New Year Game For Girls (2006-01-03)
Many years ago Japanese girls dressed in kimono used to play a game called Hanetsuki which is similar to battledore and shuttlecock. Two girls would be tossing a shuttlecock (Hane) between them with a wooden paddle (Hagoita). Nowadays it is not easy to spot girls playing such game anymore, but you can still see those paddles painted with bright colors sold in stores.
An interesting rule of the game is that every time a player
fails to return the shuttlecock and lets it drop on the ground is to have
her face painted a stroke with ink by the opponent. If you are
really
bad at the game, you can end up having a black face when the game
finishes. I can see how that appeals to girls.
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