Although the ad shown at the beginning is in Chinese, the main narration is in English.

“Hello there. I sent you a mail last year about standing on Tengu Geta (link). Since then I
have moved to Japan and married.

Last month I climbed up Shichimenzan Mountain in Minobu and was suprised to find a shrine for Tengu at the first stop. I just had to get a shot of the monster geta they had on display as they blew me away. This is the biggest set of Tengu I have seen.

Please enjoy the photo and feel free to post it on your site if you want to.”

I wrote back and asked if he wore tengu geta for the climb and he replied, “Must admit that I did not climb in tengu but I am considering it for next year. The only issue is we climb in a group of 20 and if I break my ankle then I put a burden on the rest of the group, besides I left my tengu in London :(”

These boots are worn by male actors playing male roles in Chinese opera productions. The higher the rank of the part being portrayed, the higher the platform soles and the fancier the stitching. Stylishcn.com has them in red, yellow, and black. The yellow was so striking that for once I passed on red.

The soles are white painted wood with leather on the bottoms, about 6.5 cm (2 1/2 inches) thick, and surprising light-weight. The boot tops are about 38 cm (15 inches) high, and like geta, there is no left-right — either boot fits either foot. They’re comfortable, easy to walk on, and feel very stable in spite of their somewhat narrow, 7 cm (2 3/4 inches), bottoms.

So, if you ever have a yen (or maybe a yuan) to sing opera in Peking, you now know what shoes to wear.

If you send a comment and it doesn’t appear on the site within a couple days, please give me another chance — send the comment using the Contact Us form, and I’ll make sure it appears.

Your comments are welcomed and encouraged. Let’s make JapaneseGeta.com not only a place to read about the world of traditional Japanese footwear, but also a place to discuss it.

Recently, a search led me to a somewhat obscure landing page on their site — http://event.rakuten.co.jp/borderless/index_en.html. This page provides a translated search of merchandise from their merchants who will ship internationally.

Unfortunately, most of the ordering pages are still Japanese, with English guide pages giving instructions for filling out the various forms, also nearly all the Rakuten email was in Japanese and the email from the shop, Kimono-Kyoukomachi, was 100% Japanese. Needless to say, I put the order on a credit card that past experience has shown to have good problem support.

I searched “tengu geta” and was surprised to see this update of the traditional style. They’re available in 2 different colors of hanao — blue or gold on a light background, and with either a black or red tooth. I got the gold with (of course) the red tooth. Unfortunately, the only size is 24.2 cm — a bit small for many.

It took them about a week to quote the shipping and get the package underway. They sent it via DHL and it arrived in 3 days. Although DHL is no longer operating as a domestic shipper in the United States, they still have the infrastructure to deliver incoming international shipments.

The geta are smoothly finished, lightweight, and have rubber ends on the tooth and also rubber toe bumpers. The straps are very soft and thick giving a lot of latitude in fitting big and small feet. The finish seems very thick so any joins of separate wood pieces can’t be seen or felt — they could be a single piece of carved wood, or as many as 4 glued together parts. I’m not curious enough to scratch that nice finish just to find out.

The dimensions are 24.5 cm long x 10 cm wide x 10.5 cm high, and the tooth is 3 cm thick. In inches they’re 9 5/8 long x 4 wide x 4 1/8 high and 1 1/4 tooth thickness.

Being nearly 4 cm (1 1/2 inches) lower than my traditional tengu geta, they feel a bit more secure, but the slightly thinner tooth and looser strap make them just as hard to stand still upon.

If you’ve been thinking about getting a pair of one-tooth geta, but haven’t gotten them because you think unfinished paulownia is a bit “rough” looking, you’re going to have to think up another excuse now.

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Here’s my Saucony Jazz Originals, Dell Mini-9 Laptop, and Samsung mobile phone, and don’t forget the site’s theme and logo, and the Japanese flag.

I added a Red category so you can more easily follow my fancy.

Unfortunately, like most geta shops in Japan, they have a very limited selection of sizes. The size chart on their site shows conversions for up to 30 cm geta, but they don’t seem to have anything over about 26 cm, size L.

When you decide what you want and click “Purchase,” nothing seems to happen, certainly you are not asked for your credit card number or shipping address. Instead, within a day or two, you will receive a PayPal invoice with instructions to pay though PayPal.

Once you pay at PayPal, you’ll receive a shipping notice and your geta will arrive in a couple weeks.

Shipping to the United States (as of May 2009) is $10.80 per pair for SAL which is shipped air but on a space available basis, takes 2-3 weeks and has no tracking. The other choice is EMS for $20 per pair, it takes about a week and gives you a tracking number.

Personally, I’ve never had a problem using the cheaper SAL service.

The geta are paulownia wood so are lightweight, comfortable, and will wear well.

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 were very deformed, and far from attractive.

The women wore tiny intricately embroidered shoes.

When the Qing dynasty came to power in the Manchu district they outlawed foot binding. The women believed that unless their feet were small, they’d never be married. They found that by wearing regular shoes raised on a single central support, their feet looked small, and they were forced to walk with a gait similar to that of a bound foot woman.

Depending on local dialect and the shape of the shoe base, they were called pedestal, flower-pot, or horse hoof shoes.

The pair shown here are a modern reproduction and were purchased from StylishCN.com, click accessories to find them. The company doesn’t seem to stock the shoes, but they’ll make up a pair in your size, color, and embroidery preference. They are accomodating and responsive by email in good English.

The shoes shown came with blue pom-pom like tassels on the toes, but they were removed by the owner. They are reported to be a little easier to walk on than Tengu Geta, mostly because they’re lower but also because the ground contact area is large enough to be stable. These shoes are about 3 inches high, took about 5 weeks from order to delivery, and cost about $70. Like geta, there is no right and left distinction, either shoe fits either foot, though in time they tend to stretch and acquire a left-right symmetry.

StylishCN also has Chinese men’s opera boots, expect to see a pair reviewed in the coming month.

I teach how to buy and sell on eBay at a local night school. One problem that comes up occasionally is I have a student who does not want to use their credit card online. I suggest they call their credit card company and ask them what are the risks.

US law limits your liability for unauthorized use to $50 and many credit cards don’t even charge you that. I’ve been shopping online since 1995 and have not had a problem to date, and I’ve probably made over 500 purchases.

The rules for debit cards are different, please check with your bank for the details.

Ah, but what if you don’t have a credit card at all?

Here’s a few ideas:

• Some online companies will let you mail them a check or money order, but be aware, it’s much safer to give someone your credit card number than your checking account information
• You can buy a prepaid credit card. They are expensive to use because there are many fees, but it is a way to buy from almost any online merchant
• Our own JapaneseGetaShop.com is an Amazon aStore and this gives you a great way to buy without any fees, here’s how:
  • If you have a CoinStar machine nearby, you can buy an Amazon.com gift certificate through it with cash. Most CoinStar units can accept both coins and paper currency, and they can give you your counted money in the form of an Amazon.com certificate. They do not charge for counting if you get the certificate.
  • Find that perfect pair of geta and go far enough in the checkout process to find the total with shipping and possible sales tax
  • Put that much cash into your local CoinStar unit and buy an Amazon gift certificate
  • Go home and finish checking out and put in the certificate number as payment
  • Wait a week or so, and enjoy your new geta!