A continuing side-effect of my kendo training is that my feet have continued to get wider over the years. I have seen no scientific evidence that kendo makes feet spread, but I am sure mine were normal when I started and now are becoming almost as wide as they are long.
I confidently continue to add to my collection of unworn shoes believing that after a few days of “wearing in” they will become comfortable, only to find that there is not enough stretch in any of them to encompass my feet without causing pain. While they hide unloved at the bottom of the wardrobe, I invariably flop around in trainers which I buy a size too big. I do occasionally have to wear “proper” shoes and I have a black pair and brown pair which do the job without making me limp. Both have been repaired nearly as many times as my kote due to my paranoia that I will never find new ones that fit.
I have tried to solve the problem. I sent my foot measurements to a specialist on-line supplier of wide shoes; they told me that they had nothing suitable and that I should try contacting a surgical boot maker.
I don’t however think that I am alone in suffering from this problem. When I visit Japan I notice that most of the shoes that I see in the “genkan” of dojo or friend’s houses seem to be on the wide side. I have also started to take crafty peeks at colleague’s feet in the changing rooms. Forgive me if you have noticed me doing this, but my interest is more scientific than perverse. I am sure that somewhere a kendo loving orthopaedic surgeon, podiatrist or sports scientist has developed an equation that measures the hours of keiko required to add a centimetre of width to each of a kendoka’s feet.
It might be that his or her study is even more complicated and that the constant pressure on the left foot outweighs the effect of fumikomi on the right foot and that the feet broaden at a different rate.
However in terms of hard evidence, I do not have a foot to stand on. Perhaps I am unique in experiencing this phenomenon and my fellow male kendoka can get away with wearing the narrowest of “fandangos” and the girls still fit nicely into their Laboutin’s and Jimmy Choo’s. It would be interesting to hear if this problem affects others or whether it is just me that will eventually have to wear flip-flops with formal wear.
kendoinfo.net 
My feet have definitely got wider- I wear Brooks (Cascadia) trainers as they fit and support the width of my foot really well.
I used to wear a size 8(42) and during one period of intense training in the “noughties”, it just changed to 8.5 and now seems to have settled back down again…now that I am getting old and slow!
Thanks for the article Geoff.
PS “Camper” also do a mean line in “clown footwear”!
It is a well known fact that Yoga practitioners feet get wider. So it’s definitely something that can happen.
Hi Geoff,
I had some thought on this after I read your post of floors.
http://www.theramist.co.uk/blog/?p=145
I have rather wide feet, size 9.5 and have always had trouble getting shoes wide enough or just the right size. Generally I stick with skate shoes, usually DC or Airwalk as they tend to come up wider that most shoes and because american sizing is a little off from UK sizing, a US 11, that theoretically is a UK 10, is just the right size. After a load of problems with my feet I ended up splashing out of a pair of North Face walking shoes. They give quite nicely and are really comfortable.
By the way, would you mind if I put a link to your site on mine.
Cheers.
Marc
I actually thought about kendo feet getting wider when Takanabe was on some Japanese tv show and the host was surprised how big Takanabe’s feet were in comparison. My feet have always been a little wide to the standard size 10 but at least 3 years ago I can know only wear 2E (extra wide) comfortably. Luckily Zappos carries a large variety of shoes in extra wide and their return policy makes it easier should the size run narrower than advertised. I don’t know if it is just kendo but probably any activity where your not wearing shoes and your feet muscles must support your weight.
My feet were wide before i even start to practice kendo, but a few days ago i noticed that the shape of my feet change, my little finger its now more separated from the others. I am becoming a Hobbit.
i think it might be a male martial arts thing because ive been doing karate for 14 years and kendo for about 14 months and i have to say i have really skinny feet and struggle to find shoes that are tight enough. but some of the other male kenshi in my dojo say that their feet are slightly wide but not terrible in the case of not finding shoes. i know that for a fact that weight lifters feet do get broader from the amount of exess presure and weight—so there might be a link to kendo
I read an article awhile ago about how in cultures that don’t wear shoes that the feet become extremely wide relative to most 1st world feet. It is unsurprising that if you spend a lot of time doing activities barefoot like kendo that it would have some impact on your feet as well. If you’re interested in more, I’d look around the minimalist footwear websites- Vibram five fingers, etc. They tend to have a lot of articles this sort of phenomenon.
Cute article! I have skinny feet I guess but – since I spend most of my time without shoes on – I feel a lot more comfy without anything on my feet. I picked up some minimalist vibram shoes last summer (not 5 fingered ones) and now couldnt go back to normal trainers again as they are too heavy.
This seems to be normal, as a result of a running injury my physio encouraged me to try to run barefoot/with minimal footwear and walk barefoot at home to improve proprioception, is amazing to see your feet spread out when you step. As you may know there has been a lot of hype and debate about this concept. There are some very interesting articles from the natural running center (http://naturalrunningcenter.com/), is run by reputable medical proffessionals and athletes. Seems like our footwear reshapes our feet and in the modern developed world we are changing their shape from a very young age with our footwear so it seems natural that they widen without it.
Living in the United States, I often find it difficult to find shoes that are wide enough for my feet. I thought this was because of my Japanese physical characteristics. It never occurred to me that this was because of my kendo practice.
Olympic/sports fencing makes one’s feet wider, so I’d be amazed if Kendo didn’t.