Tenugui 手拭

If you have an interest in Japan and have studied their culture, pictures, or anime, then you have most likely seen one of these just never realized it. Here is a picture.

Have you guessed it? That's right. It is the headband that Mr. Miagi is wearing. These are called tenugui and are translated as "hand towels".  They can actually have many different functions like wash clothes, bandanas, souvenirs and so on. They can also symbolize different things depending on the print or the way it is worn or used.

 

 

If you have seen my profile picture, I am actually wearing a tenugui around my neck during a matsuri (festival) in Japan. I was lucky enough to be included in the pulling of the dashi ( 山車 - だし） or floats during the festival. Aside from this, the print symbolized which town I was from.

My tenugui, as it hangs around my neck symbolizes I am a puller of the dashi and a participant of the festival. The people working on the floats had them tied around their heads in the following style which during the festival symbolized them as float workers (very important at festivals):

I was lucky enough to be able to keep my tenugui after the matsuri as a souvenir which is one of the main functions of these hand towels as they have been replaced by terri cloth towels in functionality recently. Within Japan they are often only used now for  cultural activities in which a tenugui is traditional and required.