Not taught in school! A roundup of historical trivia and fun facts
History that everyone studied in school.
Some people aren’t good at it, while others feel a sense of romance in a worldview completely different from today’s.
Most of what we learn in school focuses on major historical events, and it’s common not to touch on the small episodes around them.
So in this article, we’ll introduce trivia and fun facts about history that you wouldn’t cover in class.
We’ve focused on the surprising anecdotes of great figures and incidents that happened behind historical events—the interesting side of history you can’t learn in lessons.
Whether you love history or not, be sure to check it out!
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Things You Won’t Learn in School! A Roundup of Trivia and Fun Facts About History (11–20)
The chonmage originated because wearing a helmet made the head sweaty.
The chonmage is the hairstyle worn by samurai.
Shaving and tying up the hair seems like a hassle, doesn’t it? The reason they went to the trouble of styling it that way was to prevent the head from getting sweaty when wearing a helmet.
Other explanations include making it easier to fit inside a court cap, and keeping the hair shaved so one could immediately take Buddhist vows if faced with death in battle.
All of these theories sound plausible.
Incidentally, some samurai did not wear a chonmage, so it wasn’t strictly mandatory.
Abraham Lincoln’s previous occupation was a professional wrestler.
Former President Abraham Lincoln is known for his towering height of 193 cm (6’4″), but he also reportedly had a background as a wrestler.
At the age of 21, he became the county champion and is said to have lost only once in 300 matches.
Incidentally, several U.S.
presidents wrestled, including George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt.
Perhaps being president required physical stamina.
Tokugawa Ieyasu was a health fanatic.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, famous for founding the Edo shogunate, was in fact known as one of the Sengoku period’s foremost health enthusiasts.
While the average life expectancy at the time was around 30 to 40 years, Ieyasu lived to the remarkable age of 75.
His secret was rigorous health management.
It is said that he ate mainly barley rice and vegetables, avoided animal fats and extravagant dishes, and practiced moderation in meals.
He was also well-versed in medicinal herbs and traditional Chinese medicine, to the point of personally taking part in concoctions.
Not only did he seize control of the realm, but he also calmly managed his own body—truly a master of health management in the Sengoku era.
In 17th-century Turkey, drinking coffee was punishable by death.
In 17th-century Turkey, drinking coffee in public was strictly prohibited, and violators could face severe punishments, including the death penalty.
Murad IV, the ruler when Turkey was still known as the Ottoman Empire, disliked coffee and reportedly set examples by destroying coffeehouses; he is said to have imposed extreme penalties such as forty lashes for drinking one cup and having offenders sewn into a sack and thrown into the sea for drinking two.
People continued to drink coffee in secret and even opened cafés, making enforcement extremely difficult, and over time the ban on coffee was gradually relaxed.
Today, Turkish coffee is inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list and is an important part of Turkey’s culture.
Nightingale worked as a nurse for only two years.
It is said that Florence Nightingale worked as a nurse for about two years during the Crimean War.
She was dispatched to a field hospital in Crimea, where she rigorously managed the severely neglected sanitary conditions and reportedly covered shortages of medicine and other supplies at her own expense.
However, due to overwork, she fell ill around the age of 37, and for the next 50 years she is said to have lived mostly bedridden, shifting to activities such as writing books and advocating for medical reform.
Because of her selfless work—caring for wounded soldiers around the clock without regard for herself—she came to be known as the “Angel of Crimea.”