The image comes from a
photoessay at The Telegraph about a Japanese grandmother and her cat. I was curious about what appear to be her "toed" shoes. They reminded me of the
FiveFingers shoes marketed by Vibram, but I wondered if hers represented a continuation of some folk tradition, perhaps in some practical sense where dexterity of individual toes would be useful.
A quick search yielded a
Modern Mechanix article that showed Japanese marathoners wearing "mitten shoes":
A comment there suggested the design was an adaptation for those accustomed to wearing sandals in daily life. Now I'm wondering if the lady in the first photo is wearing socks or leggings indented by sandals that she has removed.
Not that any of this matters. Just curious. Some reader here will know (and perhaps can explain why she
bathes with fruit).
Photo credit: Miyoko Ihara / Rex Features
Addendum: Aha! In keeping with a long-standing tradition on this blog, no question I pose goes unanswered by the readership. This one lasted all of about 10 minutes. Reader Stella identified the lady's footwear as "
tabi":
Tabi (足袋?) are traditional Japanese socks. Ankle-high and with a separation between the big toe and other toes, they are worn by both men and women with zori, geta, and other traditional thonged footwear... In contrast to socks that, when pulled on, fit the foot snugly because
of their elastic weave, tabi are sewn from cloth cut to form.
This gives wearers tactile contact with the ground and lets them use
their feet more agilely than rigid-soled shoes allow: for instance,
people who traverse girders on construction sites like to know what is
under their feet, and craft practitioners such as carpenters and
gardeners additionally use their feet as if they were an extra pair of
hands, for example to hold objects in place.
Shown below are "antique Japanese (samurai)
armoured tabi" -
Now about those fruit in the bathtub...
Second addendum: Reader Becky Mulkey recognized the fruit:
Yuzu is also known for its characteristically strong aroma, and the oil from its skin is marketed as a fragrance. In Japan, bathing with yuzu on Tōji, the winter solstice, is a custom that dates to at least the early 18th century. Whole yuzu fruits are floated in the hot water of the bath, sometimes enclosed in a cloth bag, releasing their aroma. The fruit may also be cut in half, allowing the citrus juice to mingle with the bathwater. The yuzu bath, known commonly as yuzuyu, but also as yuzuburo, is said to guard against colds, treat the roughness of skin, warm the body, and relax the mind.
p.s. - the cat is not a "tabby."
Third addendum: Reposted to add this remarkable find by reader xcentric, from collections of the
Victoria and Albert, posted at the Smithsonian's
Threaded blog:
These socks were made in the 4th to 5th century, and were excavated in
Egypt at the end of the 19th century. They have a divided toe and are
designed to be worn with sandals.
The technique used for making these socks are commonly confused with
knitting. They were made in the technique nålbindning, sometimes called knotless netting or single needle knitting - a technique closer to
sewing than knitting. These socks were made using three-ply wool.
Notes from the Smithsonian:
The technique was frequently used for close-fitting garments for the
head, feet and hands because of its elastic qualities. Primarily from
prehistoric times, nålbindning came before the two-needle knitting that’s standard today; each needle was crafted from wood or bone that
was “flat, blunt and between 6 -10 cm long, relatively large-eyed at one
end or the eye is near the middle.”
If this pair of socks is unique in styling, then I suppose there would be another interpretation, not discussed at either the V&A or the Smithsonian - that these socks were custom-made for a high-ranking Egyptian person born with
ectrodactyly:
Ectrodactyly, involves the deficiency or absence of one or more
central digits of the hand or foot and is also known as split hand/split
foot malformation (SHFM).
The hands and feet of people with ectrodactyly are often described as
"claw-like" and may include only the thumb and one finger (usually
either the little finger, ring finger, or a syndactyly of the two) with similar abnormalities of the feet.
I once had a friend with ectrodactyly, but didn't know until writing this up that chess grand master
Mikhail Tal also had it.
