From Carrying Sandals to Absolute Power

0:00You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're in a podcast, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Or your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. Imagine wanting to take over a Fortune 500 company, but instead of getting an MBA, you literally apply to wash the CEO's feet. Right. It sounds completely insane, right? I mean, whether you are prepping for a big meeting or you just love a good aha moment, you are in the exact right place today. Absolutely. Because it totally goes against how we think the world works. Yeah. Exactly. To our modern minds, we expect the path to power to look like a clean, predictable staircase.

1:01You get the right degree, you network, you put in the hours, and maybe just maybe you earn a seat at the table. But historically, that's not really how it went down. No. Not at all. Holding another man's sweaty shoes was actually the ultimate secret backdoor to absolute world-shaping power. It really was. So today, we are doing a deep dive into the sandal bearer. We've got a great mission here. We're examining a stack of sources, including Douglas J. Brewer's, The Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, and Mary Elizabeth Barry's Hideyoshi, to unpack this obsolete occupation. And it sounds like a joke today, you know? The guy holding the shoes. Right. It sounds like the ultimate intern grunt work. But it was historically a ticket to absolute power. And I think this deep dive isn't just about footwear. It's a really profound look at how, throughout history, proximity to power is power. Oh, definitely. And I see your digital backdrop has already shifted to, like, these ancient sand-swept ruins,

2:01which is perfect. Yeah, we're going way back for this one. We really are, because to prove that this job was never just about carrying shoes, that it was actually about intimacy with the divine, we have to start at the very beginning of documented history. We're talking about the early dynastic period in ancient Egypt. So roughly the 31st century BC. Which is just, I mean, unfathomably ancient. And the very first time this role is documented, it's tethered to King Narmer. We're looking at the Narmer Mace Head and the Narmer Palette. Yeah, and King Narmer is, uh, he's the ruler credited with unifying upper and lower Egypt. It's the dawn of ferionic civilization. Okay, let's unpack this, because I keep thinking about a modern equivalent to make sense of it. Okay, what do you got? Think about the modern government official who carries the president's nuclear football. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's a perfect way to look at it. Because what's fascinating here is that the visual evidence on the Narmer Palette completely

3:07backs that up. The palette is the, it's that carved slate thing, right? It's this large shield-shaped piece of slate. And the sandal bearer on it isn't just some background character. In Egyptian art, scale is everything like the bigger you are, the more important you are. Exactly. Narmer is massive. Yeah. But right behind him clearly identified is the sandal bearer and he's not just holding shoes. He's designated by two specific symbols, a rosette and a club, a rosette and a club. I mean, that doesn't scream entry-level servant. No, not at all. Our sources, especially Brewer's work, explain that the rosette is a symbol of royalty or direct connection to the divine king and the club. That's authority. Right. Weapon. So these symbols show that this person is a high-ranking official who accompanied the Pharaoh on the most important sacred occasions. Okay. But wait, I have to push back here. Because there's a huge contradiction in the text that I'm just hung up on. What's that? If this person is such a high-ranking official like they have a weapon, they have royal

4:11symbols. Why does the text mention they also perform the ancient practice of washing the king's feet? Ah. I mean, isn't that degrading? You're this elite VIP and you're washing a guy's dusty, calloused feet. Lucy, that's our modern bias talking. Really? Yeah. In antiquity, you have to remember touching the king meant touching a god. Oh. Oh, right. So washing his feet isn't degradation. It represents a level of exclusive access because he's literally divine. Exactly. But there's also the physical reality of it. The king is taking off his armor, his regalia. He's sitting down totally exposed. And someone is holding his barefoot. Yes. In a world where assassination was a constant threat, the person allowed to wash your feet is someone you trust with your life. Because they could just, you know, easily kill you while you're vulnerable. Precisely. Generals and politicians would kill for that level of physical trust. It's not about the dirt. It's about the intimacy. That is wild. But it makes total sense when you frame it around security. It does.

5:11Uh, the concept of power through proximity isn't just an isolated Egyptian cork, right? Not at all. It's a universal human strategy because the deep dive naturally transitions to how this exact dynamic played out millennia later, it proves this is like a deeply human tactic. Right. We're jumping forward to feudal Japan. Yes. The Sengoku period, which for the listener is just absolute chaos. It's the warring states period. Constant civil war, shifting alliances, betrayals everywhere. And into this mess walks Toyotomi Hideyoshi. And according to Mary Elizabeth Berry's biography on him, he's born of completely humble origins, a peasant. Right. No noble blood at all. But around 1557, he joins the Odaclan under Odinobunaga as a lowly servant. And no badaga is, uh, he's becoming one of the most powerful, ruthless warlords in Japan. Yeah. And Hideyoshi eventually becomes his sandal bearer, which is actually a position of relatively high status there. But still, he's dealing with shoes.

6:11Exactly. Here's where it gets really interesting, because I compare this to like, a brilliant, modern corporate strategy. Okay. How so? It's like taking a seemingly dead-end job in the mail room of a Fortune 500 company, just to guarantee that you'll ride the elevator with the CEO every single day. There is exactly what he did. But my question is, how exactly did Hideyoshi leverage holding Nobunaga sandals into actual influence? I mean, you're on the elevator, Sherba. How do you get the CEO to listen to you? Well, if we connect this to the bigger picture of the Sengoku period, it makes total sense. Because Nobunaga was surrounded by samurai and generals who were constantly plotting. Right. Everyone's a threat. Exactly. So Nobunaga had to be incredibly guarded around them. But the sandal bearer. He's practically invisible. Right. You don't perform for the servant. You don't guard your words around the guy holding your shoes. Oh, wow. So Hideyoshi is just like a fly on the wall. He's present for everything. Uh-huh. Over here is military strategies. He observes negotiations.

7:12He learns the ruler's psychology. He's figuring out what makes Nobunaga tick. Yes. Hideyoshi wasn't just holding shoes. He was receiving an absolute masterclass and state craft from one of Japan's most brilliant military minds. And no one even realizes he's taking notes. Exactly. They just see a peasant with a pair of sandals. That is genius. But okay, we have to look at the undeniable historical payoff here. Because he doesn't stay a sandal bearer forever. Far from it. This is bring up 1560, the Battle of Okahezama. A massively pivotal moment. Right. Nobunaga defeats Imagawa Yoshimoto against all odds to become this dominant warlord. And Hideyoshi is right there on the front lines as the sandal bearer. He's right in the middle of the action. And then it just snowballs. Because eventually Nobunaga dies. And Hideyoshi secures all these high imperial court titles, culminating in the year 1585 where he becomes the Kanpaku, the imperial regent. He basically becomes the ruler of Japan.

8:12So what does this all mean? Because I have to push back on the sheer scale of this promotion. Is he hugely? Yeah. It's one thing to get a promotion from the mailroom, but Hideyoshi literally took over the company. How does a servant become the regent? Well this raises an important question about social mobility. Yeah. Because Hideyoshi's ascension proves that this lowly position was actually the ultimate launch pad. Because he had the proximity. Because of the proximity, yes, but also what he did with it. By being present at history making moments like Okahazama, he proved his loyalty under fire. He wasn't just hiding in the back. Right. He was actively using his invisible status to anticipate Nobunaga's needs. He gained military insight that other generals didn't have because he truly understood how Nobunaga's mind worked. So when Nobunaga died and there is this massive power vacuum, Hideyoshi was perfectly positioned to step right into it. The other lords were probably arguing, but Hideyoshi knew exactly how to wield the power he'd been studying up close for decades.

9:14That is just incredible from holding shoes to running the country. It really is. And for you listening right now, it's so easy to feel frustrated when you've been assigned the grunt work, right? Oh, absolutely. Taking the meeting minutes, setting up the projector. Exactly. You're just taking notes in the back of the room and feeling like you don't matter. But remember the sandal bearers. Yes. The ability to decision makers is an invisible currency. You are in the room where it happens. You can learn the psychology of the people in charge just by quietly observing. That's such a great takeaway. It's an incredible advantage if you know how to use it. It really is. Now to wrap up this deep dive, I know you had a final thought based on these sources that just kind of blew my mind when we were prepping. Yeah. It's something that really stuck with me from reading both Brewer and Barry's work. Let's hear it. Well, think about history as most terrifying and absolute rulers. Okay. God kings of Egypt, like Norma, to the utterly ruthless warlords of Japan, like Nobunaga. Dies who had literal life and death power over thousands. Exactly. These were men who projected total invincibility and yet both of them required a designated

10:20official human being just to carry their footwear and wash their feet. They literally couldn't manage their own shoes. Right. So what does that reveal about the profound vulnerability of absolute power? Oh, man. Higher and more untouchable a leader becomes the more they are entirely physically dependent on the lowly servants standing quietly right behind them. That is so true, the illusion of being a God, but you still need a guy to wipe the dust off your toes. Exactly. Absolute power always has a blind spot. Wow. Such a fascinating perspective. Because the next time you see someone quietly doing the grunt work in the background, remember, they might just be running the place next year. We're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this.

11:24Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com.