Where to buy Ninja Tabi Boots in Tokyo?

... prowling around rooftops at night, assasinating people etc, or does anyone actually still do that?

Sure they do. Haven't you seen the film "Beverly Hills Ninja"? (I thoroughly recommend it for all ninja hopefuls, but let's gloss over the fact that the "sensei" was a Korean-American.)

Sorry for the dumb question, but is there any particular reason exactly why this style of boot is used for construction? I can't think of any practical reason for the separated toes on the boot except for wearing additional slippers with them or perhaps comfort issues?

K,

My understanding is that it makes them very flexible, a bit like rock-climbing shoes, and allows the wearers to grip surfaces with their toes.
The downside is that this kind of footwear apparently offers no protection against falling objects and wouldn't be considered "work safe" in many other countries.

tabi are split toe sox.

Tabi (black, white or navy) can be purchased in most large supermarkets and department stores they have the metal clips at the back.

You can go to a a tabi maker and select from pre-maid or a tailored pair in your own selection of fabric.

As for ninjutus waraji were worn over hte tabi for outdoor use, waraji were worn by many japanese form farmers to bushi.

If you want to reasearch public information on one of Bujinkan's custodian google ''takamatsu Toshitsugu'' ask this is the most focused search.

Just takamatsu will bring unfocused results but you may learn something about the city of takamatsu.

Hello.
I am in the US, saw the construction workers "fashions", think that is just cool!
Where can I get this type of clothing in the US.
The bright colored hard hats, the tabi boots, the wild pants, everything is, well, wild, in a really cool way,
Thanks in advance.

ninja boots, jikatabi, whatever. what you are referring to is easily found by googling "outdoor tabi boots" or "jikatabi" or just "tabi boots". a good site also is "cool east market". using google with above keywords you will find many good sites, many ship all over the world. don't pay more than 30$ u.s for regular (not steel-toe) tabi boots. there are also many great places to buy tabi boots in japan, try "komiya" address 2-1-2 kaizuka, kawasaki-ku,kawaskai-shi,kanagawa.
they have outrageous gold and silver tabi boots and all types construction tabi and gear.

i forgot to answer this before: for anyone interested in learning more about "tobi" construction worker's gear and see some very cool articles and links about this profession and it's fashions, check "pingmag.jp" you will see many great things and get useful links. ps. it's kind of annoying to see so many "ninja"/martial arts wannabe types jabbering about whatever they think is something worth "setting the record straight" about when all someone asked is where to buy tabi boots. please save pompous and uneccessary posts for other forums, thanks.

Just found a gold mine of tabi products! www.tabisonline.com has the best variety of boots anywhere! I kust ordered a pair of Silver Tabi Boots!!!

"...The downside is that this kind of footwear apparently offers no protection against falling objects and wouldn't be considered "work safe" in many other countries"

This is not true, they make steal toe ones. Good for protecting your feet, and kicking in faces.

Look, here's for all of you who think that ninjas either don't exist, don't wear tabi, and don't do all these other things. I'll clear it up now. I've been studying in the school of THE Soke Masaaki Hatsumi. He has since started a great multitude of schools around the world, including the US, were I attend. Yes, we wear tabi when practicing as well as a black gi shirt and gi pants. I really don't appreciate hearing that I and my friends within the dojo are being told that we are 'inventions of hollywood' and that we never existed. Honestly...anyone who knows anything about ninja should know that we started back in feudal japan as civil war fighters, then later as paid assassins. Hollywood has portrayed us as such generic, impossibly skilled people who do flashy quick moves. All that is wrong too. I DON'T want to hear anything more on how we don't exist or some aspect of us doesn't exist. If you don't believe me, suit yourself, but frankly, don't try to disprove any of this until you PERSONALLY talk to Mr. Hatsumi and affirm truths and myths. Try and be a little less cynical people...you never know when the people you insult will walk in the room.

The link helped me to buy a special birthday gift for my son who trains in Bujinkan. He has OLD outdoor jakatabi
(mostly to protect from inconvenient infections,scrapes to skin) and trained in Japan under revered Dr. Hatsumi. American Mom

"a student", you may know a lot about ninja, but apparently you don't know much about reading the topic title.

To yourself, and everyone else who seems intent on discussing what ninja wear, this isn't the topic for you. The poster wanted to know WHERE these boots can be found, and she associates and refers to them as 'ninja boots'. Whether or not ninja wear them is not the topic at hand.

I refer to the boots Naruto wears as 'ninja boots'. do real ninja wear them? I don't know, and I don't care. I do know, however, that I and many other people will recognise them as such.

SO back to the topic. If you do a google search for "buy tabi boots online" you get a whole bundle of options.

http://budovideos.com/shop/customer/home.php?cat=424

reccommend you not to buy those stuff,dosen't look traditional to me,it seems like halloween costumes

This Seem a little better
http://www.martialartsmart.net/index.html

Does anyone know of a website that caters for overseas desirers of chikatabi?
Thanks,
juliet

Well, since i know nothing of tokyo, this reply is somewhat off topic; but for those of you who have inquired as to where you can buy jikatabi (or tabi boots or ninja boots or whatever else youd like to call them) in the US, i would like to echo a previous contribution and recommend www.tabisonline.com to all of you. I have found their service helpful and responsive; also, their prices are amongst the best online.

As for the other welling of opinions that have found their way into this thread, ill toss in these two cents.

There are several reputable japanese "martial arts" that are technically undeserving of the title; that is, they were developed during the 19th century and have never been a proper art of war since the introduction of western firearms had already brought obsolescence to the traditional arts. Ill refrain from naming them since im sure it will bring angst to offended practitioners. But my point is, regardless of ninjutsu's "authenticity," most "martial arts" are no longer instruments of war, but rather ways for self-improvement.

A final note. For those "ninja" who were offended by having there art questioned and ridiculed, i would think that the overcoming of such trivial and petty emotional attachments would be among the first lessons for any true student of the art. That said, more practically, if someone is convinced that you dont exist, just think how much simpler his assassination would be.

忍者　ninja wore normal tabi and for anything outside would wear waraji iver them, the same as 武士.

The modern day "ninja tabi boots are a hyrid of tabi and rubber soled shoes.

Try a hardware store like Khama is you want the one contruction workers are seen wearing. If you want normal black tabi you can find them in 100yen stores and department stores. 100yen stores do not carry a bug range of sizes to suit ggaijin size feet.

You can also get some crazy designs in a store called Sou Sou which is located in the Odieba area of Tokyo (There's one in Kyoto too). (You have to get the monorail, but it's only a couple of bucks). You just need to go into the "Venus Fort" shopping mall and Sou Sou is in there. They are overpriced if you only want plain black, but if you want some cool designs, they have them. If you just want plain ones (Black, navy or white) you can also find those on the top floor of Laox in Akihabara with all the souveniers etc - although they only had navy left last week.