Ask John: Why Do Anime Characters Cut Their Hair?

Question:
I have noticed in some anime series a “cutting of hair.” This happens in Ninja Scroll, when Kagero cuts her hair, saying she will join her clan as they go to look for the people they saw riding horses the other night. It also happens in Fushigi Yugi when Nuriko cuts his hair (although it may not have been for the same reason as the latter, it has been a while since I have seen that series.) Further examples include live action films such as Moon Over Tao, where the dead samurai’s hair was brought back to his master, and video games including Final Fantasy IX. I was wondering if you could tell me the significance of this “cutting of hair.”

Answer:
In Japan, traditionally, a woman’s hair is her most prized possession and cutting off a large portion of a woman’s hair was the worst thing that a woman could suffer short of actual torture or death. Cutting off hair, as done in your examples, signifies a separation from the past and the former self. When a character cuts off her or his hair, he or she is symbolically cutting off all connections and becoming a new person or beginning a new stage of life. This is a distinctly Asian ritual that really has no Western equivalent. We can see this quite clearly in Princess Mononoke, for example, when Ashitaka leaves his Ainu village for the outside world. He cuts off his hair and the village elders mourn the loss of the man who should have been their leader, even though Ashitaka is still in the room with them. Symbolically, Ashitaka has already severed his ties to his village by cutting his hair.