The reason why there is a manner of walking is not only to look graceful, but also to avoid damaging tatami mats, thresholds, and the edges of tatami mats.🌸
The thing I love about this show is that I genuinly get confused at some of the interactions in the scenes because of the differences between western culture and Feudal Japan culture, which is cool because it show they really paid attention to the details and it makes the show into a learning exoerience
It was really Hiroyuki Sanada that paid attention to every little detail. If he wasn't on set, he was watching the monitor, adjusting props and costumes, advising people how to move. He was the one who decided to have all these Japanese experts flown in to assist in each department. They even had a tea ceremony master so the Japanese extras could learn how to pour tea correctly. It just goes to show how much love and respect he has for his culture. I'm glad they allowed him to do that.
I was thinking the same. Everything participates to this. Seeing such a silhouette moving so briskly and silently in a not so lit place from afar would scare the heck out of me haha.
Haha, I'm the household ninja. I'm always giving people heart attacks coming out of my room into the common areas, and they don't hear me. They turn around and freak out. I always had this weird idea that making noise outside of my own private room/area was rude, and being quiet is just a way to respect others in the household, I guess.
totally unrelated but I'd like to recommend a food channel for you to check out just because you and that channel(and host) have the same name----Lisa Nyugen
Reminds me a bit of how until very recently British youth, particularly girls and those from the upper class, were all taught to kind of glide, not bouncing up and down. Some people are still taught it. It's just not so common anymore. My mother still recalls the old book on the head practice from when she was young
I think people underestimate how much time was spent on practicing things that we might consider useless today like handwriting, accent, etc. We still practice table manners but I think they've been a lot more stripped back, at least in the cultures I'm in. Actually, in Korea people still practice handwriting and even different fonts of handwriting, and try to speak standard Korean, which contributes to the gradual change and disappearance of regional dialects.
@@jangtheconqueror I would suspect that Korea's increasing urbanization and city-focused commercial and social activities requires more commonality in soft skills (speaking, writing, mannerisms) for young people to have a shot at getting ahead, starting from school days. The idiosyncrasies of regional and rural language and culture is less important to recent generations who move away from the rural locations, so it's the old and aging people who retain the regional ways until they pass away.
@@TheSeeking2knowwalk correctly? There can be different definitions of "correct," and in my opinion it's the one that's more natural, not stiff and uncomfortable and obviously sexist.
@@scottduncan92 Sexist? You mean gender-specific? Who knows if it was women that devised the walking posture demonstrated in the video. Women, not men, often set (or at the very least maintained) beauty standards in times past, and that remains till today. By the way, men were also expected to comport themselves in specific ways depending on their roles and rigidly disciplined for not meeting it. Also, See the OP on how training in "acceptable" ways of carriage also existed in Western culture. So all past cultures were sexist just for the sake of it? My pushback isn't to say that this ancient Japanese way of life should be brought back or didn't have its drawbacks, but it's a period, historical thing that should be seen for what it was in its time / purpose, and not merely through the lens of our modern sensibilities.
In all seriousness, it will look kind of goofy if you do without wearing a robe or skirt. 😂 But it's basically called "Ghost-stepping" or "roll-stepping" in marching bands. Their's here look like they're keeping their feet flat and moving forward while starting a still as can from the waist up. In the band, you'd roll your steps from front toe to the ball of your back heel. I may have created an info dump by accident l. Sorry!
That's part of it too. They restrict movement, so it's difficult to walk fast and sorta make you walk as if you are walking on a line. Being barefoot is easier to move faster though.
Try walking so that you land on the ball of your foot first, rather than the heel. Not in an exaggerated way, just leading with the front of the foot instead of the back. It lends itself to a smooth pace that lets you walk without bobbing or even making any sound.
@@TheSeeking2knowvery much so. Even now there are aspects of that sense of rigid discipline and respect, but obviously within reason; adapted to modernity. It’s more an undercurrent now.
Nowadays, RU-vid exists, and to help you get through the long week until the next episode, you can use sub-channels to explain Japanese culture. What a wonderful time!
Similar practices exist in India still. Whenever we enter into house during house warming or temples, we always use our right foot to enter. After marriage, when the bride enters into the bridegroom's home for first time, she enters with her right foot in a ritual. Second one - we don't use mats as in Japan. But we too never step on the wooden frame which acts as segregation between rooms. Even while entering temples, there will be a big metal entrance. We never step on that, instead just like how she showed we always carefully skip it. Third - Walking. Though we doesn't walk like this 😁, it's always adviced to girls to walk smoothly like a swan. That ur foot shouldn't rise even a minimal sound while walking. Remember, Indians walk barefooted inside the house. When I think about it, the cat walk is the way completely opposite 😅. I would say you, in Kdramas you can see the royal women walk. They keep the body straight but the steps will be very light. I believe as the foot is related with the whole body and as womens' body is sensitive, it might have been advised.
I need lessons on how to walk properly. I'm a klutz and have hurt myself falling more than once. The last time I spent two and a half months in a nursing home after I fractured my right upper humerus. No it was not funny.
I love that the show is so good, without glorifying this behavior that was meant to oppress women and working class people. Its just, how things are and people work within their means.
This isn’t a beauty standard 😭 this is like a traditional way of walking mainly for the elite in feudal Japan. It’s similar to knocking on the door before entering. It’s just a custom
@@manana545Did she literally not tell us that walking this way was considered beautiful like a waterfall, that's why it was adopted? Also, did the men walk like this?
It's the same today that one should not step on the threshold of a room nor on the edges of tatami mats in a room, and should not sit on the edge of a tatami mats.
I found about not stepping on any threshold last year and I think it's interesting because these a good reason for it. Stepping on a threshold wears down on the structure at a point where the pieces need to fit together. Like, where I live it can get to -30°C in winter. Having a gap between the threshold and the door would cost in heating. I guess aesthetic reasons also apply.
Nowadays it’s done more for practicality right? I mean even as someone who’s never been in the same room as a tatami mat, i’ve heard they’re VERY difficult to clean or repair.
You should watch NHK Yoshitsune, and know that in heian period, japanese women had super long hair and wear 21 layered kimono, and also extra long hakama.
Correct. They wore multi-layered Kimonos, with varying colors, which reflected the season of the year. However, unlike the period shown here, thr floors were not covered in Tatami mats, which was a later development. The floors were polished panels of wood. Only thr seating areas had mats.😢
Yaaaasss!!! 🙌 With stepping on the tatami threshold, those mats were given borders embroidered with the family name's seal. It's been taught to families that stepping on the border is like stepping on your family name and is unacceptable.
Ghosts do not move like this because they walk like this. Ghosts do not have bodies and are just souls, so when they move, they just have to think of their destination and their soul will move there.
@@jingle1833Maybe because the Japanese, like most sane people, respect the difference between men and women. Women desiring to be like men has destroyed the West.
I remember doing this for fun as a kid. It really helped me balance things I was holding in some of my food industry jobs. Plus people never yelled at me for running when I walked fast like that. You can move quickly but the movement is so different from joggiing or running and it just didn't register as running in school with my teachers.
This TV Show is THE PURE MASTERPIECE! IT SHOWS BEAUTY AND ART OF JAPANESE CULTURE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL.... We, koreans, from childhood taught by history that Japan is the worst our enemy...Of course, that's bad thing cause we all are people! My point is that ART could heal, bring love and respect even to your enemy
As s Filipino who's country suffered under Japan... I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. I mean we (except for insignificant minority) don't play the victim card to our former colonial masters... unlike some people in the US.
@@srichael2713cause Filipino people is very generous and kind people. We, koreans, are not like that. We are kind of racist, arrogant and stay with our resentments and feelings of revenge till the end of the world. I think our society hates Japan not only because of the past, but also because we see in Japan our main rival in everything. That's so ridiculous and sad at the same time...
As a Japanese person in my mid-twenties, I always appreciate the tolerance of Asian countries for what Japan did in the past.😢 Today, Japan is also exposed to the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, and I think I have gained a little understanding of how people in Asian countries felt at the time. Who would want to be under the control of another country?
@@Burgalo2001If we came together, we would be the strongest force in the world. But the elder elites are too prideful and benefit from keeping our countries divided, and making life harder for its citizens in our respective countries. Something has to change. Abe was removed but his protege took his place. There is a huge amount of “cleaning” that needs to be done if we want our countries back.
I am and was always fascinated by japanese culture,but i always considered myself blessed that i wasn't from japan. The strictness on being polite,disciplined and perfection i feel is taking its toll on the society now especially the youth.
It's beautiful when you know that the gliding person is definitely human. If it's at night & you're not sure that it's a living breathing person.... aarrrghhhh!!!!🥶
Ich habe noch nie ein Sauerteigbrot gebacken und wusste nicht, dass das so aufwendig ist mit Thermometer, Handschuhe und allem 😅 aber es echt richtig richtig gut aus! Bin schon gespannt wie mir der wizard's guide to defensive baking gefallen wird. Der absurde witzige Stil gefällt mir bis jetzt auf jeden Fall schon sehr gut 😊
This is why I was a very athletic kid but tripped over my own feet. I practiced baseball (and softball) skills over, and over, and over. I never practiced walking.
Japanese Edo women are the most mysterious of all the Asian women! Love the historical accuracy and thought process behind it all. Thank you for an awesome show 👏
@MrRinoHunter so the thought process behind the customs and thier mannerisms are very elegant compared to the customs of the noble courts of Europe or the Middle east ?
Are you that ignorant? Or just being utterly silly? In this era Japan was at the crossroads of how it was going to carry on for the next 400 years. It managed to mould it's traditional values into the industrial era and went from a feudal society into a fully industrial economy in 50 years. Sure, it wasn't as huge or as efficient as western industrialization, but going from a backwater to producing battleships and beating a European Great Power nation in a matter of decades is insane. Also you're clearly not understanding a huge theme in the show. Blackthorne is first convinced Japanese society is beneath him, that it's 'primitive'. But soon quickly realizes their traditional zeal is what makes them insanely powerful as a society, as a warrior nation.
How in any way, shape, or form is Japan's a "stagnant" culture? Why is a major American company making a TV show for their streaming platform about a stagnant culture?
As a Korean, I must admit that Japanese are way ahead of us in customs! We were so backwards in comparison. Europeans were even worse though. These people invented makeups to silk clothes while others wore animal skin leather.
This is how I would walk to the kitchen at 2am when I was 8 years old. I didn't want to alert/awake anybody while stealing food. Didn't realize it was a japanese way of walking elegantly.
At this point in Japanese history, aristocratic women didn’t wear underwear. That explains why they’re trained to always walk with their knees together …..
😮😊❤ WOWZER !! 🤪🤭 .. I do hope that they had some sweet smelling feminine products to keep their "HOO-HOOS" from having an aroma of sushi, on a very hot day !?!
