The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Japanese kites on display

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 24, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Japanese kites on display

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, FEB. 23. In Japan, March is the month of `Girls festival'. Keiko Nakano, Vice Consul of Japan inaugurated a Japanese kite and top expo in Chennai on Tuesday, to mark the festivities.

Colourful kites, with eye-catching themes and variety of shapes, adorned the walls of Lalit Kala Akademi on Greames Road. Each province in Japan specialises in a theme, though faces of Samurai top the list.

Traditionally kites are flown during New Year (January 1 - 3, and during the Boys' festival - May 5). In India kite flyers try to bring down other kites.

But in Japan one who flies the kite the longest is declared the winner. Obviously the wind plays a major role. This explains why many kites portray clouds, the force of wind and the thunder god.

The first kites are believed to have come to Japan from China during (A.D 794-1185). Kites with long tongues are flown to ward off evil. A crane on a kite symbolises long life. Samurai faces on kites are indicative of young boys' admiration for warriors.

Ferocious faces of Samurais are as arresting as the Devil kite from Nagasaki region. Some kites have easy-to-pronounce names (pine bamboo) while other have tongue twisters (such as Ogura Dojin).

Then there are variety of cicada kites, Sumo wrestler kites, the Bunraku puppet and the Daruma kite to gape at.

Among the first visitors was R. Veeramani, president, Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce. Like kites, tops also came from China some 1,200 years ago.

From an aristocratic sport, it became a common man's game. Around 18th century, entertainers came up with `performing tops' that could be manipulated. These were called `quarrelling tops.'

The Japanese have designed tops that hum as they spin. There are roulette tops for gambling and Sumo Wrestler and Edo tops.

On display are 77 varieties of kites and 78 kinds of tops. The exhibition will be on from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. until March 3.

The travelling exhibition, organised jointly by Tokyo-based Japan Foundation, the Consulate-General of Japan and the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was first held in Chennai in 1992. It has since then toured the world.

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