Why Samurai Wore Flip-flops #Shorts

If you watch samurai anime or movies, you might have noticed that the samurai are wearing shoes that look like flip-flops.

Why did they wear such seemingly inconvenient shoes?

1. Abundant supply of straw/wood
2. High temperature and humidity
3. Often take off shoes

The Japanese shoes such as 草鞋 waraji and 下駄 geta are all made from straw or wood, which Japan had an abundant supply of because its staple food is rice and about 70% of the land is mountains.

Next, Japan has a high temperature and humidity, so in the past without air conditioning, wearing shoes that would fully cover the feet could lead to diseases such as athlete’s feet.

Lastly, since ancient times in Japan we have had a culture of taking off our shoes, so these kinds of shoes were very convenient to take off quickly.

*The content is based on personal studies and experience
There is no intention of denying other theories and cultural aspects

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おとわび
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かわいいフリー素材屋 いらすとや

#waraji #zori #geta #setta #samuraishoes

[fattail]

Samurai, ready for an insane sword battle and a day at the beach. Truly a versatile warrior.

[welpyes]

"High Temperature and Humidity"
Me in the Philippines: 🔥＼(◎o◎)／🔥

[tomasla]

What a coincidence! Waraji sounds like the Spanish word Huarache... It's also a kind of leather sandal

[LetsaskShogo]

If you watch samurai anime or movies, you might have noticed that the samurai are wearing shoes that look like flip-flops.

Why did they wear such seemingly inconvenient shoes?

1. Abundant supply of straw/wood
2. High temperature and humidity
3. Often take off shoes

The Japanese shoes such as 草鞋 waraji and 下駄 geta are all made from straw or wood, which Japan had an abundant supply of because its staple food is rice and about 70% of the land is mountains.

Next, Japan has a high temperature and humidity, so in the past without air conditioning, wearing shoes that would fully cover the feet could lead to diseases such as athlete’s feet.

Lastly, since ancient times in Japan we have had a culture of taking off our shoes, so these kinds of shoes were very convenient to take off quickly.

*The content is based on personal studies and experience
There is no intention of denying other theories and cultural aspects

[lostironaut]

funnily enough, i think flip flops started when they made zori from rubber and GIs brought them back from Japan after WWII. they got popular after that.

[HermanLoud]

Waraji sounds like Warachi in Purepecha (Mexican pre-hispanic tribe) also in spanish Huarache, and all are the same style of open shoe wear. Funny...

[anemic-peachless]

the question ive been subconsciously asking myself without thinking of looking it up

[rbk]

I love that you highlight many different aspects of Japanese culture and present it in a clear, informational way! It's nice to hear about these things 😊

[AMD]

Yes in one of the fight scenes is Twilight Samurai, you see the protagonist slip his sandals off before the fight at the rivers edge and after the fight his friend give them back to him. It is clear from the action that sandals would be in the way and a trip hazard during a battle

[TwinsInVancouver]

"because Japan is hot and humid"
People who lives in Hokkaido: *laughs in Ainu*

[Ronnie._.__.]

Maybe.... i am somewhat of a samurai myself.

[Waterlemon]

"why samuri wore flipflop" i was not ready to hear that

[elisa]

I don't know how they were able to fight with these "flip-flop", when I wear them I usually walk like a penguin

[bellaloves]

When I was in Japan, I made the mistake on the first day of wearing shoes that I had to take time to take off and on, on a day where we went to a traditional restaurant, a few homes of my host family’s friends, and other places I needed to take off my shoes, quickly stopped that and just wore shoes I could slip off

[SayaRabbitholeSimp]

Over here, we call flip-flops "Selipar Jipun"

[mspaint]

They're called 'jandals' here in NZ, we wear them everywhere (unless you are going inside, then be barefoot)

[Scarlett.Granger]

What about being in combat or fighting tho?

[aleksandramakari]

Meanwhile parents telling us don’t wear socks with sandals.

[nissan_tb]

They did also wear Kogake (foot armor) when they were fully clad on the battlefield. Although this was lightweight armor to allow the samurai to still move freely and quickly, it also meant it was essentially useless against swords, spears or arrows. Best protection it could realistically offer was against knives or kunai

[FreddieHg]

I just noticed that here in Mexico we call sandals "huarache"/"huaraches" (singular/plural) or "guarache"/"guaraches" and I didn't know of that Japanese term of "waraji" but it does sound too close, I thought all my life it came from a native indigenous term like many other words which are adapted from Nahuatl, Mexica/Aztec, Otomi, Olmec, Toltec, Zapotec or Mayan.

Before I posted I looked it up and it comes from the Purepecha term "Kwarachi"/"Kwaraji" which simply means 'footwear' or according to certain sources: 'field work footwear' and refers to this type of footwear that correlates to what we now know as sandals (like the ones shown in this video or the flip-flops one usually has at home), how funny…