Japan History and Culture

Flat Marbles (Ohajiki, 御弾き, おはじき)

Ohajiki is a traditional game for Japanese children, especially girls. In the past, they used roll shells, pebbles or pieces from another game, but now they use flat ball made with small coin-shaped colures ceramic, glass or plastic, and whose diameter is 1-1.5 cm The name of game came from playing by snapping or flicking (“hajiki” in Japanese word) with the fingers.a game similar to marbles. This game became very popular as an indoor game for girls during the Edo period (from 1603 to 1867).

How to play

1. All players sit down on the floor and all players place the same number of ohajiki on the floor, and then do jan ken pon (rock, paper, scissors) to determine who goes first.

2. The first player gathers everyone’s pieces using one hand and then scatters ohajiki 20 pieces on a table or on the floor.

3. The player can only touch the disc, Shoot (flipping or snapping) one of the two pieces to hit another. If the player successfully hits one of the other players’ discs she can keep it.

4. But if player cannot hit, player does not get to keep any of them, then it is the next player’s turn. The person who acquires the most pieces is the winner.

Japanese badminton (Hanetsuki)

Hanetsuki is a Japanese traditional game, similar to badminton, played without a net, and is played with a wooden paddle called hagoita and a shuttlecock called hane and is made from colorful feathers. This game is a young girls game that is played at New Years.

The game can be played in two fashions, by one person attempting to keep the shuttlecock aloft as long as possible, or by the two people batting it back and forth. Girls who fail to hit the shuttlecock get marked on the face with India Ink by a stroke of a brush. While the game’s popularity has declined in recent times, beautifully ornamented hagoita are still a popular collection item, it has since become a custom to give a hagoita as a gift to celebrate the birth of a girl.