Red Strap Geta Sandals 'Akabana'

Brown wooden geta with a white strap printed in red flowers and scrolls

The same red scroll, 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 white cloth printed with a red scroll of flowers and vines, passing between the toes. On the brown wood the red reads warmer than it does on black, and the whole shoe reads older, like a pair that has been in a family.

They are the version of the red-strap geta for someone who wants the wood to look like wood.

The name, Akabana, is the red flower, the one printed on the strap, and the name says what the shoe is.

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 a scroll of stylised flowers in a single red on white, and the padding runs the full length of the thong. The brown stain is uneven on purpose, darker at the edges and lighter across the footbed, so the grain shows through.

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 red-and-white strap. From close the strap shows its flowers, the wood its grain, and the footbed its lighter centre. They are the geta for a navy yukata, where the brown and the red both have something to sit against.

Sizes run from EU 38 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.