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Tabi: The shoe that became a sock and then a shoe again
- jaipilot747 4y agoI enjoyed learning about this, but did it really become a sock and then a shoe again? It sounds to me like several designs emerged at different stages from the same root idea, rather than a linear transition from one thing to the other.
- kizunajp 4y agoWell, few things in life actually take linear transitions. Ideas and experience gained from one thing often influence solutions in unrelated domains. Like I've written, the history of the tabi is long and complex, so it necessarily involves many changes and evolutions along the way.
- bonzini 4y agoAfter a shortage of leather, "Manufacturers switched to making tabis from cotton and other fabrics. And here is where the shoe started turning into a sock." Shojiro [...] "developed a new kind of tabi made of thick cotton and a rubber sole. They called this a jika-tabi (地下足袋) which loosely translates to “tabis that touch the ground”. This married their expertise in fabric tabis and their experiments with a material that was relatively new to Japan. And turned the sock turned back into a shoe." So basically the most common variation in different times changed depending on available materials and these days cotton tabis are used only as part of traditional dresses.
- kizunajp 4y ago> and these days cotton tabis are used only as part of traditional dresses. And in the construction industry - which I think is very unique to Japan. Don't know of any other country that doesn't use shoes. There are also newer entrants in the running shoes space, like the Toe-bi: https://www.kineyatabi.com/shop/tabi-running-shoes/toe-bi/ https://www.kineyatabi.com/shop/tabi-running-shoes/toe-bi/
- bonzini 4y agoMy reading of the article (and my understanding of the photo) is that construction workers use modern versions of the jika-tabis.
- throwawaaarrgh 4y agoUnrelated: Roofers in Australia started wearing an early tennis shoe that was cotton canvas with a sole that emulated a rubber tire. It became so popular they made a steel toed version. Only steel toed tennis shoe I know of. https://volley.com.au/products/safety-canvas-black-grey?variant=42344867692732 https://volley.com.au/products/safety-canvas-black-grey?vari... The regular ones are fantastic by the way. Very comfortable, insanely flexible and grippy. But they do tend to fall apart quickly. In AU they're very cheap, but more expensive for us.
- jaclaz 4y ago>Don't know of any other country that doesn't use shoes. Not only "shoes", they usually need to be conformant to local safety norms (EN ISO 20345 in Eu) that include a "hard point" (resistant to 200 joule or 20 kg falling from 1 meter height) and - usually - an anti-perforation layer underneath (those used in construction, at least here in Italy are either S1P or S3 type).
- lovemenot 4y agoCannot answer your historical question, but maybe I noticed something relevant today. I went out this morning with a couple of dozen Japanese to do a dragon dance (Ryūjin) around the local village. Exactly like this one[1] from 8 years ago. 80% of the dancers were wearing tabi. I figured out why. Upon re-entering the community centre from where festivities are organised, tabi-wearers could just wipe their feet and enter. The rest of us had to hold that dragon while simultaneously removing shoes and stacking them. Socially, tabi are the only acceptable in-and-out shoes/socks I have seen here. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSLQbSXFUY8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSLQbSXFUY8
- e12e 4y agoDo they not wear slippers over the tabi?
- ramchip 4y agoYeah, if we say the three stages are 1) leather (shoe), 2) cotton (sock), 3) cotton + rubber (shoe), then (1) is extinct but (2) and (3) both exist today.
- mongol 4y agoThe link about how he aborted the race is well worth reading. From Wikipedia: Kanakuri pulled out midway through the race and was cared for by a local family. Embarrassed from his "failure", he silently returned to Japan without notifying race officials. Although local newspapers at the time correctly reported that Kanakuri withdrew halfway through the race, the fact that Kanakuri had not officially reported back after doing so gave birth to humorous stories in Sweden about the supposedly lost Japanese runner. In 1967, he was contacted by Swedish Television and offered the opportunity to complete his run. He accepted and completed the marathon, remarking,"Kanaguri of Japan is now in the goal. Time, 54 years and 8 months 6 days 5 hours 32 minutes 20 seconds 3, which will end the entire schedule of the 5th Stockholm Olympic Games," was announced. He commented "It was a long trip. Along the way, I got married, had six children and 10 grandchildren."
- HPsquared 4y agoReminds me of the Japanese soldier found living on an island years after WW2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout
- bananatype 4y agoAh yes, Hiroo Onoda. He was adamant the war was still on, that his commanding officer had to be flown in to Sabang Island in Mindoro province (Philippines) just to give him his orders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroo_Onoda https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroo_Onoda
- CannisterFlux 4y agoThe part about the cost of a cheap straw shoe vs the longer lasting tabi reminded me of the Sam Vimes Boots Theory from the Pratchett novels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory
- jaipilot747 4y agoIt is expensive to be poor.
- bookofjoe 4y agoBoth in terms of money and time.
- jezzamon 4y agoI wonder how true this actually is now. I initially read this and believe it was accurate but I've come across two things that make we wonder about it now Specifically for clothes, the cost of "good quality" products could potentially be a lot more expensive, to the extent that the cost per wear is still better going with the cheap option and buying replacements more frequently. I only have one piece of anec-data which is a spreadsheet a coworker created to track this for themselves The other thing this would seem to imply is that the total spending increases at some people as income goes down, as they have to pay for more lower quality things, but what I saw a graph of spending vs income (which I can't find again after some searching) that doesn't hold up in the data. That could mean that they're compensating for high costs of some things by spending less in other areas, I guess.
- failrate 4y agoMore expensive clothing can also be repaired, while fast fashion products/cheap versions of clothing often cannot be adequately mended.
- justnotworthit 4y agoI wouldn't say that all cheap stuff is "bought twice" or is the worse long term value (living out of the clothes donation bin, for both rich and poor, is probably the best value as far as durability-to-cost). It's that the poor don't have the choice to buy the expensive stuff when it IS a better value.
- zabzonk 4y agoi think that Kumiko in "mona lisa overdrive" runs through a freezing London in rubber tabi. at the time of reading i thought - that is going to hurt. of course, we don't get many freezing days in london now.
- gregwebs 4y agoIf you are looking for a blend of sock and shoe: https://baresocks.com/ https://baresocks.com/ I have been absolutely loving wearing these in colder, drier weather. Its an extremely minimal shoe- feels like being barefoot, They are too warm for warmer weather and they absorb water is wet weather. I dealt with wet weather by using sealskinz waterproof socks. I bought two sizes: a smaller size for just my foot and a bigger size to accommodate socks.
- hutzlibu 4y agoThanks for the hint, there are also a couple of more expensive options, like https://www.getfyf.com/ https://www.getfyf.com/ Same principle, but with single toes. And then there are them: https://skinners.cc/en/ https://skinners.cc/en/ So far I have used none of them, but different Five Finger shoes extensivly. I can recommend the general principle much, if you enjoy barefeet running, but not cutting your feet open.
- e12e 4y ago> I can recommend the general principle much, if you enjoy barefeet running, but not cutting your feet open. I can also recommend Vibram five finger shoes for swimming where there are rocks or sharp shells or corals. They basically work like wetsuit feet with a great grip - and helps avoiding falls and cuts. Works both for summer and winter in my experience. Ed: or just for wading/ crossing streams.
- mateus1 4y agoI’d love to use them vibram. They’re not an option because i have minor syndactyly.
- hutzlibu 4y agoWell, I would love the vibrams to be custom cut to my feet, as well, because my toes are not standard size either (no feet truly is). Sometimes in fact, 2 toes get into one, but it is actually not too uncomfortable, so maybe it would still work for you? There are many different models, some would probably be better suited as they are more flexible and wider, but I have no idea about the current models.
- jp0d 4y agoTabis were part of my official uniform when I trained at a Bujinkan Ninjitsu school almost a decade ago. They were fun.
- jahnu 4y agoNit pick but fun trivia: the marathon distance wasn’t yet fixed at its current 42.195 km until 1924. While that distance had been used before, for the 1912 olympic marathon it was 40.2 km.
- gweinberg 4y agoWhat does splitting off the great toe get you? It seems like a needless complication.
- wlonkly 4y agoCompatibility with sandals and shoes (like geta) which have a strap between your great toe and the rest.
- wlonkly 4y agoOne thing I find interesting about traditional tabi is that they're cut and sewn, not knit as a tube. Socks with seams!