Futou (; also , and , was one of the most important forms of Chinese headwear in ancient China with a history of more than one thousand years. The first appeared in the Tang and Song dynasties. The was originally turban-like headwear which was tied at the back of its wearer's head, with the two corners going to opposite directions and acting as decorations. From the Sui to the Ming dynasties, the evolved and was developed based on the . The shape of the worn by the government officials in the Song and Ming dynasties, the latter known as the , was based on the of the Tang dynasty. and continued to be worn by government officials until the late Joseon. The with a (lining) was also introduced back in the Sogdian areas in Central Asia spreading to the Western regions through the Xinjiang region.
Terminology
The term (or means "head scarf" or "head-cloth".
The refers to a lining used inside the ; it began to be used in 614 AD, and its purpose was to make the look more straight and beautiful in terms of appearance.
It is also proposed by Yatsenko that the was part of the Chinese male costume. According to ancient texts, Emperor Wu created the to protect the hair of his generals and soldiers in battles.
The first appeared a type of kerchief made by cutting a piece of muslin fabric into the proper size and by attaching four long and wide ribbons at each corner of the fabric like four feet. where all four ribbons were allowed to hang down after being tied. resembled the futou used in the early Tang dynasty, but followed the crafting methods of the Song dynasty by using lacquered muslin and wooden or metal frames to cast its shape. The shape of the feet varies depending on the era, with some resembling the curved leaf appearance of the prior dynasties or the straight wing-like feet in the late Ming dynasty. The Ming dynasty also kept the tradition of using straight-feet ; however, by the shape of the worn in the Ming dynasty diverted from that worn in the Song dynasty: the feet became shorter with time and some of these became less than forty centimetres.