Where Inspiration Comes From

羽子板 連獅子, a photo by Garyou on Flickr.

The photo shows hagoita, a battledore, I saw at the Shimbashi-Embujo Theatre tonight. It was the last day of Januay Performance, so I went there. I don't usually go see plays on weekdays. It was special.

Hagoita is fundamentally used to hit a very small wood ball with feather, like a badminton racket hits a shuttlecock. Some hagoita are for display and they are very decorative. This is one of the decorative ones.
Moreover, this is so huge. Ordinary hagoita is larger than a table tennis racket and a little shorter than a badminton racket. This hagoita is almost as tall as an adult man.

Every time I go see plays, I'm inspired a lot. I want to tat something like a flower circles on a wall in a play, I want to knit something like checker-board pattern in kimono a character wear, and so on.