What are hanakanzashi?

Hanakanzashi can be worn as a pair on each side of the head, or a single one can be worn alone. Modern-day hanakanzashi can be divided into two broad groups: katsuyama hairpins (sizeable long ornaments placed at the top of the head) and kanzashi hairpins (or daikan hairpins; in which strings of triangular petal ornaments known as bura hang down from the main flowers). When a young women becomes a maiko, she wears both katsuyama and kanzashi hairpins in a hairstyle known as wareshinobu. This is a cute hairstyle involving a large number of small flowers. After two or three years, as the maiko draws near to becoming a geisha, her hairstyle also changes to the ofuku style, which involves only kanzashi hairpins and combs, with no katsuyama hairpins. Thus, there is also a move towards a more “settled” look in terms of the flowers in the hairstyle. The hairpins can also be made for ordinary people, but there are some differences in size, etc.