The rubber soles are of excellent quality. There is no added heel, so it is essentially "zero drop". The leather in spots is mentioned as pig skin. The rest of the build is not much better than a pair of wrestling shoes, so I wouldn't pay over 60 bucks a pair for them shipped. Toe room is fine. The permanent insole is crude and I'd rather it used thermoplastic blue gel with cloth covering for better comfort.
Also, the mid-foot has far too much room, even with an additional insole added and it laced as tight as possible. Even the heel area is probably too large, as well. So you do have good toe area and sufficient ankle hole width, but everything in between could be made more narrow for the possibility of a snug fit around the arch and top foot.
Sizing is a bit long in length. The insole measurement in centimeters should probably be your actual foot length rounded up to the nearest. So as a 26cm, I think I should have gone with the same, not a 27cm as recommended. Since I'm trying them with additional insoles right now, it works out and isn't too bad. The mid-foot is wide enough that the insoles I added don't totally fill out the mid-width zone near the arch.
I'll probably eventually get another pair of two of my exact size to try without additional gel insoles, along with some heavy-duty, thick tabi socks. I would prefer to have the option of a non-hi-top sneaker-like design, though I realize these are much less hi-top than usual jika-tabi.
Nonetheless, among the available options out right now (the Onitsuka Tiger (Asics) Marathon Tabi and Nike Air Rifts aren't easy to obtain) these Maruga Sports Jogs are still unquestionably a reasonable choice at the price I paid for road jogging, trail running, soccer, basketball, wresting, weightlifting, and everyday use... And of course for you budding ninjas.
Update: In retrospect, I don't think the shoe is really that overly long. I also find the toe width on the outside around the little toes to be no better than the Nike Air rifts. They could be more foot-shaped and actually taper *less*. The insole/midsole/outsole (don't care which) could be a little thicker... uniformally, of course. And the tread has a tendency to pick up and embed pepples and small rocks in it. This is easy to fix when you get back home. They've held up well so far, but I'm thinking a lower-drop neoprene Air Rift, even without the needed further refinement of its toe shape, would be superior for activies such as running and walking. It's hard to say how an improved Jika-Taba would compare. The thicker-soled (relative to the Classic and Sport) Vibram Five Fingers are also superior. Neither the Rifts nor the VFFs are quite as good at activities such as wrestling, crosstraining, etc. I am getting good use out of the high-top Marugos on my exercise equipment with ankle holders. Useful padding.
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I have been practicing Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu for more than a year. As we do the great majority of our training outside, I needed a good pair of jikatabi that could take a beating. These definitely fit the bill. I have larger calves, so higher jikatabi do not fit me and size extenders are simply inconvenient. These boots are so comfortable, so form-fitting, and so rugged that I plan to buy another pair as soon as my current pair wear out. I even wear them hiking. I can't praise these enough. If you can't get your pair on Amazon, hunt them down.
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