2021. 3. 28.

History of sandals in Asia

Documents menu

Reply-To: H-Net list for Asian History and Culture <H-ASIA@h-

net.msu.edu>
Sender: H-Net list for Asian History and Culture <H-ASIA@h-
net.msu.edu>
From: Christiane Reinhold <[email protected]>
Subject: H-ASIA: Q. History of sandals in Asia
To: [email protected]

History of sandals in Asia

A dialog from the H-Asia list
June 1998

June 10, 1998

From: Edward Tenner <[email protected]>

I am a historian of technology and culture, affiliated with a

science department. My current research deals with everyday
objects an the human body, an extension of the anthropologist
Marcel Mauss's idea of body techniques (techniques du corps). I
have already written on the spread of chairs outside their
Mediterranean/Middle Eastern zone of origin, and would be
grateful for help now.

I'm interested in the rise of mass-produced footwear in Asia

after the Second World War, especially plastic sandals. Some
sources suggest that the key influence was the Japanese zori,
originally made with a straw sole and a leather thong held
between the first and second toes. Japanese soldiers improvised
these overseas, often from tire casings, as the Vietnamese
insurgents and many others later did.

There seem to be at least two critical changes. One is the rise of

new molding techniques for rubber and plastic in Taiwan and
www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/036.html 1/7
2021. 3. 28. History of sandals in Asia

elsewhere beginning in the 1950s. Today, most of the workers

who make running shoes cannot afford them; they wear plastic
sandals.

Apart from an article in the Kodansha encyclopedia there is little

in English or other European languages on the zori and other
traditional footwear, either in Japan or abroad. Because the
plastic footwear industry, though immense, is splintered into
thousands of producers worldwide, it is also rarely covered in
mainstream business periodicals or even the trade press.

Any suggestions of references and sources on Asian sandal

production, traditional and contemporary, their adoption in the
West, and indeed on the origins of Asian athletic shoe
manufacture would be deeply appreciated. I do not read Asian
languages but could find translators locally if high-quality
sources exist.

Many thanks,

Edward Tenner

Edward Tenner mail:

Department of Geosciences 4316 Hunters Glen Drive
Princeton University Plainsboro, NJ 08536-3911
Princeton, NJ 08536-3911 Telephone 609 716-0263
[email protected] Fax 609 799-9010

June 10, 1998

From: [email protected]

You might try contacting the Bata Shoe Organization, a large

worldwide company long prominent in Asia, for some
information, for example.

http://www.bata.com/

Anecdotally, I myself only really became a sandal wearer upon

living in Asia -- from simple plastic strapless types to genuine
leather pairs with straps.
www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/036.html 2/7
2021. 3. 28. History of sandals in Asia

Larry Ashmun
Asia Society

Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 17:43:44 -0400

From: Jordan Sand <[email protected]>

The Nihon fuuzokushi jiten (Encyclopedia of the History of

Japanese Manners and Customs) reports the wide use of zori
(sandals with a thong held between the toes) in Japan from at
least the Heian period (794-1185). It does not indicate whether
they were indigenous or imported. The modern Japanese
worker's zori is woven straw attached to a bicycle-tire sole,
typically with a cotton-covered rope thong. These may have
spread to other parts of Asia during the war, but I believe I have
seen zori-like sandals from Southeast Asia in a museum
predating Japanese colonization. They had a single post in the
front to be held between the first and second toes. Can a
Southeast Asian specialist enlighten us about these?

Jordan Sand
[email protected] Fax 609 799-9010

Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 05:23:36 -0400

From: [email protected]

May I be permitted some intuitive observations on this matter,

in hopes of stimulating further hypotheses?

I've noticed that all over India and Bangladesh "thongs" (plastic
or rubber) are the thong-between-big-toe-and-2d-toe type so
familiar to us all, which were copied from originally imported
thongs (sources?). Besides these, however, one finds in India and
Nepal variations on the wooden sandal with wooden post
between first and 2d toe, a style which is indigenous and very
old, judging by sculptures on temples, etc. I understood (correct
me if wrong) that these wooden ones were favored by Hindus
wishing not to contaminate themselves with leather, and also
wishing to observe traditional style.
www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/036.html 3/7
2021. 3. 28. History of sandals in Asia

(Footnote curiosity: When doing research in Bangladesh I

encountered a university faculty member who once asked me if I
could get him and his wife, both devout Muslims, pairs of those
Indian wooden sandals which they could wear during
preparations for namaz, so that they could maintain the purity
of their wazu before prayers. (Leather in their view was "out". I
don't know why plastic wouldn't do. I wish now I had asked
them more about it. They asked me because they knew I was
going to transit through India.)

A straw sandals I purchased in Nepal in 1978 however were

attractive flatbeds with a closed rounded toe, like a slipper. They
didn't last long.

In Calcutta, I found various Hindu Bengali intellectuals wearing

old style leather slippers with curled toes and mashed-down
heels (NOT however the Punjabi embroidered style).

So might it be that the flexible thong sandal or flip-flop (plastic

rubber or straw) is not indigenous to the subcontinent but
perhaps has a distribution beginning with southeast Asia and
moving all the way throughout east Asia? Whereas the closed
toe slipper type is more typical of the subcontinent except in
the case of the wooden "posted sandal", which is not flexible at
all.

The problem with this supposition is the Japanese geta: a high

wooden platform sandal. I've never seen a pair up close, so I
don't know how they fit to the feet, unless they share the
between-toed wooden post that the Hindu sandal has.

If so, then it would seem that between the tropical needs of

southern climes (heat and humidity) and invasions by slipper
wearing central asians-- south, southeast and east asia share a
variety of sandal styles. Determining the original appearance of
earlier (pre-plastic and rubber) styles might be a problem.

J Kirkpatrick

www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/036.html 4/7
2021. 3. 28. History of sandals in Asia

June 13, 1998

From: Roopa Unnikrishnan <[email protected]>

Hello,

I'm not sure this is of any help, but in common lore these days
it is believed that from the time of the 'Ramayana' slippers were
in use that were wooden pallets with a stalk in front that was
grasped between the big toe and second toe. There must be
references to it in the section of the Ramayana, that talk about
Lord Rama's brother Bharatha (?) placing Rama's slippers on the
throne, refusing to take over the empire that was rightfully
Rama's and symbolically suggesting Rama's continued rule.

June 14, 1998

From: [email protected]

I don't know anything about the historical evolution of Japanese

footwear, but in present day Japan, geta are held to the feet by
a flexible thong (sometimes rope, sometimes a thong covered in
a black velveteen kind of fabric) that goes through the base of
the sandal, up between the big toe and the second toe and
then the two ends go over the arch back toward the middle or
back of the foot (and the geta) where the thongs reconnect to
the wooden base. Same pattern is uses for other kinds of
Japanese sandals (e.g., zori) which are not platforms, but close
to the ground sandals. Zori are often (maybe almost always)
worn with tabi, which are generally white cotton foot coverings
that are close fitting (fasten up the back of the heel as far as the
ankle); tabi have a split toe, between the big toe and the other
four toes for the sandal thong. Geta, on the other hand, are
often worn barefoot.

Ted Bestor

June 14, 1998

From: [email protected]

www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/036.html 5/7
2021. 3. 28. History of sandals in Asia

Interesting tidbit -- during WWII, it was often hard for Japanese

authorities to distinguish Koreans from Japanese, since Koreans
living in Japan looked similar and could master Japanese
customs & language. However, since Japanese wore zoori, or
sandals, from a young age, the space between the big toe and
second toe was pronounced, so authorities could inspect bare
feet and easily diferentiate between Korean and Japanese.

Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 18:28:57 -0500

From: Gene Cooper <[email protected]>

It may be of some interest to those following this thread if I

report on my findings regarding the footwear of the Chinese in
America. Almost exlusively such folks wear leather shoes, women
often wear such footwear with elevated heals, which they believe
makes them look more sexy. Some people have characterized
this habit as a cultural survival of the native Chinese custom of
footbinding which was also supposed to give the women a sexy
gate, but the association may be spurious -- similar effects,
different causes. But otherwise the leather footwear worn by
Chinese American men is nothing like the sandals worn by the
Japanese. The leather shoe is constructed of an upper laced to a
last and a sole, with a tongue protruding upward toward the
instep. Remarkably all five toes are enclosed within the leather,
since the upper completely encloses the foot. Usually socks of
some kind are worn, presumably to make it easier for the foot
to slide into the shoe, but also to provide warmth in the winter.
Sometimes, (and this will kill ya') the entire shoe is enclosed in a
rubber or plastic boot to prevent the leather from getting wet
during rainy or snowy days (usually encountered in the northern
climes of the country). I'm still in the midst of my research; I will
report more later as the results come in. Sorry, it's a fetish with
me.

Sincerely,

Gene Cooper

www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/036.html 6/7
2021. 3. 28. History of sandals in Asia

              

www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/50/036.html 7/7