View source for Waraji

{{Short description|Tie-on Japanese straw sandals}}
{{Italic title}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2019}}
[[File:Waraji.jpg|alt=|thumb|{{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} over indigo-blue {{Transliteration|ja|[[tabi]]}}, the sock colour digitally altered for clarity]]
[[File:STRAW SANDALS. (1910) - illustration - page 128.png|thumb]]
[[File:Sandals, pair (AM 15832-3).jpg|thumb|Similar four- and six-warp Chinese sandals, c. 1930 ([[:Commons:Category:Circa 1930 Chinese sandals AM 15832|other views]])]]

{{Nihongo||[[Wiktionary:草鞋|{{Ruby-ja|草鞋|わらじ}}]]|'''Waraji'''}} ({{IPA|ja|w̜aɺadʑi}}) are light tie-on [[sandal (footwear)|sandals]], made from  [[ropemaking]] fibers (usually [[straw]]), that were the standard footwear of the common people in Japan.<ref name=V&A/>
{{Italic title}}

==Use==
[[File:Samurai putting on waraji (sandals).png|thumb|left|Samurai donning {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}}]]

{{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} resemble other forms of traditional Japanese footwear, such as [[zori]] and [[geta (footwear)|geta]], with a few key differences. They were historically the simplest form of outdoor footwear (sandals of any type were not worn indoors).<ref name=V&A/> {{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}}, due to their cheap and rustic nature, are considered to be a very informal type of footwear, and are not worn with formal [[kimono]]. They are typically worn with {{Transliteration|ja|[[tabi]]}} socks, and are woven so that the wearer's toes generally protrude slightly over the edge of the shoe.<ref name="live"/><ref name=V&A/>

{{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} were once common footwear in Japan. There are records of {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} in the [[Heian period]] (794–1185 CE), with the possibility of {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} having existed before this time.<ref name=Zen>{{cite web |title=曹洞宗 Sōtōshū: Zen Monastic Robes |url=https://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/ruha.html |website=terebess.hu}}</ref> In the [[Edo period]] (1603–1867 CE), geta were worn in cities, but anyone making a long journey wore {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}}.<ref name="sponsored">{{cite web |last1=Schonherr |first1=Johannes |title=Fukushima Waraji Festival |url=https://www.japanvisitor.com/japanese-festivals/waraji}} (sponsored article)</ref>{{better source needed|date=June 2021}} They were also worn for energetic or prolonged labour.<ref name=V&A/> Their light weight and grip were valued.<ref name="nipponia"/>

In modern-day Japan, {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} are worn by Buddhist monks,<ref name="live">{{cite web |title=Japan's Traditional Footwear {{!}} LIVE JAPAN travel guide |url=https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0000942/ |website=LIVE JAPAN |language=en}}</ref> and by some fishers of mountain streams.<ref name="nipponia"/> Zori and geta are worn far more commonly by the general population.

==Construction==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="240">
File:Home Made Shoes in Japan (1914-09 by Elstner Hilton) (borders cropped).jpg|{{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} were traditionally made in the home, as shown here (September 1914). Note twine [[warp (weaving)|warp]], held between hands and toes, and loose-fiber [[weft]], to his right.
File:Zori sandals instructions.jpg|Pictorial instructions on how to weave zōri (similar to {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}}) in [[Hida Minzoku Mura Folk Village]]; most Japanese no longer regularly make {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}}.
File:大祭 人足衆 草履 (3521710144) (cropped).jpg|These rough festival zōri were made like the instructions, but the straps were wrapped in fabric before they are twisted together.{{efn|The cloth-wrapped straps make them {{nihongo3|cloth zori|{{Ruby-ja|服草履|ふくぞうり}}|fuku-zōri}}<ref name=V&A/>}}
</gallery>

In constant use, rice-straw {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} only last three or four days,<ref name=Zen/> or roughly 24 hours of active use<ref name=V&A/> and so people would have to make about a hundred pairs a year, on average, if they wore them constantly. As {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} could be homemade from cheap materials, and many people learned how to make them in childhood, that was not a problem.<ref name=Zen/> {{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} could also be cheaply bought. Travellers carried a supply and discarded them when they were worn out.<ref name=V&A/>

==Materials==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Waraji on tatami.jpg|{{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} woven entirely from rice straw (somewhat finer straw, and more tightly packed, than the festival zori above)
File:Waraji 1.JPG|{{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} with two different-coloured fibers for the [[warp (weaving)|warp]] and [[weft]]. Side loops are made from the outer warps of the opposite side; each is woven as a weft across, made into a side loop, and woven back again, trapping the loop
File:Kuro-Shozoku-Ninja-Costume-at-Iga-Ninja-Museum (cropped to waraji).png|Finely-woven {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} from a museum exhibit at the [[Ninja Museum of Igaryu]], showing multiple fibers, [[indigo dye]], and loops secured with [[Whipping knot|whipping]]
File:The Former Residence of Tada Eikichi akau 001.jpg|From the heel end.
</gallery>

Rice straw is the common and traditional material for weaving {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}}.<ref name="live"/> Long straw (not broken by the processing methods) must be beaten to soften the fibers before use.<ref name=pollard>{{cite web |last1=Pollard |first1=Jenna M. |title=Tezukuri Zouri |url=https://jennampollard.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/tezukuri-zouri/ |website=In Pursuit of the Good Life |language=en |date=2012-03-18}}</ref> Most other [[ropemaking]] fibers can also be used, such as [[cotton]], [[hemp]], [[palm fiber]]s, or even strips of rag.<ref name="live"/><ref name=pollard/> The straps of the {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} might be covered, often with paper.<ref name=V&A/> Cardboard soles are used on some modern commercial designs.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cardboard Creations: Arty, eco-friendly Kami-waraji cardboard sandals |url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2020/09/05/style/kami-waraji-cardboard-sandals/ |website=The Japan Times |date=2020-09-05}}</ref>

===Tying===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="170">
File:Kyoto Gion Matsuri J09 130.jpg|These {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} are made as in the instructions above, but two small loops are woven on each side (instead of one big foot-crossing loop), and the leftover-warp loops at the heel are retained. A separate rope is then woven through these loops to attach the {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} to the foot.
File:Kyoto Gion Matsuri J09 129.jpg|A method of tying the {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} without a fastening around the ankle ([[Gion Matsuri]], 2009)
File:Jidai Matsuri 2009 466.jpg|Another more complex tying variation; the leftover heel loops are drawn through the rear set of side loops, with a separate piece of rope threaded between them. ([[Jidai Matsuri]], 2009)
File:20111023 Jidai 0012 (cropped to first pair of waraji).jpg|Another tying variation, worn over {{Transliteration|ja|tabi}}
</gallery>

There are a number of different ways of tying {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} straps; even historically, there was no standardised method of attaching the shoes to one's feet.

==Ceremonial use==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Waraji by mrhayata in Kyoto.jpg|{{Transliteration|ja|Waraji}} hung as offerings in Kyoto
File:Waraji-1.jpg|A giant {{Transliteration|ja|o-waraji}} in [[Asakusa Temple]], Tokyo
File:Gyoja wearing a renge-gasa.jpg|A pilgrim performing {{Transliteration|ja|[[kaihōgyō]]}} laces {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} over {{Transliteration|ja|tabi}}, 1954
File:Waraji on Hiei Mountain, next to Enryaku-ji Kyōin.jpg|The worn-out {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} of monks who have completed the {{Transliteration|ja|kaihōgyō}}, 2009
File:Nakiri-jinja(Mie) 08.JPG|An {{Transliteration|ja|o-waraji}} is carried into the sea at a {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} festival, [[Nakiri-jinja]], 2006
File:金網 (5581030058).jpg|Straw- and rag-woven sandals hung as offerings
</gallery>

Traditionally, {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} were donated to temples as offerings for healthy feet and protection on journeys.<ref name="tfwt"/> This practice, while now less common, is still followed.<ref name=Zen/> More modernly, giant {{Transliteration|ja|waraji}} ({{Transliteration|ja|'o-waraji'}}) kept in temples are touched as a charm for tireless endurance in walking.<ref name="tfwt">{{cite web |last1=Asakusa |title=Brand-new "O-waraji" at Senso-ji Temple (October 28, 2018) │ Tokyo Free Walking Tour |url=https://tfwt.jp/brand-new-o-waraji-at-senso-ji-temple-october-28-2018/ |publisher=Tokyo Free Walking Tours |date=2018-10-29}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of shoe styles]]
* [[Bast shoe]], similar [[Baltic region|Northeastern European]] shoe
* [[Geta (footwear)|Geta]], traditional Japanese wooden clogs
* [[Huarache (shoe)]], traditional Mexican sandals constructed from woven strips of leather
* {{Transliteration|ja|[[Jika-tabi]]}}, traditional Japanese split-toe workboots
* ''[[Jipsin]]'' and [[Mit'uri|''mit'uri'']], similar Korean shoes
* {{Transliteration|ja|[[Okobo]]}}, traditional Japanese wooden platform clogs
* {{Transliteration|ja|[[Tabi]]}}, traditional Japanese split-toe socks
* [[Zori]], traditional Japanese sandals

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=V&A>{{Cite book|last=Koop |first=Albert J. |date=1919–1920 |title=Guide to the Japanese Textiles |url=https://archive.org/details/guidetojapaneset02vict |volume=2: ''Costume'' |location=London |publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Textiles; printed under the authority of H. M. Stationery Office |lccn=21010147 |oclc=3080284 |quote=[from volume 2, page 8] The simplest form of outdoor footwear is the waraji, a sandal of coarse rice-straw, some what shorter than the foot, to which it is firmly tied by means of two straw laces (often covered with white paper). These laces issue from between the first and second toes and pass in turn through a couple of loops at each side, up over the foot, through the loop which forms a heel-piece, and back again to be tied over the instep. The waraji are used by men for energetic and long-continued work, travelling, etc. Their length of life is only about twenty-four hours, but they are very cheap (about a farthing a pair) and supplies of them are carried by travellers and thrown away when worn out...{{pb}}For ordinary use, such as leisurely walking on hard, dry ground, the zōri is employed. This is a sandal of fine rice-straw matting and normally has no separate sole. But varieties of it, made of woven rushes of various kinds or of bamboo-sheath, are commonly soled with coiled hemp-rope (asaura-zōri), with wistaria-stems, (fujiura-zōri), or with wood in lateral sections (zōri-geta or itatsuke-zōri). A superior variety, known as setta, has a raw-hide sole with ''(sic)'' iron heel-piece.{{pb}}The zōri is kept on by means of two thick soft cords (hanao) of twisted cotton or paper, covered with leather or cloth, issuing from each side near the heel and uniting with a short, thinner piece which passes between, and is gripped by, the first and second toes. Rush zōri with very thick tapering cords of straw-rope covered with white paper or cotton are known as fuku-zōri. In modern times the hanao do not come so far back as in former days; the sandal itself is also a little shorter, instead of being slightly longer, than the foot (translator did not translate the full book text, but from the acknowledgements of vol 1 it sounds as if some of his translations might be incorporated into the work. Volume 1 came out in 1919, volume 2 in 1920. Note the work is in the [[public domain]], therefore the [[:File:Guide to Japanese Textiles, Part II.pdf|fulltext]] is not copyright)}}</ref>
<ref name="nipponia">{{cite journal |editor1-last=Jun-ichi |editor1-first=Ishikawa |title=Traditional Footwear |journal=Nipponia |date=June 15, 2002 |number=21 |url=https://web-japan.org/nipponia/nipponia21/en/topic/index02.html |access-date=8 June 2021 |publisher=Tokyo Inshokan Printing Co., Ltd.}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Waraji}}

{{Footwear}}
{{Japanese clothing}}
{{Japanese (samurai) weapons, armour and equipment}}

[[Category:Folk footwear]]
[[Category:Japanese footwear]]
[[Category:Japanese words and phrases]]
[[Category:Samurai clothing]]
[[Category:Sandals]]
[[Category:Straw objects]]
[[Category:Weaving]]