[Iida City Museum Special Exhibition] Commemorating the 110th Anniversary of the Death of Yoshio Tanaka: "Yoshio Tanaka in Chonmage Attire, from Paris" (Minami-Shinshu Newspaper)
A photo of Meiji-era naturalist Yoshio Tanaka in chonmage attire, taken in Paris in 1867, illustrates his transition to Western dress before civilization and enlightenment.Summary
Before the 1871 decree allowing cropped hair and the abolition of swords, people wore chonmage. In 1867, Yoshio Tanaka, a 29-year-old naturalist, was photographed in chonmage attire during his trip to the Paris Exposition. He wore a "Kobusho-style" shaved forelock and topknot, and the photo was used as a pass to the expo. Before arriving in Paris, he bought Western clothes and shoes in Marseille, and likely wore Western attire in Paris, but may have changed into Japanese dress for the photo. After returning to Japan, Tanaka became a bureaucrat in the new Meiji government; by 1869 his forelock was gone, by 1872 he wore Western clothes, and by 1873 he had a mustache—pioneering the shift to Western attire ahead of the civilization and enlightenment movement.
(Source：Yahoo!ニュース)