Oshie Hagoita (Decorated Wooden Panel) Portraying the Kabuki Play Ya-no-Ne

In Japan, a traditional badminton-like game called hanetsuki is played during New Years. Hanetsuki players use a rectangular wooden panel called a hagoita as a racket. Hagoita are often decorated with painted pictures of famous roles or actors from kabuki (traditional Japanese theater). Oshie hagoita are special hagoita created for indoor display purposes only. Instead of a painted picture, these hagoita feature three-dimensional portrayals of their subjects created by arranging cotton on a mounting board attached to the wood and then covering the cotton arrangements with woven cloth (often silk). Oshie hagoita are produced in Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, and a few other parts of Japan and are often given as congratulatory gifts. This oshie hagoita portrays Soga Goro, a role in a famous kabuki play called Ya-no-Ne, a tale of revenge. Soga Goro is depicted as wearing kumadori, kabuki stage makeup. This particular application of kumadori (with bright red stripes) represents the character's strength and sense of justice. Oshie hagoita depicting kabuki plays and actors were first created in Edo (present-day Tokyo) during the Bunka-Bunsei Period (1804-1829), which saw a rapid growth of an extravagant urban culture, and are still produced today. Cultural Properties Designated by Saitama Prefecture.