Kanzashi - Japanese Ornamental Hairpins

Kanzashi are ornamental hairpins. There are many types, but the most well-known in the US is tsumami-kanzashi, made with folded squares of silk that are arranged into different shapes, like flowers.

Below is a short Japanese documentary about edo-tsumami kanzashi (江戸つまみ簪). These styles became popular during the Edo period (1603-1867). Edo (江戸) is the former name of Tokyo, and tsumami (つまみ) means "to pinch." The word "kanzashi" is said to have been derived from "kami" (hair) and "zashi" (stick).

The video is divided into three parts, but the last one is mainly pictures of examples, so I just included the first two. If you would like to see the last one, I can find it for you. For most of it, you can tell what is happening from watching, but I've made some notes for you below.

Video 1
0:42 - Some types of edo-tsumami kanzashi:
0:44 - Maezashi (前挿しかんざし) - Goes on top of the head
0:46 - Yokozashi (横挿しかんざし) - Arranged flowers with danglies
0:49 - Hirauchi (平打ちかんざし) - Pin/stick with a round part
0:52 - Kusudama (楠玉かんざし) - Ball
0:55 - Hanagushi (花櫛かんざし) - Comb
0:59 - 1:50 - Images of traditional art with women wearing kanzashi
1:50 - 2:25 - A kanzashi designer
2:26 - 3:08 - Dying the silk different colours by hand
3:09 - 3:43 - Making a rice-based glue
3:55 - Cutting the dyed silk into little squares
5:13 - He begins folding the petals (tsumami = pinch)
5:26 - He applies the glue thickly to a wooden board, to stick the shaped petals to. The red ones are "maru-tsumami" or "round folds," while the blue ones are "kaku-tsumami," pointed folds.

Video 2
0:10 - Punching out circles of thick paper to stick the petals to
0:33 - Arranging the petals into a butterfly shape (Chou, 蝶)
2:49 - Arranging petals into a flower
3:56 - Making a kusudama ball