Category:

Prefecturally Designated Tangible Folk Cultural Property

Title:

Oshie hagoita mensoshi kankei shiryo

Decorative Battledore Portraitists’ Materials
押絵羽子板面相師関係資料

No. of features:

5,584 pieces

Designated:

March 19, 1999

Location:

Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore (opens to new page)
4-219 Takahanacho, Omiya Ward

Owner:

Saitama Prefecture

Description:

“Hagoita” are battledore-like paddles used to hit a shuttlecock in the traditional Japanese game of “hanetsuki”. “Oshie-hagoita” are a decorative version, where padded collages of a man or woman are attached to the surface of the battledore for a 3-D effect.

Two generations of the Takase family worked in Tokorozawa as “mensoshi”, artisans who specialized in drawing the faces on oshie-hagoita. 

This collection includes tools and raw materials used in the Takases’ work, in-progress works,  and completed pieces. There are 5,584 items in total, including over 2,043 preparatory sketches and a group of drawings collected from the Takases’ colleagues that span the Taisho and Showa periods (1912-1989).

These materials give valuable insight into how designs changed over time. The collection also includes a wealth of implements like the stencils and “mensokakiwari” that the artists used to paint faces.

Associated Texts:

(2002). “Survey Report on Saitama Prefecture’s Designated Cultural Properties” (vol. 22). Saitama Prefectural Board of Education.

Please be courteous towards other visitors, locals, and the site’s owners/curators when visiting this cultural property.

This collection is occasionally on public display. Please contact the Saitama City Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore for details.

Inquiries (Japanese only)

Cultural Heritage Preservation Division, Department of Lifelong Learning, Board of Education Secretariat　

TEL：048-829-1723 FAX：048-829-1989

https://www.city.saitama.jp/004/005/006/001/019/003/002/p006376.html