Geta Sandals

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Geta, Wooden Sandals, Clogs, 下駄
Straw sandals, see below.


source : www.gendaiya.co.jp/minigeta.htm

These nice little Mini-Geta have a Daruma as Decoration !
They are made from Kamakura-Bori, a kind of Laquer Art.

Look at them from the side here:
. Daruma Photo Album .

Read my full story about Kamakura Laquer Ware (kamakurabori)
. . . Kamakurabori


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Geta from Matsunaga Town,
Fukuyama City





©松永下駄工房 Matsunaga Geta Kobo
〒729-0104
広島県福山市松永町5-16-11


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Now let us take a look at the wooden clogs of Japan, the GETA.

だるま下駄パリの第４区にそのお店はあります。


There is a store in Paris in the 4th arrondissement, called DARUMA and selling geta!
http://www.maruara.com/mall/yume005.html

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Geta with only one "tooth" to balance on
一本歯の下駄


http://www.rakuten.co.jp/asakusa1393/485015/485061/#475757

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The mountain goblins, TENGU, also use huge geta to run around in the mountains. At some temples and shrines, you find offerings of huge geta from people with aching legs in quest for help.



These are from Hakone, Myoojin-ga-take 明神ヶ岳 道了尊和合下駄
http://hitosh.hp.infoseek.co.jp/yamakan/hakone/myouzingatake.html

On this link you can see the same geta in heavy snow and much more about this shrine.
http://www22.tok2.com/home2/shida/05rep/05227-162.jpg
http://www22.tok2.com/home2/shida/05rep/05227-myou.html

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Here is a page about a Tengu Temple Daijoo-Ji at Daiyuu-zan Mountain.
　大雄山最乗寺 の天狗の下駄



I used to visit there often and step on these large geta.
http://www.daiyuuzan.or.jp/
Click here 寺院建物紹介 to see some more of the buildings.


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During many Tengu festivals, these one-tooth geta are still used today.



Look at more pictures of a Tengu Festival in Shimokita.
http://wandering-wind.jp/archives/2005/0130123204.php

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Here is a museum about footwear in Japan.
日本はきもの博物館
They feature the biggest geta of Japan.



実はこれ「ゲタリンピック」という地元のお祭りで使われるんです。（縄を付けてこれをみんなで引っ張るんです）

Look at Japnese straw sandals and tabi too.
http://www.kimono-taizen.com/watch/epsd_12.htm

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An orchester of cats in front of the Huge Geta of Daikannon-Temple at Sakakibara Onsen.



猫のオーケストラ！それも巨大下駄の前で楽器を弾いているのだ。
「大観音寺」
http://toshi686-web.hp.infoseek.co.jp/tyousa/daikannon/


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Look at great pictures of a fire festivall in honour of Kurama Tengu.
Thanks to Wada san!
鞍馬の火祭り Kurama no Hi-Matsuri
http://wadaphoto.jp/japan/kurama2.htm


Here is my story about Tengu and Daruma
http://darumasan.blogspot.com/2004/11/tengu-and-daruma.html


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. . . . . . . . HAIKU


Day of the Geta, July 7.
This would be a lovely KIGO for Summer.

. . . . .


humanity kigo for mid-summer




tageta, ta-geta 田下駄 (たげた) geta for the fields
..... ooashi 大足（おおあし）"big feet"
shirofumigeta 代踏み下駄（しろふみげた）
geta to step into the rice paddies
mizugeta 水下駄（みずげた） "water geta"
to step into the wet rice fields

They were made of wood, with a larger bottom part to walk easier in the slippery mud fields. They were used when planting rice by hand in the wet paddies.


. Rice planting and related KIGO



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雪の朝二の字二の字の下駄の跡
yuki no asa ni no ji ni no ji no geta no ato

snowy morning -
footprints of wooden sandals
two lines, two lines again

Den Sutejo (1633-1698)
(Tr. Gabi Greve)


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cold winter day -
the back and front of
human nature

GETA by Gabi Greve




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. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


夏山に足駄を拝む首途かな
natsuyama ni ashida o ogamau kadode kana

in the summer mountains
praying before the clogs:
setting off

Matsuo Basho
Tr. Barnhill

An earlier version:

natsuyama ya kadode ni ogamu taka-ashida

summer mountains--
at departure praying
to the high clogs
Tr. Barnhill

Ad G. Blankestjin notes:
After Basho's timely visit to Unganji, the rains kept falling for several days. From the 6th to the 8th, he was not able to leave Choboji's house. On the 9th, however, he decided to go out in the rain and was taken to Komyoji, a shugendo temple in the fields on the east side of the town. This temple was famous for its Gyoja Hall, a hall dedicated to En no Gyoja, the legendary founder of the ascetic mountain Buddhism.

The 'ashida' mentioned in the poem (here translated as clogs) are a special kind of high geta, worn by those monks when practicing austerities. To make walking difficult, these geta had only one support instead of the normal two. The temple probably housed a statue of En no Gyoja wearing such high clogs.

Basho prays in front of them, wishing for strong feet and legs himself at the start of his long journey. Unfortunately, Komyoji was destroyed at the beginning of the Meiji period. The haiku stone stands forlorn in the high grass.
(Basho haiku stone)
(C) Ad G. Blankestjin



natsu no yo ya kodama ni akuru geta no oto




off the beaten path--
a prayer to the high clogs
standing in tall grass

Larry Bole, USA, April 2008


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下駄の痕残る渚や誓子の忌
geta no ato nokoru nagisa ya Seishi no ki

the imprints of geta
are still visible on the beach -
memorial day of Seishi

Kobayashi Seiha 小林青波

Yamaguchi Seishi 山口誓子



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Straw sandals, zoori 草履
one of the many necessities for a traveler in the Edo period.
waraji　草鞋　わらじ



zoori were made by all farmers, and many were made in the winter months, to be used in busy times. There were also peddlers for zoori in Edo (zooriya　草履屋), who sold their ware to travellers.

zooriya is also the name for a shop that sells sandals. Nowadays they are made of various materials.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !



大草履ひたりひたり村時雨
oo zoori hitari-hitari mura shigure

big straw sandals
pitter-patter...
hard winter rain

This haiku has an irregular middle phrase of six, not the usual seven, syllables: hitari-hitari. In the previous year (1823), Issa writes a similar haiku:

dooshin boo ya zoori hita-hita mura shigure

Priest Doshin's straw sandals pitter-patter...
hard winter rain

In both haiku the expression, mura shigure, signifies winter rain that passes through strongly and incessantly; Kogo dai jiten (Shogakukan 1983) 110; 1603.

Kobayashi Issa
Tr. Lanoue




門々の下駄の泥より春立ちぬ
かどかどのげたのどろよりはるたちぬ
kado kado no geta no doro yori haru tachinu

geta at the gate

. geta at the gate ...


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夏川を越す嬉しさよ手に草履
natsukawa o kosu ureshisa yo te ni zôri

so happy
to cross this summer river -
sandals in my hand

Yosa Buson (1715-1783)

Tr. Gabi Greve / Joy and Haiku


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New Year comes!
Daruma's worn sandals
replaced

Chibi


Look at the BIG SANDALS here !

Daruma carrying one sandal


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Snow-Clogged Geta
Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (1725-1770)


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. 幸福地蔵 Jizo for Good Luck .
He is the only Jizo wearing straw sandals in Japan.



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