menu

Collections

AB 753

Folk Toys and Games

  • 2009.114.12 a Buyare ushi-oni
  • AB 753 Hagoita
  • AB 91-2 Inflatable Manekineko (front)
  • AB 91-9 Miniature Manekineko (front)
  • AB 32 a-d Miniature Samurai Animals
  • AB 84-15 Firefly Cage
  • 2009.114.30 a-c Horse
  • AB 91-13 Angel Pocket
  • AB 83-10 Miharu-goma (front)
  • AB 85-38 Transformers toy (as robot)
  • AB 82-11 Licca-chan and Supermarket
  • AB 77-4 b Battledore (front)
  • AB 76-67 Hanafuda cards
  • AB 76-117 Sagara kite (front)
  • AB 57-8 b Shuttlecocks (front)
  • 2009.199.1 a-g Trading Cards
  • AB 659 e Miniature Kimono
  • AB 87-15 Inuhariko (front)
  • AB 86-9 Akabeko (front)
  • AB 85-53 Tiger
  • AB 85-51 Toy Dragon
  • AB 85-45 Take-ushi
  • AB 20 s2 Horse Pull Toy
  • AB 81-96 Poetry Card Game
  • AB 90-3 Red Silk Manekineko (front)
  • AB 90-7 Manekineko (front)
  • AB 77-4 a Battledore (front)
  • AB 76-114 Temari Ball
  • AB 76-127 Otedama
  • AB 1101 a Toy Dogs
  • 2006.X.114 Toy Zodiac Rabbit (front)
  • AB 90-5 Bejeweled Manekineko (front)

Hanetsuki Did you know?

What is it?
Battledore (Hagoita)
What is it made of?
Wood/Paint
Where is it from?
Japan
When was it made?
1912-1938
Object ID
AB 753
Description

This small wooden hagoita (battledore) features a painted design on one face; the reverse is unpainted. Unlike most hagoita, this one is flat and does not have three-dimensional fabric sculptural detailing on the front. The painting depicts a bust portrait of a girl, her eyes upraised, waiting to strike at a shuttlecock. Part of her arm and the battledore she is holding are visible in the frame behind her hairbow. The girl, who is wearing a red and pink kimono, has a bobbed haircut and a green bow in her hair. The bob and the likely time period for this battledore indicate that she may be a moga, or "modern girl," a type similar to the American flapper. She is painted against a blue background, and the handle is unpainted.  

Moga, short for modaan gaaru ("modern girl"), is a term used to describe the progressive, materialistic, and modern flapper-like female archetype of the Taisho era (1912-1926). Moga, typically sporting bobbed hair and Western-style clothing, were financially independent and socially liberated urbanites, and became the subject of much romanticization in novels (such as Junichiro Tanizaki's Naomi, 1924) and art (Kobayakawa Kiyoshi's "Tipsy," 1930). A strong conservative backlash during the years leading up to WWII saw the moga as a symbol of Westernization and decadence.

Credit
Donated by Kokusai Bunka Shinkikai in 1938
AB 753 Hagoita