In August 2009, China Central Television aired an informative segment titled “Geta essential to traditional Japanese dress.” Click the image to play — opens in a new window.
Although the ad shown at the beginning is in Chinese, the main narration is in English.
A few articles ago, I reviewed a pair of woman’s Chinese Manchu-era pedestal shoes. The site they were purchased from, stylishcn.com, also has men’s Chinese opera boots. The boots are about as colorful and fancy as the gaudiest American cowboy boots, were relatively inexpensive, and look great on the shelf next to the red Manchu [...]
This pair of shoes is from China, not Japan.
The Chinese used to bind young girls’ feet tightly with cloth strips so their feet would remain small. These small feet, known as lily feet, were sometimes as small as 3 inches long and men considered them very erotic. In your webmaster’s opinion these are feet that [...]
Sorry for the long absence…
This well produced video was made at the Gujo Odori dance festival in Gujo Hachiman city in Gifu Prefecture. Starting at about 2:00 you can watch the straps being attached to a pair of geta. I’ve seen it done a dozen times, and I still can’t tie the knots correctly.
Thanks to [...]
Developing a good sense of balance, is apparently considered important in Japan. Many Japanese elementary schools teach unicycle riding. The one tooth “tengu” geta in the photo were spotted on a toy company’s web site and are marketed to schools. There’s a choice of heights: 5, 10, and 15 cm (2, 4, 6 inches).
The child [...]
Cookie jar out of reach?
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Put on your geta.
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Robot cookie jar courtesy of Gerree H. T.