NoaIzumiAnime Classroom: Geta
May 6th 2009 22:38
Anime, educational? Sure! There’s all kinds of good stuff you can learn from these Japanese cartoons.
Geta are basically platform clogs. They’re relatively rare even in Japan these days, having been more common in older times. Geta are essentially wooden sandals with two supporting “teeth” (or ha) underneath. The teeth are usually fairly short, only a couple of inches tall, but some geta are six inches high or more. Walking in them requires a little practice, but wearers get used to them fairly quickly. The design of the geta was originally meant to raise people and their clothing above the ground when walking on dusty or muddy dirt roads. As paved roads came in, geta started going out, so today people wear them mainly only as novelties or for traditional costumes. With a bit of looking, you’ll probably find at least one person wearing geta at any Japanese festival. You can always tell a geta-wearer is around by the distinctive claking of the teeth as they hit the ground.
When an anime character is wearing geta in a modern setting, that’s often a signal that he is, in the words of Bill, “all about the old school”. A good example is Big Boss (or Bancho in Japanese) of Gatekeepers. He’s a bit disreputable, but very dependable. He dresses like a gang member, and you never see him without geta. And true to that image, he lives by the samurai ideals of honor, loyalty, and “the ways of a man”, and is especially protective of the female Gatekeepers.
Geta are kind of rare even in stories set in feudal Japan, but they are occasionally worn by Stan Sakai’s Usagi of Usagi Yojimbo, although he tends to prefer more conventional waraji sandals. Mugen of Samurai Champloo wears geta as well, but in his case it’s not just a fashion statement. His geta are reinforced with iron plates, and Mugen’s free-wheeling fighting style allows him to use them in blocking sword slashes. In the movie Princess Mononoke, the scheming priest, Jigo, wears very tall geta with only one tooth each (how he keeps from sinking into muddy ground, I have no idea). These are called tengu-geta.
Here's a website I found that has more information, including how to make your own geta.
http://japanesegeta.com/
Geta are basically platform clogs. They’re relatively rare even in Japan these days, having been more common in older times. Geta are essentially wooden sandals with two supporting “teeth” (or ha) underneath. The teeth are usually fairly short, only a couple of inches tall, but some geta are six inches high or more. Walking in them requires a little practice, but wearers get used to them fairly quickly. The design of the geta was originally meant to raise people and their clothing above the ground when walking on dusty or muddy dirt roads. As paved roads came in, geta started going out, so today people wear them mainly only as novelties or for traditional costumes. With a bit of looking, you’ll probably find at least one person wearing geta at any Japanese festival. You can always tell a geta-wearer is around by the distinctive claking of the teeth as they hit the ground.
Urahara-san from Bleach, wearing geta
When an anime character is wearing geta in a modern setting, that’s often a signal that he is, in the words of Bill, “all about the old school”. A good example is Big Boss (or Bancho in Japanese) of Gatekeepers. He’s a bit disreputable, but very dependable. He dresses like a gang member, and you never see him without geta. And true to that image, he lives by the samurai ideals of honor, loyalty, and “the ways of a man”, and is especially protective of the female Gatekeepers.
The Gatekeepers team, with Big Boss on the far right
Geta are kind of rare even in stories set in feudal Japan, but they are occasionally worn by Stan Sakai’s Usagi of Usagi Yojimbo, although he tends to prefer more conventional waraji sandals. Mugen of Samurai Champloo wears geta as well, but in his case it’s not just a fashion statement. His geta are reinforced with iron plates, and Mugen’s free-wheeling fighting style allows him to use them in blocking sword slashes. In the movie Princess Mononoke, the scheming priest, Jigo, wears very tall geta with only one tooth each (how he keeps from sinking into muddy ground, I have no idea). These are called tengu-geta.
Sword? Who needs a sword?
Here's a website I found that has more information, including how to make your own geta.
http://japanesegeta.com/
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