Where removing shoes custom come from?

I am interested in the background around this custom. Where did it come from? I was recently talking to someone about it and they said it was out of respect for Buddha, is this true?

I am pretty sure that it is simply in order to not soiling one's living space.

It is just because they feel more comfortable without shoes and socks. At home need to relax body and feet.

I don't know about Liz's answer.

But a practical answer is because many homes have tatami mats, you don't want to ruin those mats with shoes. Another thing is cleanliness you don't want to get junk all over the floor etc. I'm not japanese, but at my home I have white colour carpet and require everyone to remove their shoes when they enter.

I don't know the reasons for the Japanese habit, but in a lot of European countries, too, people remove their shoes before entering homes, no matter what the floor is like. So for me it's nothing strange, I've actually always been wondering why Americans don't take their shoes of at their homes.

Where did you see this custom in Europe ? It is not custom, but might be just recent trend, because many people choose underfloor heating.

Where did you see this custom in Europe ?

For example, in Switzerland, it is usual to take off shoes in private homes. As a European, it shudders me imagining to enter a home with outdoor shoes. Especially on rainy days.

I agree with Lumi !
In Luxembourg and in Germany we
always (not all people,but most!) do not enter the house/flat/appartment with shoes!!! They are dirty as usual and we steped over many ugly things outside with the shoes.Who want to have all such dirty unhygenic -material- inside his home???
It is not a trend like you think! It is done here all my life !
I guess that it came traditional from a time when asphalt did not cover the streets and the way was muddy!
We live in Germany right now but having a house in Luxembourg as well and also our frinds and neighbours are taking of their street-shoes before entering their houses!

We do not have any underfloor heating! So that's not the reason for it!

Where did you see this custom in Europe ?
I lived for 5 years in Sweden and people take their shoes off when entering a home. In winter, all my colleagues would have a pair of shoes at the office and change into those after arriving at the office so that they didn't have to wear the big boots at the office all day. At least it taught me to buy new socks regularly ^_^

If you consider that most houses in Japan had tatami mats in most rooms, the habit of taking the shoes off makes a lot of sense.

Wear a green T-shirt and burgundy jeans and you'll be taken for Scooby Doo's best mate and it might attrack a lot of attention :-)

I think you got the threads mixed Kappa, but I had the same thought!

As for shoes, my Canadian sister insists everyone takes their shoes off when they enter her home. Although my mother might be an exception.

Where I live in the UK children and young people take off their shoes when they enter a friends house. The more formal the situation the less likely they are to take off thier shoes.

In my home none of the family (except my mother) wear shoes indoors. My friends usualy leave their shoes on, although I would rather they took them off.

Here in hotel rooms most people leave them on, I realy liked knowing in Japan this is not the case, as I think it is unclean to wear the same shoes outdoors and indoors.

become part of Hawaiian culture, as everybody does it whether you are Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Hawaiian, Samoan, Portugese, or Caucasian (a few exceptions here). No doubt derived from the Japanese who immigrated there. I notice in Islam, they take off their shoes too at those places of worship.

I'm sure in Japan, the tatami mats have something to do with it. When I first came to Japan I got scolded for wearing slippers on tatami (it was one of those relocated and preserved homes of a famous poet or writer, now a semi-museum).

removing shoes is quite common across asian cultures, and as uji mentioned it's because shoes are dirty. i for one do not want all the mud/dirt/muck/poo from the outside to come inside my house after all the time i spend cleaning it.

Buddhism is not the reason, for sure.
Tatami is probably not the reason, either.

I am a Japanese man but I am no expert on this subject, though.
I am simply trying to answer the question based on what I have been taught in primary school in Japan.

The removing shoes has been already a custom during Heian period (794-1185), when importing Chinese culture became less important. You can be sure when you take a look at the picture scrolls of this period (see, for example, http://www.h6.dion.ne.jp/~chusan55/mukashi2/36mukashi.htm).

The custom became possible because of the structure of the rich people's building known as Shinden Zukuri (see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinden-zukuri). The layout of the building was modeled after the Chinese aristocratic mansions but the structure of the individual house originated from the Takayuaka-shiki (lit., high-floored) building, which is after high-floored warehouses in Yayoi Period (before 300BC, see eg., http://www2.tba.t-com.ne.jp/atelier_O/02-takayuka-jyukyo.html). This is a popolar structure throughout Southeast Asia even today (see, eg., http://www.phoenix-c.or.jp/~mtanaka/page678.html). Because this structure is particular to the Southeast Asian culture (vs Northeastern Asian culture), there is an argument to the origin of Japanese people, by the way (see, Wazoku-ron, lit., Wa-People Theory).

Tatami was a very expensive item during Heian period. It was used primarily as the bedding base for the rich people so most of the floors were covered by bare wooden surface. Even when tatami became less expensive commodity in the following periods, the samurais were still sitting on the floors in the simplified Shinden Zukuri (known as Buke-Zukuri, lit., Samurai-Structure), following the Heian customs.

Removing shoes inside a Takayuka-shiki building is a natural consequence as many people have argued even within this thread. I would like to point out, therefore, in addition to the other arguments, that since Takayuka-shiki was originally suitable to the paddy field with periodic flood (basically, muddy field or water beneath the floor), the wooden floor is not made sturdy. You do not want to ruin the floor with your shoes or the weight from the foot of chairs....

in/during school? Too?

to use a random number, about 80% of all nations take off their shoes before entering their homes....except many europeans and americans.

maybe they enjoy soiling their homes?

While its not a "Custom" in the United States, i know many many people who take off their shoes when entering homes. My home for example has light coloured carpets, and I and guest take off shoes when entering. My friends house has hard wood floors and everyone takes off their shoes there.

Hey guys,

For me removing footwear in the home and temple are common as we do in our country. It’s considered to be a respect. Also the in India the Man will be the head of family like Japan and wishing the elderly person culture also used there, so I strongly feel this would have been brought to Japan by those Buddhist came from China and India initially.

It's not going to spoil you at any cost walking without slippers inside a house in India. Because most of the country side houses are still use the natural anti-biotic for cleaning the house everyday. However I’m not debating anyone. As known to everybody Buddhism is initiated by an Indian called Siddhartha [a king who lived in east central part of India – Google Buddh Gaya for more information] later who became Buddha. Like wise many words used in Japanese also has minimal mix of Sanskrit [if anybody know O-bon festival please, try to get the meaning it will be in Sanskrit].

Also, I could see many Japanese cultural activities are more or less matching to the South part of India’s culture [India has so many culture, language and people. I’m not a researcher but a person from India and not seeing any different here.

Im from india, and taking off your shoes before coming inside (depending on the floor) is also done.i dont see how people can stand to wear shoes so long. so in my opinion: its an asian thing.