Osaka Jika Tabi

_{First of all, yes, I am aware that is not how one would usually handle a shinai, but it was meant to serve as hardly more than a simple visual element in this shot. I actually just got the pose from a certain toy in which the featured character was holding a sword in a similar way.}

I used to have a pair of traditional tabi, but they were just plain black. I was really excited about the tabi from Japonista Sole because apart from the range of colors, the shoes featured a pattern similar to ones one might find on kimono/yukata. It was just such a fascinating mix of traditional and contemporary. I showed them to my friends, and we were all pretty much spazzing over the shoes online, and before we knew it, the six of us were wearing our new tabi.

On one overcast and partially rainy day, we had a shoot mainly just for fun. Six of us have these shoes, but in different colors and designs. So we just sort of came up with outfits and character ideas inspired by the design of our shoes, and we dressed up as such to do a little photography practice. I for one am feeling very rusty.

So this is my yellow-themed outfit, photographed by Kat , who was a red ninja schoolgirl thingie which I'll also share in later posts. I guess we were sort of playing on our memories of the Power Rangers and how you could always tell which ranger was which because even their street clothes were color-coded.

As part of my outfit, I wore my "Be Formless, Shapeless..." Bruce Lee-inspired shirt designed by my buddy *zerobriant


For those who may be wondering:

The Osaka Jika Tabi shoes (and other designs) are available for order from Japonista Sole [link]

If you want the shirt, it's over at Design By Humans [link]