Hitoshi Mimura, also known as the God of trainers is a Takumi* ‘artisan’.
*Takumi is a Japanese name that means ‘skilled’ or ‘artisan.’ It is often used to describe someone who is highly skilled and has a deep understanding of their craft.
Mimura is a man who after spending a lifetime at ASICS decided to break new ground and set up on his own, soon brands such as adidas, new balance and others would count on him to develop new models of shoes for elite athletes and for their racing ranges.
A promotional video for New Balance, the last brand I know of that Mr. Mimura has worked for, starts with his face and a phrase
‘Samurai can’t fight without their swords, it’s the same for runners and their shoes’.
Hitoshi Mimura
Running Flats are disappearing.
It is curious because the philosophy of this man who for 50 years has created ‘weapons’ for runners corresponds to that of some shoe lovers like my father, who being far from being an elite athlete, nor having special shoes, rather the offers he finds from other seasons, considers each pair his ‘armament’ for the race or training.
He rarely, if ever, wears running shoes for anything other than running and deeply detests anything that is not designed for running.
Sneakers and reissues are not made for him or for many lovers of authenticity.
Sadly, even the last athletes for whom Mimura created his weapons today carry pistols to a duel with swords. As with today’s cars, the superiority of technology cannot be questioned or denied, but for some the sensations of driving or racing may be more important than the times.
For this reason and because we don’t want to forget why we like the Takumi Sen so much (even though we can’t run as fast a 10k with them as with the Adios Pro 3) we would explore some highlights of Adidas Adizero Takumi Sen and Takumi Ren.
