Kite artisan in Japan hopes tigers bring strength to new year

The Yomiuri Shimbun

November 19, 2021

KITAKYUSHU — Artisans at a workshop are busy making kites depicting tigers in Tobata Ward, Kitakyushu, as 2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac. Yoshihiro Takeuchi, 78, a kite craftsman and the owner of Kite House Magoji, builds the kite frames using bamboo and glues traditional washi paper onto them, while his daughter Azusa Tateishi, 43, paints them. Most of the bamboo used for their kites are from Fukuoka Prefecture. “I’m making the kites in the hopes that next year will be strong and we won’t lose to the pandemic,” Takeuchi said.