The Story of the Shoeguns

A shogun is a term for a military leader. Shogunates led Japan from 1192 until 1868.

A shoegun is a term for a tourist whose feet hurt so badly that they have to buy new shoes while they’re in Japan.  Today, Jennie, Michael and Annie became official shoeguns.

Jennie is a sneaker influencer who runs the @sneaking2work Instagram account, so we were grateful that she knew all about a store called Billy’s in Kyoto.  All three of us got shoe styles that are only sold in Japan which made us all feel a little bit cool for one hot second.  Thank you to Chris for the pic!

The touring part of our day included learning about the art of Roketsu, Japenese Indigo Dyeing which is also known as wax-resist dyeing. Wax is applied on a cotton fabric to leave a design and when the fabric is dyed in the indigo, the area applied with wax blocks the dye and leaves white.

This woman is a master in this artform.  She didn’t speak any English and was very patient while  teaching us.  She also giggled every time Michael spoke, so we think she had a little crush – it was great.

We had fun, but wow this is messy!

Michael made the tee-shirt. Annie took the much easier dragon fly direction.

We also went to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove which was really beautiful and really crowded.

We fought the crowds again to see one of Kyoto's most popular attractions, Fushimi Inari Shrine. This Shinto shrine is known for its 10,000+ orange torii gates that arch over a scenic, two-hour-long walking trail.

Founded in 711 AD, Fushimi Inari Shrine is also one of its oldest, serving as the headquarters to over 40,000 shrines dedicated to Inari, the god of rice and sake.

The shoguns fought different kinds of battles.  As shoeguns, we feel like we’re ready to take on even more large crowds tomorrow – our last day in this gorgeous city.