History Main / MartialArtsHeadband

* ''Series/CobraKai'' sees the return of Karate Kid's Johnny Lawrence, complete with his signature black headband. It even gets a backstory of its own, being a present that Ali Mills (Johnny's ex-girlfriend from the Karate Kid film) gave him. Actor William Zabka explains Johnny's entire mindset changes when he puts his headband on, although he is mocked for it a couple of times during the series. Daniel Larusso's iconic Okinawan flower Headband also makes a return.

* ''LightNovel/DirtyPair'': Kei wore this kind of headband (though only in ''Biohazards'' and ''A Plague of Angels''). In the anime version, she wore a slightly different kind of headband (it was wider, had shorter trailing ends, and was usually turned sideways).

** Sonya Blade wore a black martial arts headband in her [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 earlier]] [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 appearances]].

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* VideoGame/MachBreaker: Makoto Kotobuki sports one as her Numan Athletics outfit.
* [[VideoGame/MetalGear Solid Snake]]'s trademark. (And his dad's.)

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* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Girl in the Fireplace", the Doctor does the drunk salaryman variant -- he ties his tie around his head while pretending to be drunk.

* Richter Belmont from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'' wears one, along with vaguely Asian looking clothes. He's -- not surprisingly -- called "[[StreetFighter Ryu]] Belmont" by the fans.

** While it has become an iconic part of his design, [[TheHero Liu Kang]] didn't wear start wearing his iconic red headband until ''VideoGame/MortalKombat2''.

* ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka'': Worn by GTO when he's studying for a test. The slogan is, "I will pass the test".

* ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'': All ninja candidates are given headbands with the village's symbol carved into the metal forehead guard when they graduate the academy and become genin. Most of them continue to wear their headbands even after they become chunin, although [[GogglesDoNothing many wear it in places other than their heads]]. For some examples, Kakashi uses his as an EyepatchOfPower, Sakura wears hers as a hairband, and Hinata wears hers as a necklace.

* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' -- In the last Sports Fest, Sakaki starts out wearing a headband. But when her friend and classmate Chiyo-chan is taunted about her running, Sakaki takes it to the next level: she ties her hair back with her headband before taking the racing baton.

* On that note: ''Anime/{{Gunbuster}}''. Noriko's long headband is almost as iconic as the BadassArmFold she always does before awesome stuff happens.

* Kei from ''LightNovel/DirtyPair'' wore this kind of headband (though only in ''Biohazards'' and ''A Plague of Angels''). In the anime version, she wore a slightly different kind of headband (it was wider, had shorter trailing ends, and was usually turned sideways).

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'' villain Jaeger wears a personalized hachimaki in his earlier appearances. His later mask is taller and there is a targeting element on the forehead of it which imitates his earlier headband.

-->'''Danny''': "Whatever happened to this..."Oroku Saki"[[note]]AKA: The Shredder.[[/note]]?"
-->'''Splinter''': "No one really knows, but you wear his symbol upon your brow."

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', the protagonist of the second generation, Seliph, wears a pure white headband. The ''Light Inheritors'' manga, an adaptation of the plot of the second generation of the game, has Seliph without the headband while he lives quietly, hiding from the [[{{cult}} Loptyrian Empire]] that is hunting him, while underneath the protection of his {{Parental Substitute}}s Oifey and Shannan. He dons it after resolving that he'll take the fight to the Empire directly, and grow strong enough that he won't need to be protected anymore.

** One notable example is Kyo Kusanagi. At first, when he was a high-schooler, he wore a white headband, and when the series transitioned from the Orochi to the NESTS arc, one of the signs of Kyo's CharacterDevelopment was the change of threads - which meant the headband had to go too. In his ''KOF 99'' first round intro, he even takes the headband off his head and burns it in his hand.

* A rare Chinese example, Jann Lee the BruceLeeClone of the "Videogame/DeadorAlive"series, wears this in DOA ++ and subsequent games with a more urban streetwear ensemble, which stands out among his Bruce Lee-inspired Kung Fu uniforms, Black and Yellow tracksuits and fancy business suits.
* Worn by the main character of the "Videogame/VirtuaFighter" series, Akira Yuki, a martial artist who specializes in the Bajiquan style of Kung Fu. Although his martial art is Chinese, Akira himself is Japanese. Originally he uses a white headband to go along his white gi, but his headbands tend to change depending on his different costumes. His newer main costume has him sporting a red headband, and other variations include black or blue.

** On one cover of ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}'', main character Pteppic, an Assassin, is inexplicably wearing one. Not one of the worst examples of CoversAlwaysLie, but still...odd. (The Assassins only wear black; the headband ''isn't''.)

* Richter Belmont from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'' wears one along with an asian looking clothes. He's not surprisingly called "[[StreetFighter Ryu]] Belmont" by the fans.

* Contrast with Topper Harley in ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux'', who accidentally ties it over his eyes.

* Whenever ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' puts one of these on, you can be sure that ass kicking ensues.

* In the ''Anime/MaiOtome'' manga, Shizuru wonders where her [[EvilCounterpart Dark Hime]] is, and imagines a version of her PsychoLesbian [=MaiHime=] incarnation wearing a "Natsuki [[GratuitousEnglish Love]]" headband. Takeda, who makes a cameo coming to Garderobe to get pictures of Natsuki, has a similar headband.

* In ''[[VideoGame/HarukanaruTokiNoNakaDe Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou]]'' OAV episode "Omoi no Arika" [[SmallAnnoyingCreature Kotengu]] sports a hachimaki when waiting for Yasuaki, whom he supposedly challenged to a duel. When Yasuaki doesn't arrive in time, Kotengu gets angry and his CrossPoppingVeins cause the hachimaki to get torn in half and fall off.

* As mentioned in the main body of this article, Daniel-san of ''Film/TheKarateKid'', who was probably the first to introduce this concept to Western pop culture. His rival, Johnny Lawrence from the Cobra Kai dojo, also wears one, though his is black. The SequelSeries ''''Series/CobraKai'' reveals that it was actually a gift Ali gave him before she dumped him.

** Sonya Blade wore a black martial arts headband in her [[VideoGame/MortalKombat earlier]] [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 appearances]].

An iconic real-life use of this trope was in the fighter pilots of Japan during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, when they wore bandanas bearing the word "Kamikaze" upon them, which up until that point, had been a reference to the "Divine Wind" that drove off the Mongol invasion of Japan centuries earlier.