is, as with tradiitional battledore and shuttlecock, essentially a "keeping up" game, which can be played on it's own by a solitary person [Tsukibane] or by two people opposing each other [Oibane]. Scoring is the same as in the traditional game.
The game is unique to Japan and is traditionally played on New Year's Day. Over the centuries it has evolved from being a game for royalty around the 13th century to it's present role where the equipment is used as ornate decoration displayed in the home during Pine Decoration Season. [1st to 7th January]. How this change has come about will be revealed in the following paragraphs.
It is not known when the game first came into existence but it is thought that originally, it was an adult pastime with betting hingeing on the results.
The first recorded reference to it appears in a book written in the Muromachi Era [1136 to 1573 AD] which states that during New Year holidays in the 4th year of Eikyo in the mid Muromachi Era [1433 A.D.] "princes and princesses and court nobles and ladies enjoyed playing battledore and shuttlecock at the palace by dividing themselves into red and white teams."
Over the years, the men's involvement in the game declined leaving the women to maintain its survival, but when this was has still to be discovered.
The earliest contemporary evidence I know of, so far, is a mid 19th century painting in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art called "Women playing with Shuttlecocks and Battledores" by the artist Yoshitoshi. It portrays two Japanese ladies wearing kimonos playing "Hanetsuki" and two children spectating.
With hindsight, in view of the game's subsequent development, the children are a significant factor. This is because sometime during the 19th or 20th century, children joined the ladies in the playing of the game,
This meant that, over the centuries, the status of "Hanetsuki" changed from being a favourite adult pastime played at court to that of a children's traditional New Year game.
But what is the status of "Hanetsuki" as we move into the 21st century? Sadly the New Year cries of "Hanetsuki" are no longer a familiar sound on the streets of Japan , the volume of modern day traffic make it much too dangerous. Besides the children of today are much more interested in modern pursuits such as video games and the like than the old fashioned games of their parents..
So you may well ask, "If the game is seldom played today does it still have a role in modern Japan?"
The answer is that although the game may be seldom played, the equipment used to play it is very much in demand as a decoration at the time of the New Year Festival.
To understand why this should be we have to look at the development of the Hagoita [Battledore] over the same period as for the game.
The game is played with a paddle shaped light weight, wooden battledore, [Hagoita] and a relatively small shuttlecock [Hane].
In addition to being a functional battledore, the unusual but constant shape of the "hagoita" plus the infinite variety of it's decoration make it a popular and desirable form of Japanese art. This unchanging shape of the "hagoita" is remarkably similar to that portrayed in the 1390 battledore print which is housed in the the British Museum Library. [See Battledore and Shuttlecock page.]
Knowing the ability of the Japanese to copy artefacts, the theory has been advanced that, initially, either the design of the bat was copied, or butter pats were pressed into service in the 15th century and that this basic shape has been maintained to the present day.
Since time immemorial Japan has been renowned for the exquisite beauty of it's oriental art. Whether it be Shinto temples or every day household objects, all bear witness to the skill of the Japanese decorative artist. Therefore it should come as no surprise to learn that from it's earliest beginnings the blade of the "hagoita" has been the recipient of such artistry.
A story handed down from the Muromachi Era says of the nobility: "Hagoitas" presented to the palace by the shogunate of the era on the occasion of New Years in the Eikyo period were gorgeously designed and were brilliantly decorated by gold and silver pressing, lacquering or other means. The commoners too decorated their battledores, with colours which varied according to the local area. Originally such ornamentation, although resplendent, was purely flat surface decoration. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that the raised rag pictures which are such an attractive feature of today's Hagoita, were added to the blade.
How did this come about?
Long before it was introduced to the "hagoita", the art of making rag pictures was a technique practised by court ladies, wives of noblemen and other high class women, who used it to decorate sliding doors [fusuma], folding screens [byobo] and incense boxes [kobako] etc." This art form was equally as popular as other cultural arts in high society in the capital city Kyoto. Later in the Edo era it became popular with the wives of the feudal lords and eventually it spread to the commoners of the land.
So when did the "Hagoita" with pasted rag pictures first appear?
The prosperity of commerce and industry in the Bunka-Bunsei (1808 - 1818) resulted in the flourishing of townsmen's culture. At that time the centre of culture shifted from Kyoto to Edo [now Tokyo]. As downtown Edo grew the people there became dissatisfied with the traditional aristocratic tastes and created various forms of culture that reflected their own life style. It was at that point in time that they can be said to have achieved the greatest cultural development in the country's history.
The "Kabuki drama, the most popular entertainment for both "samurai" warriors and tradesmen in that age, reached it's climax with successful plays by famous actors being pictured on "Hagoita" battledores every year, a practice which achieved great popularity with the public. Thus the "Hagoita" with the pasted rag pictures became one of the many handicraft arts created by the Edo people and handed down to the present day.
So if the demand for "Hanetsuki" equipment is still there where is it obtainable?
It is available annually in large stores but the traditional outlet for the equipment is the:
Every year in the middle of December a large and lively three day "Hagoita" market [ichi] is set up in front of the Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. Stall upon stall, huddled together cheek by jowl, the way that everything is in Tokyo, sell the elaborately ornate battledores that have been a New Year tradition for centuries.
Apart from their elegance they range in size from the very small [around 7 inches] to the very large [4 feet or more] so that it is impossible to imagine a game of "Hanetsuki" ever being played with some of them.
Given that there is a demand for the equipment, who buys it and for what purpose?
The answer is that many are purchased to decorate Japanese homes during the long New Year holiday. With this in mind many of the more expensive examples have purpose built stands to support them in an upright position or frames to enclose them for wall hanging.
"Hanetsuki" and/or it's equipment is also used in the following ways:
In many parts of Japan there is still an observance of the age old custom of presenting a "Hagoita" to a baby girl, at the first New Year after her birth, to celebrate her healthy growth.
On "Coming of Age Day" [15th January], Hanetsuki is played at the Hachimangu Shrine in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, to predict the year's rice harvest. First two young people celebrating "Coming-of-Age Day" offer large "Hagoitas" to the shrine. After praying for a good harvest the fortune telling game begins.
"Hanetsuki" is played between a Shinto Priestess and a shrine maiden. If the priestess wins, the rice harvest will be good and vice versa.
Small ceramic or wooden chop stick rests in the shape of a "Hagoita" or a "Hane" are another reminder of "Hanetsuki". Ostensibly these are produced for use on the Japanese table but I suspect that the manufacturers also have the tourist trade in mind.
other artefacts are produced modelled on "Hanetsuki" equipment, Items such as tooth pick holders, key rings, greetings cards and postcards plus the very newest of collectibles - telephone cards.