Maybe they don’t look like much, but these shoes are actually only to be worn on special occasions.

“Japanese Ki-gûtsû, wooden clogs. Given to me February 24th 1958 by Dr. Shinji Suzuki, Tokyo. Big black polished shoes with a flat bottom. Used by the Shintô-priests, but only at parties and ceremonies. Stored in “Shintô shrines”. These were used by Suzuki’s brother-in-law Masazane Kanoo, Chiba Prefecture. The Shintô priests always use tabis (socks) in the Ki-gûtsee (normal people only use tabis in the getas (another type of shoe) at formal meetings), but even then it takes a lot of technical skill to balance in the getas.” – Søren L. Tuxen

Check out our blog post next Monday to learn more about the Japanese geta shoes. You can also check out this post to read more about Tuxen’s shoe collection.

// Emma Louise Pedersen

Photo: © 2007 Photo/Media Department of Moesgaard Museum.

Byline portrait: © 2015 Line Beck, lbmfotografi.wix.com