The Shoemaker

Nakamura San was an old and frail man with hundreds of wrinkles on his face. He walked about very slowly and rarely spoke. No one knew how old he was. For the people of the tiny town near the ancient city of Kamakura he was known as Kutsuya Shinjin, a mystical cobbler. No one had ever seen his wife but he had two daughters Kimiko and the beautiful Miha. Some old-timers said that he had brought the girls one by one from the ancient Shogun temple at Okura as children.

He made women's shoes. Each pair was a unique piece of art. Some had pointed toes; some left most of the foot exposed. He lined some with fur, some had high heels. Each pair was unique for its colour. It was rumoured that he infused the soul of the lady in the shoe and it showed in its color.

There were strange stories about Kutsuya Shinjin’s shoes. Some said they were divine some called them boats of evil. This mysticism made them the most sought after accessory from Tokyo to Osaka and Kyoto. The belief among rich ladies was that the shoes would make them irresistible, there would be a glow on their face and they would feel lifted.

In the basement of his house was his secret chamber. No one was allowed to enter. Not even his beloved daughters. Many nights Kimiko and Miha would feel a strange hum in their wooden house and could easily discern some kind of an energy emanating from the basement. It was to be felt, couldn't be explained or even described.

They were used to his being gone for days at a stretch. Early one morning he told them, 'Have to fetch the right spirit. Tamashita-san's wife Izanami's feet will be here soon' and left. He returned after ten days with a small package under his arm, his face was glowing and he was humming a tune. He was always like this before making a new pair of shoes. He locked himself in the basement for days and came out only at night to go for a walk.

Lady Izanami arrived a month later and Nakamura-san had still not emerged from the basement. The daughters saw that she was an exceptional beauty and told her that their father was expecting her. She was shocked but decided to wait for him.

It took Nakamura-san another week to emerge from his basement. Lady Izanami was there when he came out. The shoes were exquisite. They covered her entire foot with translucent scales like that of a fish, there were dainty thongs to tie the shoes behind her ankles. They had high heels made of some silvery-shiny material. The translucent scales immediately took on the colour of her kimono.

Immediately after Lady Izanami left, Kimiko and Miha saw an anxiety on their father's face. He would go to the library and wait for Sunday newspapers. After nearly a month one Sunday morning he walked back from the library with a dark, scary expression on his face, but he seemed somehow satisfied. He left the paper on the shelf and went down to the basement.

Later that night he called both his daughters the beautiful Kimiko and Miha to the basement. For the first time they saw that it was laid out like a laboratory. Various tubes and burners were lying around and many books too. There was a cobbler’s bench with many of his tool neatly tucked away in convenient slots.

He was sitting on a sofa. He called them closer, gave both of them a pair of exquisite shoes. Miha’s were dainty, deep red with high heels, the shoe kind of rose upwards to the shin like a wave. Kimiko got black shoes, flat with the inside seeming even darker. These had a dull shimmer like the fading stars of pre-dawn sky.

‘These belong to your mothers. Whatever you may have heard about how you came here, you know I that have brought you up as my own children. I have loved you like my own heart and soul. These shoes have very old souls and today after twenty-one years they have been completely purified. I am happy to give them to you’.

He then waved them away and drifted off to sleep

Both of them came up from the basement completely perplexed. They sat in the living room looking at each other. Kimiko moved to the shelf and opened the newspaper Nakamura-san had left. She read something and tears started streaming from her eyes. Miha went across and took the newspaper and saw a small obituary of Lady Izanami. She had fallen from the tenth floor while sleep-walking. There was a strange pair of shoes on her feet.

Nakamura-san never woke up next morning.