work tabi; split-toed heavy cloth shoes with rubber soles
Traditional Japanese work footwear with a split toe, heavy cloth upper, and rubber sole. Often worn by construction workers, gardeners, and festival participants.
The craftsman works wearing work tabi.
Wearing work tabi at the festival makes it easy to move around.
Regular tabi are traditional split-toed socks, while 地下足袋 have rubber soles and are used as outdoor work shoes.
Standard kanji spelling, though the characters are ateji (phonetic).
Alternate ateji spelling; much less common than 地下足袋.
The kanji 地下 (underground) are ateji for じか (direct), referring to direct contact with the ground. 足袋 (tabi) means split-toed socks. The compound describes heavy-duty tabi worn directly on the ground.