EDOOSHIEHAGOITA – Battledore

Description

There is a popular Japanese game -played for over 500 years- which resembles badminton but uses images sometimes executed in relief. At the beginning of the Edo Period, these patter known as a hagoita, decorated with various do Period, these patterns became no net. It features a rectangular wood paddle (battledore). more elaborate, with artisans creating intricate designs on the back of the paddles using quilted silk in a way that suggested three-dimensional figures. These included ukiyoe caricatures kabuki actors, as the battledore became a reflection of Edo mass culture. Traditional Edo oshiehagoita handicraft remains in demand today. Just as they did in the Edo Period, parents give their little girls the decorative paddles at the New Year to ward off evil spirits for the entire year.