Tabi: The shoe that became a sock and then a shoe again

[mongol]

The 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]

Reminds me of the Japanese soldier found living on an island years after WW2. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout

[CannisterFlux]

The 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

[jaipilot747]

It is expensive to be poor.

[gregwebs]

If you are looking for a blend of sock and shoe: 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]

Thanks for the hint, there are also a couple of more expensive options, like https://www.getfyf.com/

Same principle, but with single toes.

And then there are them:

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.

[pedalpete]

I've been considering these for bouldering, if anybody has tried that, please let me know.

I am aware that climbing shoes are designed to be stiff to give you support, but I'm wondering if I can strengthen my feet enough and use something like this?

[twic]

Do you wear the Baresocks with or without socks? Either way, how often do you wash them?

[arcanemachiner]

I got some minimalist shoes on Amazon's that are somewhat similar. They're like a cheaper version of Vibram FiveFingers.

[hotpockets]

I got a cheap version on Amazon (like 10 bucks) last summer. they are great.

[germinalphrase]

Do they slide around on your feet like standard socks would?

[abandonliberty]

Do the sealskins work if you have really sweaty feet?

[jaipilot747]

I 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.

[lovemenot]

Cannot 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

[bonzini]

After 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]

Well, 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.

[ramchip]

Yeah, 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.

[jp0d]

Tabis were part of my official uniform when I trained at a Bujinkan Ninjitsu school almost a decade ago. They were fun.

[jahnu]

Nit 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.

[zabzonk]

i 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.

[gweinberg]

What does splitting off the great toe get you? It seems like a needless complication.

[wlonkly]

Compatibility with sandals and shoes (like geta) which have a strap between your great toe and the rest.

[wlonkly]

One thing I find interesting about traditional tabi is that they're cut and sewn, not knit as a tube. Socks with seams!