A step between two worlds
The first thing a visitor meets in a Japanese home is usually a small area of floor set lower than the rest of the entrance hall. This is the genkan. It is typically finished in stone, tile or concrete, and beyond it a raised wooden step leads into the house. Shoes are taken off at the lower level and left there. The visitor then steps up in socks or slippers.
The arrangement is simple, but it divides the house into two zones: a space that is still part of the outside world and a space that is kept clean for sitting, eating and sleeping.
The name
The word genkan has a history that is often explained as coming from Zen Buddhist usage, where it referred to the gate or entrance to the deeper way, the threshold one passes to enter a temple’s inner area. Later the term was used for the entrance hall of residences, in particular those of warrior families, which had a formal entry for guests. Over time it passed into ordinary use for the entry area of any home. The exact path of this change is described differently by different sources, so it is safest to say that the word has a religious background and a formal one.
In older houses of high status, the entrance might have its own roof and a wide step for formal greeting. In ordinary houses of townspeople and farmers, the equivalent was a packed-earth entry space, sometimes extending through the house as a work area, which connects to the traditional layout described in the overview of the Japanese home.
Why shoes come off
The practical reasons are easy to see. The floors of a house are used as a place to sit, to eat at low tables and to lay out bedding, so keeping them free of street dirt matters. The mat floor is also soft and absorbs dirt and moisture, so shoes can damage it. Leaving shoes at the door keeps the dirt in one place where it can be swept, and it keeps tatami mats and wooden floors clean.
There is also a symbolic reason, often described as the distinction between uchi (inside, one’s own group) and soto (outside). The step marks the point where a person moves from public life to the private space of a household. Taking off one’s shoes is a small gesture of respect for the home and the people in it. People often note that this distinction appears in other places, too: the shrine, the tea room and many other buildings ask visitors to remove shoes. It is also a habit that echoes the sense of purification at the entrance of Shinto shrines, though the two customs are not the same.
How it is done
The manners are straightforward, and hosts are generally forgiving of visitors who are unfamiliar with them:
- Step into the genkan, but not past the step. Stay on the lower level until you are invited up.
- Take off shoes while facing forward, step up, then turn and crouch to arrange them so the toes point toward the door. Many people do this because the shoes are then ready to put on again. Hosts may do it for you, or ask you to leave them as they are.
- Do not step on the raised floor with shoes or with bare outdoor feet. Put on slippers if they are offered.
- Remove slippers before stepping onto a tatami floor. Mats are usually walked on in socks or bare feet.
- Clean, intact socks help. Visitors sometimes carry a spare pair for the occasion, which can be a considerate habit.
Many homes have a separate pair of slippers used only for the toilet room, and a person should change out of them on leaving.
What lives in the genkan
The genkan is also a small display and storage area. A built-in shoe cupboard, called a getabako, holds footwear and may include space for umbrellas. The umbrellas are a reminder of how weather shapes entrances, as seen in Japanese umbrellas more generally. There may be a bench for putting on shoes, a long-handled shoehorn and a seasonal decoration. Some households place a small flower arrangement or a small object on a shelf or on the step. Traditional footwear such as geta and zori are made to be slipped on and off easily, which suits the daily rhythm of an entrance like this, and the topic of traditional footwear explains how this style developed.
Greetings at the door
The genkan is where greetings take place. People say a set phrase when leaving and another on returning, and the household answers. Visitors say a polite word on entering and on leaving. This little ritual is part of the sense of the entrance as a threshold, not just a place to put shoes.
Today
In modern apartments the genkan may be only a small recess, but it is nearly always present, and the habit of removing shoes continues in most homes, schools and many other buildings. It is a custom with practical roots that has become a way of marking respect and belonging. As with many customs, it is observed more strictly in some places than in others, and a guest who tries sincerely is usually appreciated.