View source for Chapatsu

{{Short description|Japanese style of hair coloring}}
[[File:A fashionable boy in Japan.jpg|right|thumb|An example of the chapatsu (Japanese boy).]]

{{nihongo|'''Chapatsu'''|茶髪/ちゃぱつ}}, literally "[[brown]] [[hair]]" in the [[Japanese language]],<ref name="kokugo">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Nihon Kokugo Daijiten |title=茶髪 |trans-title=Chapatsu |url=http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |access-date=2012-07-26 |year=2012 |publisher=Shogakukan |location=Tokyo |language=Japanese |oclc=56431036 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113418/http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |archive-date=2007-08-25 }}</ref> is a style of [[Bleach (chemical)|bleach]]ing (and occasionally [[dye]]ing) hair, found among [[Japan]]ese [[teen]]s. The style was once banned at Japanese schools and became a widespread topic of the [[civic right]] to self-expression, but discussion of the topic died down due to the ubiquity of the style.<ref name="imidas">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Imidas |title=茶髪 |url=http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |access-date=2012-07-26 |year=2012 |publisher=Shueisha |location=Tokyo |language=Japanese |trans-title=Chapatsu |oclc=506996961 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113418/http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |archive-date=2007-08-25 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://web-japan.org/trends98/honbun/ntj990202.html|title=Brown But Not Brazen|date=3 February 1999|publisher=Trends in Japan|access-date=6 October 2012}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The word ''chapatsu'' is formed from two morphemes: {{linktext|茶}}, meaning "[[tea or brown, in this case, brown]]" and {{linktext|髪}}, meaning "hair".<ref name="kokugo" /> ''Chapatsu'' originally referred to a variety of colors of hair dye, including [[blonde]], [[red]], [[Orange (colour)|orange]], and [[blue]], it now refers to brown [[hue]].<ref name="dijitaru">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Dijitaru Daijisen |title=茶髪 |url=http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |access-date=2012-07-26 |year=2012 |publisher=Shogakukan |location=Tokyo |language=Japanese |trans-title=Chapatsu |oclc=56431036 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070825113418/http://rekishi.jkn21.com/ |archive-date=2007-08-25 }}</ref> In [[Japanese language|Japanese]] the word is also frequently written in [[hiragana]] [[syllabary]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

== Style ==
While the style itself began to show up in [[Tokyo]] streets during the early to mid-1990s, ''chapatsu'' was first described in ''Imidas'', an annual publication of new words and concepts in the Japanese language, in 1997. ''Chapatsu'' did not appear in ''[[Kōjien]]'', an authoritative dictionary of the Japanese language, until 1998. The style first gained popularity among adolescent girls, seeking to accentuate their tanned skin (rebelling against more traditional definitions of beauty), but quickly became mainstream.<ref name="imidas" />
By the mid-2000s, however, trends seemed to indicate that the "chapatsu" as a mainstream style was on its way out.<ref>[http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/archive/news/2006/12/20061206p2g00m0dm007000c.html Dyejobs make for the nearest stylist as hair experts proclaim black is back] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309161625/http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/archive/news/2006/12/20061206p2g00m0dm007000c.html |date=March 9, 2008 }}</ref>  Although ''chapatsu'' died out as youth-centered fashion trend of rebellion, it came to be accepted not only on young people but also in certain business settings, and it was established before long as a Japanese fashion.{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

<gallery widths="150px" heights="200px">
File:ヤンママP6014882a.jpg|The brown hair also became popular with Yanmama (young mothers).
File:Yumi Yoshimura 2009 (02).jpg|Japanese singer Yumi Yoshimura with a ''chapatsu''.
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Ganguro]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Chapatsu}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070320053909/http://brokenstones.at.infoseek.co.jp/fashion/dmv.html Transcript of Speech by Nomura Masaichi of the National Museum of Ethnology on Chapatsu and Ganguro fashions]

[[Category:Hair coloring]]
[[Category:Japanese fashion]]
[[Category:Japanese youth culture]]


{{Japan-culture-stub}}