Sone no Yoshitada

One of my textbooks puts it quite clearly: 'Nothing is known of this writer, but he is said to have lived in the 10th century.' Another mentions: 'A minor official, but a unique poet.' And that seems to be about it. I feel a bit sorry for him, that at least a few more details of his life didn't survive as long as his poem ...

Although last month I told you that I was more interested in the poem than in the picture, I think this month it has to be the other way around. I like this guy. He does have an interesting face, even though his beard was somewhat troublesome to carve. But the thing that most attracted me to this illustration was ... his footwear.

Do you recognize what he is wearing? Many times in this series we have seen people wearing warazori, traditional straw sandals, but these look quite different. Now I'm not an expert on traditional Japanese footwear, so what I say next might actually be incorrect, but I think I know just what he is wearing, because I have many times worn the same thing. When my childrens' grandparents (the Japanese ones) were a bit younger, and still active on their farm, our family used to go and spend each summer with them. Grandma used to spend a lot of her time making warazori, and every year before we arrived in her village, she prepared a few pairs in a 'jumbo' size, especially for me. She was very good at it, and her zori were a real treat to wear, tightly woven and firm underfoot, nothing like the flimsy cheap stuff one sees in tourist outlets these days.

I wore them all summer long, and even continued to wear them each September after returning to Hamura. But of course, being made of straw, they were not particularly long-lived. Every year, with great regret, I would wear the final pair far beyond the point when they should really have been thrown away. The straw fibers making up the outside edge would one-by-one fray and come apart, and the neat shape of her sandals would end up looking like ... well, looking exactly like this illustration! I suppose in the Edo era, people were very familiar with such a sight, and Shunsho simply drew something that he saw every day ... But how many Japanese today would recognize this? I think not many.

Grandma no longer lives in the country, and is too old now to make zori, so I guess I'll never again be able to enjoy the feel of wearing such comfortable sandals, but this illustration did bring back many wonderful memories of those summers spent in the country. Does seeing these worn old sandals remind you of any such memories ...?

I hope you enjoy this print. Coming up next month, Sangi no Takamura.

August 1995