Standing out

The Yomiuri Shimbun

November 28, 2021

Craftsperson displays hagoita battledores, a good luck charm for the New Year, at a hagoita maker in Kasukabe, Saitama Prefecture, in the company’s busiest season of the year. The decorations, with patterns of women wearing kimono and popular actors, are padded with cotton to give them a 3D effect. Mizuno Seisakusho produces about 10 different types of battledores in various lengths, with the largest being 180 centimeters long.