Waraji: Straw Sandals Tied to the Foot with Cords
Waraji are straw sandals without a heel: they were woven from rice straw, and cords were threaded through loops on the sides and tied around the ankle. It is this cord that distinguishes waraji from zori — the foot is secured and does not slip off while walking, which is why travelers, pilgrims, and warriors wore waraji for centuries on long journeys. Today they are rarely worn: by monks, at festivals, and in reenactments.
Waraji are often confused with geta and zori, though they are a third, separate type of Japanese footwear — with their own cord, a history of long roads, and even their own kanji. The character 鞋 is rarely seen outside this word, and on the left it has the radical for "leather," even though the sandal itself is woven from straw. Let's look at how waraji are made, who wore them, and where this footwear can be seen today.
What Waraji Are: A Woven Sole and Cords Around the Ankle
Waraji are woven from rice straw, and what distinguishes them from zori is the cord: it is threaded through loops along the edges of the sole and tied around the ankle. Because of this cord, the foot in waraji is held firmly and does not slip off while walking, even when running or on a slippery road.
Zori — Simplified Waraji Without the Cord
Japanese sources directly link these two types of footwear: zori appeared as a simpler version of waraji, when the cord around the ankle was removed and only a short strap between the toes was left. So waraji are not a relative of zori, but essentially their earlier and more secure form.
The Road: Who Wore Waraji and How Quickly They Wore Out
Waraji were worn by travelers on the highways, pilgrims, monks, and warriors — anyone facing a long journey on foot, not a short stroll down the street. The straw sole wore out quickly, and sources do not give exact wear times: in some places they were woven on the road, in others bought from local craftsmen, but no general price for the road can be given — it depended on the region and the era.
"You Can't Wear Two Pairs of Waraji at Once"
The idiom 二足の草鞋を履く, literally "to wear two pairs of waraji at once," means to combine two dissimilar occupations at the same time. Originally the expression was negative — "you can't wear two pairs of waraji at once" — and emphasized that the task was almost impossible, and only later became a neutral description of moonlighting.
Where Waraji Can Be Seen Today
In everyday life waraji have long since ceased to be worn, but they have not become museum pieces. They are worn by monks, participants in festivals and historical reenactments, and enthusiasts of sawa-nobori — wading upstream along a mountain river — still buy waraji in outdoor equipment stores: the flexible woven sole holds well on wet, mossy stones.
Giant Waraji at the Temple Gate
At the Nio gate of Tokyo's Senso-ji Temple hangs a giant straw waraji, and the temple itself explains it this way: an evil spirit sees how large the footwear of the gate guardian is, becomes frightened, and leaves. The current sandal is 4.5 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide, weighing 500 kilograms — it took two and a half tons of straw. It was donated in October 2018 by the residents of Murayama in Yamagata Prefecture, and this is already the eighth offering since 1941.
鞋 — A Rare Character That Encodes the Word "Waraji"
鞋 — значение: straw sandal, footwear — онъёми: アイ、カイ — кунъёми: わらじ、くつ — 15 штрих(ов). 鞋 is a rare character: in the dictionary it has the kun reading "waraji" right away, and on the left is the radical 革, "leather," even though the sandal itself is woven from straw, not leather.
The on readings of the character are ai and kai, the kun reading is waraji. The fact that the kun reading directly matches the whole word "waraji," rather than a short verb or a general concept, is rare for a single character: usually kun readings are shorter and more abstract.
草履 and 草鞋: The Same Grass, Different Words
草履 (zori) and 草鞋 (waraji) begin with the same character 草, "grass," but are read completely differently. The second characters — 履 "footwear, to wear on the feet" and 鞋 "sandal" — are read as ri and waraji independently of each other, so the general meaning of the words is easier to guess than the pronunciation.
| Japanese | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 草鞋 | waraji · waraji | Waraji, straw sandals |
| 草履 | zōri · zōri | Zori, flat sandals |
| 二足の草鞋 | nisoku no waraji · nisoku no waraji | To combine two different occupations |
Write 鞋 along the guides — a rare character that is read entirely as "waraji."
FAQ
- What are waraji?
- Waraji are sandals woven from rice straw, with cords along the edges of the sole: they are threaded through loops and tied around the ankle. It is this cord that distinguishes waraji from zori — the foot is secured and does not slip off while walking.
- How do waraji differ from zori?
- Waraji have a cord that ties the foot to the sole around the ankle, while zori have only a short strap between the toes. Japanese sources directly call zori a simplified version of waraji, from which this cord was removed.
- What were waraji woven from?
- Waraji were woven from rice straw — a cheap but short-lived material. Sources do not give exact wear times, only the general observation that the sole wore out quickly and had to be replaced often on the road.
- Why are waraji tied to the foot?
- The cord around the ankle holds the sandal firmly on the foot even when walking quickly, running, or on a slippery road — something a single short strap between the toes, as on zori, cannot do. For travelers and pilgrims on a long journey, this was more important than any formality.
- Are waraji worn today?
- In daily life, almost not, but waraji have not disappeared entirely. They are worn by monks, participants in festivals and historical reenactments, as well as enthusiasts of sawa-nobori — climbing upstream along a mountain river, where the flexible woven sole holds on wet stones better than ordinary footwear.
Sources
Updated: 2026-09-21