Image search results - "kite" - JAPAN PHOTOS by Philbert Ono

Image search results - "kite"

One of two giant kitesThis festival has two giant kites and two smaller (but still large) kites. Resting on its side, the kite was scheduled to fly at 2 pm. The kanji characters read "Michi no Eki" in reference to a new train station built in the town.

Lowering the kite

Patch up

Moving the kite to launch point

During July-Aug. 2007, I helped to make the Yokaichi giant kite at the annex of the Yokaichi Giant Kite Museum.where the giant kite is made. Every three years, the giant kite, flown every May in Higashi-Omi, is replaced by a new kite bearing a new design.The new kite was made during July-Aug. 2007, taking about 30 days. The kite is made by volunteers from the public under the instruction of the Yokaichi Giant Kite Preservation Society. For the first time, I helped make this giant kite which was first flown successsfully on May 25, 2008 at the annual kite festival.

Festival siteThey did not allow people go enter the launch area at all times. Spectators were kept far away.

Entrance to the annex and a sign indicating the day's event or work. Today, July 7, 2007, was the Noritsuke Pasting Ceremony. 八日市大凧まつり　のりつけ式

July 7, 2007: The making of the giant kite started with Noritsuke Pasting Ceremony where the new design was announced and dignitaries pasted together the first pieces of the kite paper.

No people on the sides either

Before announcing the final kite design, they announced the three best (but not winning) design entries. The public was invited to submit kite designs based on the theme of "Life" or inochi.

Launch point on a low hill

Twenty-six design entries were submitted this year. There was no top winner, so the final design was based on the three best designs. This design features the kanji "Yorokobu" or joyfulness. 今回のテーマは「いのち」

They introduced the three best designs. 最優秀作品はなく、３点の優秀賞作品を参考に保存会が決めた。

Also see the video at YouTube.

The new kite design was then announced. Called Han-jimon (判じもん), the design expresses a certain theme using word play with a pair of animals and one or two kanji characters. 八日市大凧は３年に一度図柄を変える。

Ride'em cowboyAs the kite quickly flew up, the forward kite pullers had to release the rope.

The top kanji is "yorokobu" (joyfulness) which can also be read as "ki." The pair of hawks 鷹 can be read as "yo." And the bottom kanji is "sei" (living). It's "Kyosei."

Higashi-Omi mayor Nakamura Koichi explains the design. "Kyosei" 共生 means to co-exist (i.e. man and nature) or to live together harmoniously. 中村功一市長

The mayor and one of the kite design artists wear a sash and pose for a picture before proceeding with the Noritsuke Ceremony.

I saw the Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival (Odako Matsuri) for the first time on May 23, 2004. The site is alongside the Echigawa River near the Yachiyo Bridge. A free shuttle bus from Yokaichi Station is provided, taking about 10 min.

They used a wide brush to apply paste to the edges of a piece of kite paper.

Michi no EkiThe kite design is the same every year, but the kanji characters change. They make a new giant kite every year.

They joined two sheets of kite paper together. This marked the first step in making the kite. The finished kite paper will consist of a few hundred washi paper sheets pasted together.

More dignitaries paste the sheets of kite paper together.

The pasted pieces are laid to dry.

We were then invited to sign our names on the kite paper.

The kite design announcement and pasting ceremony lasted an hour, after which a group photo was taken.

Smaller kite "Yujo"

"Yujo"This is a smaller kite. It means "Friendship."

Crowds

July 8, 2007: On the day after the pasting ceremony, the Kamitsugi or paper joining was next. 紙継ぎ

Starting at 9:30 am, members of the giant kite preservation society began pasting and joining about 400 sheets of washi paper to make the giant kite paper.

The top two rows of washi sheets already pasted together.

The size of the room almost exactly matches the size of the giant kite which is 12 meters by 13 meters or 100 tatami mats.

The paper is Mino Washi, from Gifu Prefecture. It is white, and surprisingly thin. I thought it would be thicker. Six or so sheets are stacked while slightly spread apart.

She fell

The stacked paper is put on a table where water-based paste is applied to one horizontal and one vertical paper edge.

Patch up

Each person holds one edge-pasted sheet and line up to align and join the sheet. Each sheet measures about 90 cm by 60 cm. There are also half-size sheets.

Anybody can help do this. The public is invited to sign their names on a sheet and paste it to the big kite paper.

The sheets are joined in the same pattern as a brick wall. Every other row of sheets has a half sheet along the edge. Notice the autographs of people on the paper.

"Nakama"This is another smaller kite. It means "Circle of Friends."

So the giant kite is actually made of many smaller sheets of paper joined together. Notice my "philbert" autograph on the bottom.

Anchor truck

Mini kite contest. Kite contestants show off their kite designs at their tents.

People sign their names on a washi sheet.

Amateur areaFurther downwind was the amateur area for flying normal kites.

There are also smaller sheets of paper where you can write a wish and sign your name. Paste will be applied to these sheets which will be used to fasten the bamboo frame to the giant paper.

Another launch

The work proceeds.

The last sheet is pasted and joined. The job was finished in 3 hours.

The giant kite paper is finished, taking up the floor space of the entire room.

Another beautiful take off

After every kite-making session, they take a picture of all the volunteer participants. It was very interesting. Anybody can participate on any day. Call the kite museum for schedule details: 0748-23-0081.

July 16, 2007: Initial sketching and vermilion painting. A sketch of the design was made with a charcoal pencil. 下絵・墨

The giant kite's main and largest kanji character "sei" is painted in vermilion.

A plastic bucket (the same kind used when you take a bath) with paint and a brush is used.

The Big One. The size is equivalent to 100 tatami mats or about 12 meters x 13 meters (156 square meters).

May 27, 2007 was a bad day for giant kite flying in Yokaichi, as the giant kite crashes head-first into a bamboo grove on its first and last flight during the Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival.

Poster

At slightly past noon with medium-force winds, the giant kite is launched. The kite immediately went straight up. The giant kite is 13 meters high and 12 meters wide, and weighs 700 kg.

The red and ornage colors are painted first on the kite, while the black and gray colors are painted later.

It flew very high, up to about 150 meters, then veered to the right, over our heads.

Then it suddenly dove straight down and crashed head-first into the bamboo grove. Ironically, the blue banner on the left says, "Ganbatte" (Do your best).

Spots of white are made on purpose to give a brush stroke effect.

The giant kite was swallowed whole by the bamboo trees. No one was hurt. Also see my YouTube video here. 大凧が竹やぶに落下

The "yorokobu" or "ki" kanji is also painted on the same day.

All we could see were the kite strings.

The design sketch is being completed.

The sign says "Arigato gozaimasu" (Thank you). I guess the bamboo was hungry for a giant kite.

Plastic pails and brushes

This was the 2nd time in three years for the giant kite to meet a major accident. In 2005, the kite broke in half in the sky and crashed into a crowd of people below.

Vermilion paint

"So how does it look?" "It looks pretty bad, boss."

The sketch of the hawk is completed.

Members of the giant kite preservation society look on as the disappointing and heartbreaking situation is assessed.

Hawk eye

Carved paper

Hanging on to the strings...

Wing corner

As I expected, they soon started cutting down the bamboo.

Local cable TV station also came to cover the kite-making progress.

A small clearing was made around the kite.

A brush stroke effect

No way would this guy be able to pull the kite out of this one...

How he wished that he could just pull the strings to drag the kite out.

The kite strings were too tangled in the bamboo.

"Yorokobu" or "ki"

A closer look at the accident scene. The kite suffered significant damage, and it took about 20 days to repair.

As I predicted again, they started disassembling the kite so they could roll (crumple) it up and carry it out. The kite was not flown again for this festival. It was to be its final flight since it will be replaced next year.

Carrying out bamboo. Many people left the festival after the kite crash.

Vermilion painting of "sei" is complete.

Stack of cut bamboo.

Group photo of those who worked on the kite this time. This session was 9:30 am to noon.

People's fortune stickers on the kite. 願い札

Medium-size kites entered in a kite-flying contest.

July 31, 2007: Bamboo frame work and picture-edge frame work. 骨組（絵骨）Hone-gumi (Ebone)

A diagonal grid of thin, rod-like bamboo criss-crossed the entire kite. They are now using string to tie the bamboo intersections.

Tied bamboo intersections. The rod-like bamboo are supported by larger pieces of bamboo.

Kite edges are lined with a thicker bamboo to which the rod-like bamboo are tied.

This intricate bamboo frame supports the kite paper so it does not flap around like normal paper.

The bamboo frame work is done after the kite design is painted.

Bamboo rods and sticks.

Hawk eye painted.

Wing

Stringing the kite

Besides the diagonal grid of bamboo rods, a bamboo rod is also fastened along the edges of the design where the paper will be cut out (or carved out). These bamboo rods keep the edges of the cut-out paper taut. Otherwise it would flap around in the wind.

Still more tying to do.

Tying the bamboo frame is considered to be one of the more tedious tasks, so we were rewarded with a pair of gloves with the kite design. These gloves will also give us higher priority to pull the kite during the kite festival.

Group photo. Quite a few people worked during this 3-hour afternoon session.

Aug. 5, 2007: Paper cutting 切り抜き Kiri-nuki. First they reversed the kite paper so the bottom side was up. Then they re-installed the bamboo grid as shown here.

The bamboo grid is carefully aligned with the kite design.

The bamboo grid was temporarily fixed with weights and some tape.

Intricate bamboo grid/frame fitting all shapes along the edges.

Ready for flight

Wing portion before paper cutting.

Wing portion after paper cutting.

How they do it: First they cut along the outline of the picture leaving ample space. Then they cut it perpendicular to the edge to make paper flaps.

The paper flaps are applied with paste and then folded over the bamboo rod.

See the paper flaps pasted over the edge.

Almost finished. This paper cutting step took 3 days to complete.

Kite corner

On May 25, 2008 at the Yokaichi Giant Kite Festival, the new giant kite was flown for the first time. The wind conditions was good.

The kite flew quite high for about 3 min. 35 sec. Also see my YouTube video here.

It had rained the night before and in the morning. The ground would've been muddy, but they spread a layer of rocks to make the ground dry. It must have been hard to pull the kite and run on these rocks.

After the flight, we could see the kite up close. A sacred sakaki tree branch adorned the back of the kite. Also many paper stickers with people's wishes were pasted on the back.

Launch pad. The kite is carried to the take off point and pointed toward the wind, which unfortunately very weak this day.

Raising the kite. Long bamboo poles are used to prop the huge kite upward to meet the wind.

Take off. On cue, the people pulling the kite start running and the kite starts to lift off. Also see the video at YouTube.

Snapped part being repaired.

Yokaichi Giant Kite Preservation Society. This is the group responsible for producing, maintaining, and flying the giant kite. 大凧保存会

Sagamihara kite team invited. Sagamihara city in Kanagawa Prefecture also has a giant kite festival, and they were invited to fly a smaller version of their kite at Yokaichi. (Yokaichi was also invited to Sagamihara's kite festival in April.)

Sagamihara kite in flight. Due to a lack of wind, this flight didn't last long.

Banzai from Sagamihara. After the kite's flight, the Sagamihara team give a few banzais to themselves and to Yokaichi.

Mini kite flying contest. The flying portion of the kite contest is held.

Mini kite flying contest

Kite train or "rendako." These kites are pretty to watch. 連凧

Giant Kite sake. The food and souvenir booths sold a variety of merchandise including this locally-brewed sake, complete with a label showing this year's kite design.

Kite pullers wanted. This booth, next to the giant kite, is where you can apply to pull the kite. Anybody can apply to pull the giant kite. I applied and got a little kite pin and a pair of gloves.

Ready for another flight

Yokaichi giant kite coming up.

100 kite pullers

OK, RUN NOW!! This is the most exciting part when we start running with the rope. It was like a stampede, and I let go after a few seconds to avoid getting runned over by the mob behind me.

And lift off...

Yokaichi Odako giant kite Air borne

Higher and higher...It went up to about ?? meters.

No wind. This flight lasted only about 30 sec. We ran about 50 meters, then the kite fell back to Earth. Also see the video at YouTube.

Festival poster

The Higashi-Omi Giant Kite Festival (Higashi-Omi Odako Matsuri) is held on the last Sunday of May at Fureai Undo Park (ふれあい運動公園) in Notogawa, HigashiOmi, Shiga. The main highlight is the giant kite, flying at 11:30 am and 2:30 pm.My video of the Higashi-Omi Giant Kite Festival on May 26, 2013. Due to a tragic kite crash in May 2015, this kite festival has been suspended since May 2016. It will not be held in May 2019 either.

Also see kite-flying contests, exotic kites from around Japan, and stage entertainment. Anybody can fly a kite too. From 10 am to 3 pm.

Free shuttle buses ran from JR Notogawa Station to the park which had no public parking.

The festival name changed from Yokaichi Odako Matsuri to Higashiomi Odako Matsuri in May 2012 and the festival site changed in May 2013 to Fureai Undo Koen Park. Map

Kite-flying contest.

The kites are the size of two tatami mats.

About 30 teams competed in kite-flying and design contests.

Thirty teams made "mini giant kites" and competed in kite design (図柄) and flying (飛揚). They went on the outdoor stage for kite design judging.

This team is from Higashi-Omi City Hall's young employees group.

Kite trains (連凧) are the crowd favorite.

Then I stumbled across this arch kite.

To my delight, it was an arch kite of hula girls.

The hula girls were joined by Awa Odori girls from Tokushima.

They're even wearing a lei and a flower in their hair!!

Huge arch kite of hula girls and Awa Odori dancers.

Needless to say, this was my favorite kite at the festival. How did they know someone from Hawaii was coming?

Their feet fluttered in the wind and their hips rocked left and right like real hula dancers.

The Awa Odori dancers also danced great in the wind. (Watch my video.)

Hiko-nyan (Hikone Castle's official mascot) meets hula girls!

At sround 11:30 am, they cleared the area and brought out the giant kite (odako).

They were going to pull the kite across the width of the park since the way blew that way.

Made of washi paper (from Mino, Gifu) and a bamboo frame, the giant kite measures 13 meters high and 12 meters wide and weighs 700 kg.

The kite is unique for its cutout and hanjimon (判じもん) design.

The hanjimon (判じもん) kite design always has a twin pair of creatures and a large kanji character. Together they form a thematic catch phrase.

This kite's hanjimon has twin dragons that can be pronounced "shin-shin" (辰辰), a homonym for mind and body (心身). And the vermillion kanji reads "sukoyaka" (健やか), meaning good health. So the kite wishes for your "

The four Wind Goddesses pose for us. The four Wind Goddesses (風の女神) are like festival princesses and they beckon the wind to blow during the kite festival.

We visit the giant kite at rest. The back of the kite has many stickers written with kids' wishes.

Higashi-Omi's giant kite is a National Intangible Folk Cultural Property (選択無形民俗文化財) with a 300-year history. It started with villages flying kites for Boy's Day in May to celebrate the birth of a boy.

The villages then started competing in kite-making and the size grew larger and larger. The giant kite they fly today is the size of 100 tatami mats (13 m x 12 m). The Higashi-Omi Giant Kite Preservation Society (東近江大凧保存会) maintains the ki