mizutori creates modern Japanese wooden sandals (geta) designed for comfort and everyday wear.
What Is mizutori?
Episode 51
What If I Hadn’t Grown Up in a Geta Workshop?
I was born into a family that ran a local footwear workshop,
and grew up watching this work happen around me every day.
Today,
I find myself
carrying on the family business
as the third generation.
And yet,
every now and then,
I find myself wondering something.
If I had grown up
in a completely different environment,
would I still be wearing geta in my daily life?
The truth is,
I grew up in an environment
where wearing geta simply felt natural.
My family wore them,
the workshop was part of everyday life,
and scenes of geta being made
were always close by.
So perhaps,
without hesitation or even questioning it,
I simply grew up wearing them.
For generations,
our family has been devoted
to creating comfortable footwear.
And somewhere along the way,
without even realizing it,
I naturally came to feel
that I wanted more people
to experience the comfort of mizutori’s geta.
But if my life
had taken a completely different path—
Would I have cared this deeply
about footwear?
Would I have become this interested
in geta?
Honestly,
I do not think I can know the answer.
And perhaps because of that,
I often think about something else.
If someone had no feelings toward geta at all—
or more than that,
if “geta” had simply never crossed their mind before—
how would they ever become interested in them?
Without a chance encounter,
perhaps they would never find their way
to mizutori at all.
That encounter might happen
at a department store event.
Or perhaps
through something they happened to see
on social media.
It might come through a recommendation from someone.
Everyone has
their own moment of discovery.
Sometimes customers tell us
how they first came across mizutori,
and what led them
to eventually choose a pair.
One story in particular
left a strong impression on me.
Someone once told us
that while traveling,
they happened to notice a person wearing mizutori geta.
They found themselves wondering,
“I wonder where those geta are from.”
And they later searched for us.
Hearing that,
I felt something beyond surprise—
I was genuinely moved.
There are encounters like that too.
And there is one more thing
that I find especially interesting.
Many people do not purchase immediately
after first discovering us.
Instead,
they often take years before deciding.
Some say,
“I thought about it for two or three years.”
Others tell us,
“I’ve been interested for ten years,
and finally bought my first pair this year.”
Every time I hear stories like these,
I’m reminded that for many people,
geta are still considered something special.
Perhaps helping shorten that distance,
little by little,
is one of the keys
to making them feel more naturally part of everyday life.
That is why
we hope to continue sharing our story
in many different ways.
And the voices of our customers
are important discoveries
that help mizutori continue to grow.
How did you first come across us?
What made you choose mizutori?
Stories like these, too,
are treasures to us.
We recently added a review feature
to our online shop as well,
so if you feel inclined,
we would truly love to hear
your honest thoughts and experiences.
