Japanese walking style of Edo period shocked the foreign visitors

The foreigners visiting Japan from the end of Edo period to the beginning of Meiji period (18th or 19th Century) witnessed a big culture shock with the Japanese walking style and they recorded the descriptions in their journals.

This Video shows the features of Japanese walking style at that time.

Video shooting 　Chisa Saito
translate and narration Emmy Polaris

BGM Miyako JAPAN3

#namba
#nambawalk
#walking

[ngyaomin]

actually you will start walking like this when you start wearing the wooden slippers，its perhaps the only way to prevent them from keep dropping off

[nihongojouzudane]

me walking across the street when a car is coming

[rsuriyop]

The restrictions of the clothes they wore and their shoes is probably a factor in why they might have been forced to walk that way.

[SakakiDash]

Europeans walked differently than we do nowadays before also there are documentaries about it.
It is all based on the shoes and the design of them or lack of. Also clothing matters.

[KP-qkld]

They got their zone 2 cardio figured out in daily activities.

[tomservo]

I walk that way when I'm looking for a restroom

[Jim_mears]

Medieval Europeans apparently used to walk in a similar tentative way, before the development of thick-soled shoes. The way most of us walk today, putting our weight down hard on the heel, would have been very dangerous in an environment littered with sharp stones and pieces of dead wood.

[regolith]

I'm more distracted by the arms glued to the side of their bodies than by the walking style.

[User]

I notice Japanese still use a similar gait when walking fast. It could also have a lot to do with kimono and footwear.

[artfx]

"I'm tired and this kimono is uncomfortable, but I have to keep going" walk

[ApproximatelyCee]

I have a friend who is half Japanese. She always walked like that as we grew up together and still does. Her walk is more subtle though. I’m glad I watched this because now I understand that she was probably mimicking her Japanese mother and grandmother. Very interesting.

[Tamonduando]

foreigner here, I was shocked too. thank you.

[prometheusboat]

How interesting. This is the way I sometimes see Japanese tourists crossing the road.

[ooTheMAXXoo]

This looks exactly like what I have seen in countless movies and shows featuring Japanese subjects.

[nomorenames]

Lafcadio Hearn who you quote at the start is an amazing author and possibly the first Weaboo. He was a Greek man who came to Japan and loved it so much he spent the rest of his life there in the late 1800's early 1900s. He chronicled Japanese folklore and is one of the reasons that Yokai had a resurgence in notoriety during the 20th century. There are many collections of his writing that all deal with one of two subjects - his own writings on Japanese culture/his experiences in Japan, and his editions of folklore. There are many versions of Japanese stories that he wrote down which would not have been saved in the modern age without him as many weren't written down just passed down through the generations. His folklore collections are great reading!

[RodCornholio]

How Japanese women walk when they see me, but never towards me.

[hendrikmoons]

wooden slippers + kimono (very movement restrictive clothing) = this walking style
Western shoes/boots + pair of pants = walking style that alowes your entire leg to move

[darksidemachining]

This style of walking is a condensed version of the mid-foot and/or fore-foot ground contact running styles of the best long distance runners in the world.

[mjohnny]

We all walked like that when we were kids begging Mom we want those cookies or cereal then Mom says no then comes the walk .

[collin]

I am an American Kendoka, and found this to be really insightful for my training. In kendo we shuffle and have a similar if not slightly more exaggerated shifting of our weight forward. Its quite efficient, and you can make quicker adjustments mid stride because your feet are closer to the ground. This makes even more sense if this was also a method for walking in general life. Its hard sometimes being so removed from Japan when trying to learn Kendo, and often feels like we're missing bits and pieces of common information learned in Japanese childhood/daily life. Never the less, Kendo is amazing, and I can't imagine myself stopping. Thanks for the awesome video 👍