Gold Cloud Geta Shoes Japan 'Kumoito'

Brown wooden geta with a navy strap printed in gold clouds and vines

Gold clouds on navy, on brown wood. These geta are a solid base in a warm brown stain with the grain showing, two teeth underneath, and a padded strap in navy cloth printed with gold clouds and a scroll of vines, passing between the toes. The brown warms the gold, and the whole shoe reads richer than the black-wood version and older.

They are the geta in the collection for someone who wants gold on the strap and wood that looks like wood.

The name, Kumoito, is the cloud thread, the gold line drawing clouds on the strap, and the name is the pattern.

The base is a solid block of wood in a warm brown stain that shows the grain, with a flat footbed, a rounded toe and two teeth underneath, the front one set forward of the ball of the foot. The strap is a padded fabric thong that passes between the first two toes and anchors at three points through the sole.

Wear them with a white tabi sock, the split-toe sock in the photograph, which is how a geta is worn in Japan: the sock takes the rub of the thong and the split gives the strap its place. Under a yukata, a jinbei, a wide trouser or a pair of shorts, the geta is the finish.

The strap print is gold clouds and vines on a navy ground, the pattern of a formal cloth, and the padding runs the full length of the thong. The brown stain is darker at the edges and lighter across the footbed.

The footbed is flat and the two teeth are fixed, so the walk is the geta walk: a short step, the weight over the front tooth, and the knock of wood on pavement that gives the shoe its sound. Indoors, on a wooden floor, take them off.

Wipe the wood with a dry cloth and keep it out of standing water, which swells the grain; the strap can be sponged.

From across a street they are brown geta with a gold strap. From close the strap shows its clouds, the wood its grain, and the footbed its lighter centre. They are the geta for a navy yukata with a gold obi.

Sizes run from EU 35 to 46, each listed with its US equivalent. They are cut to Asian sizing and run small, so take one size up from your usual. A geta is meant to end a little before the heel, and the size up keeps the toes off the front edge.