mizutori creates modern Japanese wooden sandals (geta) designed for comfort and everyday wear.
What Is mizutori?
Episode 64
“Something beyond geta.”
Those words
have been coming to mind
every now and then
for quite some time.
We make geta,
and yet I find myself thinking
about something beyond geta.
It sounds a little strange,
doesn’t it?
But when I look back
at the history of Mizutori Industry,
perhaps it isn’t
so strange after all.
Our company began
by working with
the unfinished wooden bases
used to make geta.
Then,
as times changed,
we moved into producing insoles
for sandals and shoes.
And today,
we make and sell mizutori geta.
Footwear has always been
at the heart of what we do.
But with each new era,
we have looked
for what we could do,
and gradually changed
the shape of our work
along the way.
As the world changes,
what people need
changes too.
So even as I continue
the work we do today,
I am always thinking
about what might come next.
It has been
more than thirty years
since mizutori began making
geta in the form
we know today.
Thankfully,
we now have many customers
who have been wearing our geta
for years,
and new people
are still discovering mizutori.
And yet,
I still find myself wondering,
“What should come
after these geta?”
That said,
there really isn’t much
we know how to do
besides making footwear.
As for me personally,
I used to be
a hairstylist,
so perhaps I could
still cut hair...
Although,
after all these years,
I’m not so sure
I should make that claim.
Actually,
before I decided
to take over
the family business,
I had another plan.
I was going to turn
part of my family home
into a small hair salon
and spend my days
working there
at my own pace.
But life had
other plans for me.
That salon
never came to be.
And the space
that was supposed
to become my salon
is now
the mizutori gallery.
It is part of
an old wooden house
that we renovated,
with exposed logs
stretching across the ceiling
and hinoki cypress
beneath your feet.
Sometimes I stand there
and wonder,
“What else
could we do here?”
Perhaps a workshop
where people design
their own geta.
Or maybe—
why not something
completely unrelated
to geta?
A cooking class
could be fun.
Once I start thinking,
one idea
leads to another.
Maybe it will be geta.
Maybe it won’t.
And whenever
my thoughts wander
in that direction,
I remember some words
we chose
more than ten years ago
as the vision
for Mizutori Industry:
“A global brand
that began with geta,
taking on new challenges
with free thinking
and a spirit of joy.”
To be honest,
back then,
even I didn’t fully understand
what we meant
by
“a brand that began with geta.”
But now,
little by little,
I think I’m beginning
to understand.
We can begin with geta
and go somewhere beyond them.
It doesn’t have
to be geta.
Of course,
it can be geta too.
What matters
is keeping
an open mind,
remembering
to enjoy what we do,
and reaching for
the small opportunities
that appear
in front of us.
To me,
that is exactly
what our company philosophy,
“Get a Chance,”
is all about.
What will
Mizutori Industry make
in the years ahead?
What kind of brand
will mizutori become?
I don’t know yet.
Part of me
still wonders
whether simply continuing
as we are
will be enough.
But alongside
that sense of urgency,
there is something else—
the excitement
of wondering,
“What could we do next?”
A small company
that began
with wooden bases for geta
went on
to make insoles,
then mizutori geta,
and now,
perhaps,
toward whatever
comes next.
Something
that doesn’t even
have a name yet.
Something beyond geta.
Maybe one day,
that something
will become
the beginning
of a new story
for Mizutori Industry.
And as I imagine
that future,
I find myself
asking the same question
again today:
“What should we do next?”
And if you have ever thought,
“It would be fun
to do something like this
with mizutori,”
I hope you’ll share
your idea with us.
Perhaps
the next chapter
is something
we haven’t imagined yet.
