try a different style. I didn’t get enough information on how to grow a beautiful hige or how to set it, so I just had to find out for myself.

I don’t remember exactly how my passion for hige grew, but I do know that I’ve continually thought about my hige for as long as I’ve had it – 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You know? Hige is the most distinguishable hair on your face.

If your hige could talk to you, what would it say?

I wish us a long-term relationship and please give me a treatment every day.

How has your hige changed your life?

I don’t have any remarkable experiences, but hige has been at the most prominent part of my face and whenever I meet people it is the most memorable to them. I’ve met many people just because of my hige and I hope I meet many more people because of it.

I think my hige has had a small effect on the people around me, just as it has influenced me. I change and then they change, until they make me change, then I make them change again. We keep changing.

It’s a sequence of simple and small changes, but when I look back on my past, I see that big change has occurred.

What’s one story about your hige that you haven’t told anybody?

I’ve mentioned a lot of good things about my hige, but there are some bad stories too.

For example, if I don’t set it, eating food is extremely difficult. Something you have to use both lips for, such as soft serve ice cream or a hot dog, will definitely make contact with my hige. For those kinds of food, I need to open my mouth really wide, or else I’ll eat my own hige. My hige gets pretty stinky if food does touch it or if I eat my own hige. Thus, I always have to have Kleenex in my pocket.

Another bad thing about having hige is that it gets wet and even freezes in the winter. When it’s cold, the water vapor in my breath quickly condenses into water droplets that stick to my hige. On really cold days I’ve even had icicles form on my hige.

Setting it up is really difficult too. I use gelatin or a solid oil called “歌舞伎油 (kabuki abura)”, which is used underneath the white foundation of Kabuki actors. In order to form a beautifully shaped hige, it takes a lot of time to find the right tools that will help you to set it properly. My hair is really curly too, so the longer the hair in my hige grow, the more difficult it becomes to set them and keep each side in good balance.

I also have breakage or a split hige issues, too.

Who has your ideal hige?

I think the hige of Salvador Dalí is wonderful. Upon seeing my hige style, everyone instantly recognizes it as “Dali’s hige”. . It’s totally iconic. I personally think his hige increased his craziness, toughness, charm, and his sexiness.

Do you have special tools or goods?

I have a T-shirt with a picture of a man with hige printed on it that resembles me a lot. I came across it in Taiwan.

Actually I have a lot of hige goods because my friends give me them from time to time and I also buy them if I find a good one in a shop. Many hige goods come to me.

This picture is just a part of my hige goods collection.

Have you ever thought about competing professionally with your hige?

Yes. But the world is wide and my hige is not yet strong enough. When I look at all the hige in the world, my thoughts are that I could never beat them.

They are truly amazing. If there was a mustache-only-contest or a Japanese-only-contest, then I might be able to compete.

Are you going to keep growing your mustache?

As long as I don’t get sick of it, hahaha.

I’d like to be a man and as majestic as my mustache is.

/End Interview

This interview was a great opportunity to consider about my hige. Thank you.

Bonus Hige Man Wallpapers!

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But how can this be? In a modern country such as Japan, shouldn’t it be a society in which one can look past another’s facial hair without judging (or firing you?). I’d like to take you on a mustache-canoe journey through the river that is the history of how facial hair functions in Japan, past and present. I’d also like to educate you on mustaches in general in Japan, just in case you end up in a heated mustache-related argument. Nobody is going to be teased about falling flattop on your facial hair on my watch.

Japanese Mustache Vocabulary

Unlike English, Japanese has only one word for each type of facial hair, excluding the eyebrows: HIGE. Lucky you! You’ve just learned how to say mustache, beard, sideburns, and whiskers in Japanese, all at once. If you found it to be more confusing than “lucky”, don’t worry, we use a different kanji for each hige: 髭 for mustache, 鬚 for cheek hair, and 髯 for the chin. Furthermore, you can also say 口髭 (kuchi-hige/mouth-hair), 頬鬚 (hoo-hige/cheek-hair), and 顎髯 (ago-hige/chin-hair), if you prefer to specify.

Just as a note, to save some word-space in this article, from here on out I’ll use “hige” to quickly refer to mustaches, beards, sideburns, (and whiskers). So, please don’t get confused whenever you see the word “hige”. Memorize the meaning right now!!!

Let’s break down the words for each HIGE style: Mustache a.k.a. kuchi-hige is facial hair grown just above the upper lip and is the most common type of hige. For this popular mustache, there are three main styles. In Japanese, the “handlebar mustache” a.k.a. the “Kaiser mustache” is カイゼル髭(kaizeru-hige), toothbrush mustache is ちょび髭 (chobi-hige), and the pencil-thin mustache is 泥鰌髭(dojou-hige).

There are other types of hige out there besides these, of course. Let’s take a look at some of the more interesting ones.

Ago-hige is the collection of facial hair grown on the chin, upper lip, lower cheeks, and neck. The most famous style of this is most likely to be the “goatee” and is translated into 山羊髯 (yagi-hige/goat hige).

This can be taken a step further, too. Nothing says “I love Japan” more than trimming the hair on your chin into the shape of Mt. Fuji. Not surprisingly, this is called 富士髯 (Fuji-hige).

Hoo-hige is facial hair grown on the sides of the face and in front of the ears. It’s not exactly the same thing as sideburns, however. In Japanese “sideburns” get separated into two different categories. (Remember, “hoo” means cheek so hoo-hige is the part of the sideburn that starts extending outward over your cheek.) The part of the sideburn that is directly beside your ear is called もみあげ(momiage). It’s difficult to distinguish exactly where momiage end and where hoo-hige begin, so some people just call them 長いもみあげ (nagai-momiage), which means “long momiage.”

Another very common hige style is the combination of the mustache and the goatee, which is called ラウンド髭 (round-hige), 囲み (kakomi), or カールおじさんの髭 (karl-ojisan-no-hige).

And finally, if you have hige that isn’t trimmed at all and just looks like messy stubble, it’s called 無精髭 (bushou-hige/laziness-hige). Additionally, the “5 o’clock shadow” is called 青髭 (ao-hige/blue-hige). As you can see, for any variation or combination of mustaches, beards, and/or sideburns, we say “hige” and use “髭.”

Japanese Mustache History

In Japan, from the medieval period to the beginning of Edo period, if you were a Samurai, you had to have hige. A Samurai without hige was made fun of. Thus, those who couldn’t grow much hige or had thin ones, such as Hideyoshi Toyotomi, used fake hige.

When the Edo shogunate entered a calm stage and became a “civilian government” called 文治政治 (bunchi-seiji), showing a fighting spirit came to be regarded as having the intention of rebelling. Since hige represents the samurai’s fighting spirit, feudal lords started shaving off their hige and left only their 髷 (mage) which is the long hair at the back of the head tied into a knot or bun. Another symbol of a samurai, the 月代 (sakayaki) which is the shaved part on the top of the head, remained during this period. This style was used until the middle of the 17th century. The government ended up banning people from having hige for the reason that hige could corrupt public morals, so all samurai had to shave off their hige, as well. They made one exception, however. People who had scars on their faces were granted permission to grow hige in order to hide their scars. Thus, Morihito Yamayoshi (a.k.a Shinpachirou Yamayoshi or Shinpachi) shaved his hige, though he doesn’t have his hige in the moe-anime game called “ChuShingura46+1”, since all Samurai characters are girls in the game.

In the second half of the 17th century, having a clean-shaven face became the standard among Japanese civilians. Meanwhile, in Hokkaido, Japan’s indigenous group called Ainu still had hige but didn’t have mage (the knot at the top of the head). Therefore, during the Edo-period, the homeland of the Ainu, 蝦夷地(Ezo-chi/Yezo), was regarded as a land of savages, in large part due to them having hige. This “hige discrimination” is considered to be one of the initial reasons that people started to harbor contempt for the Ainu.

There is also an offensive and insulting term for foreigners, 毛唐(ketou), which was created to spite foreigners with hige. 毛 means hair and 唐 means Tang Dynasty. The word 毛唐 was originally intended for Chinese people thought later it came to denote Westerners.

Speaking of Westerners, in and around the 18th century, hige became really popular in Victorian England and spread throughout Europe. That influence reached men of high status in Japan during the Meiji-era (that’s after the anti-mustache Shogunate was overthrown, 1868-1912 AD) and so they started growing their hige again. Gaishi Nagaoka, an officer at Military Staff College in Tokyo, was one of them and he grew his mustache to an astounding 70cm (27.5inch) from end to end. His mustache was called the プロペラ髭 (propeller-hige) and Nagaoka was very proud of it.

During the Taishou era (1912-1926 AD), some people still wore the toothbrush mustache or the Ronald-Coleman-like mustache called コールマン髭 (Coleman-hige). However, a new style without a mustache called MOBO (Modern Boy) became popular and the hige fever cooled down all the way until the militaristic Shouwa era (1926–1989) when the hige-boom came back (but didn’t last that long). After the wars, safety razors spread around the country and shaving hige became the respectable, and respectful, style for salarymen all through the post-war reconstruction period.

Hige In The Contemporary Japan

Nowadays, though the trendiness of hige is gradually increasing, even to the point that there is now a popular Hige Dance, there are still far more clean-shaven Japanese men than those with hige. I guess it’s because the old “Hige=Bad” mentality still lingers in many minds.

Across Japan, a general rule of employment stipulates that you must not have hige. This is particularly evident in the following industries: banking, investment, insurance, railway, airline, bus, taxi, retail, restaurant, and hotel. Companies make such rules because the firing, suspension of, demotion of a person, or reducing their salary for having hige is an infringement on personal rights. An employee must be given fair warning that having hige is against company policy.

In fact, some incidents have even gone all the way to the court system. For example, a postman named Noboru Nakamura had to hire a lawyer to fight for the right to keep his hige against Japan Post’s 2004 grooming regulation. Nakamura wasn’t the only postman who felt troubled by the regulation. Another postman named Hideki Shiba brought his case against Japan Post to court and won because the regulation was introduced after he had started working there. A taxi driver won his case that he took to court, as well. Those cases (裁判/saiban) are called 髭裁判（hige-saiban).

This means one very simple thing: it’s very possible to get fired for having facial hair. Oh, and don’t forget to lawyer up.

It all sounds far too serious for something as little (and natural) has hige, but as the saying たかが髭、されど髭 (takaga hige, saredo hige) goes, “it’s just hige, but it could be very important, as well”. And indeed it can be. As I am a female, I don’t understand how men feel about their hige. If I found a thick hige on my face, I’d remove it immediately. However, while writing this article I’ve learned about how difficult it was to have hige from a historical context. I’ve also learned how important hige can be for some men, and I’d like to learn more. I’d love to hear the passionate opinions of the “Hige-man”. I guess we all want to, so keep an eye out for the next article in which I interview a Japanese salary man with a doozie of a mustache. What made him start growing his mustache? Did he need to fight his boss in order to keep it? It’s him against society. You don’t want to miss it!

Bonus Wallpapers!

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