"Edo" is the old name of Tokyo.
This rectangular kite is one of traditional
Tokyo style kites. Sometimes, we call this
kite "Edo-Nishikie-dako". "Nishikie"
is a beautiful woodcut print used a lot of
colors. It was popular in Edo period ( 1600-1868
).
"dako" means a kite.
Edo-kite is usually flown with long bridle lines and a long hummer. The length of the bridle lines are almost
20 times ( or more ) as long as the height
of the kite. I usually put 14 or 17 bridle
lines on it, and fly them no tail. If the
kite is big ( more than 2m hight ), I will
put 29 or 37 bridle lines, because the frame
is different from small Edo-Kites. In old
time, there were people who flew Edo-Kites
with short bridle lines and long tails.
The kite pictures are drawn from the anecdote
of historical persons, old story books, the
Ukiyoe ( a woodcut print popular among the
common people during the Edo period ) and
the Kabuki. The kite-flying had been very
popular from the Edo period in Tokyo, but
now, we have few kite fields in Tokyo. This
is the problem in Tokyo.
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