It is often said that before the Meiji era, Japanese walking form was of "Namba" style. "Namba" waking style is the movement of swinging left leg and left arm at the same time. There are some theories why Japanese walking form was "Namba" style. Most accepted theory for it is that Japanese had been agricultural people, therefore "Namba" walking style has its roots in the style of ploughing paddy field. In this reserch,however, there was no literary evidense which supported that Japanese were walking using the "Namba" style. In pictorial evidence many Japanese people, samurai and marchant and farmer, were using same waking style. Therefore pictorial evidence goes against the theory of "Namba" walking style being rooted in the style of ploughing paddy field
