3-053-497 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in Japan, by our special artist: the first pair of boots, 1873. Scene in Osaka, '...characteristic of the present era of change in Japan. It was a Japanese trying on his first pair of boots...A foot that has never had a shoe on it has the toes spreading outward like a fan. All Europeans have their toes squeezed upon one another in proportion to the tightness of the boots they may have worn. This will convey an idea of the struggle a Japanese has to get on his first pair of boots, and the pain he must have in his toes till he gets accustomed to them. Japanese shoes - I mean those formerly worn - ought rather to be called clogs or pattens. They are of wood, and made to raise the feet about two or three inches above the ground...stockings...only reach to the ankles, and have a separate space for the big toe; this admits the straps...which pass up between the big toe and the one next to it. The strap divides, one part going behind on each side of the foot, and by this simple means the clog is held on. It will be seen from this that the toes..have not been..confined. The Illustration shows the change which is taking place, and one may easily prophesy the introduction of a new form of disease into Japan as a result; corns are a certainty'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.