 Traditionally when a student joins a Japanese martial arts school they are asked to leave their shoes at the entrance of the dojo. This is an ancient tradition in Japan, where the inside of the house is clearly distinguished from the outside. Shoes are worn outside, they are removed when you enter a house. More specifically, it is traditional to remove the shoes at the entrance way, just inside the front door of a Japanese house. No doubt, this habit developed naturally over time as a way to maintain sanitary conditions inside the home. But removing ones shoes at the door has even deeper significance. Japanese children are taught that evil things stuck to the soles of their shoes.To keep these evil things from getting into anybody's house, children were instructed to remove their shoes before entering. And that wasn't all. After removing your shoes you most place them so that the toes point toward the outside of the house. Evil things must not be directed toward the inside of the house.
Japanese children learn early that proper removal and placement of their shoes is an important and serious matter. Parents make it clear that children from proper homes are always neat and remove their shoes and line them up with the toes pointed outside when they enter someones house.
A popular ZEN saying is that " if one can not line up their shoes, it will be difficult to find order in the world around you ".
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