20 August 2019 - MUSEUM OF KITES IN TOKYO, JAPAN

MUSEUM OF KITES 

IN TOKYO, JAPAN

G'day folks,

Here is another interesting find. This tiny museum hidden above a restaurant houses thousands of modern and traditional kites. 

In the middle of a busy business district of Chuo, in Tokyo, is a small museum hidden on the fifth floor above a busy restaurant. Only a small metal sign at the building’s entrance indicates its existence. Stumbling across the tiny museum reveals a trove of thousands of unique kites.

The Museum of Kites is packed full of kites from the personal collection of one man. Shingo Modegi founded the Japan Kite Association and also happens to be the former owner of the restaurant that takes up the lower floors of the building. Modegi also personally participated in setting the record for the largest kite in the world in 2006.

The museum space itself is rather cluttered, but despite its size, the collection holds upwards of 3,000 items. You’ll find anything from tiny box kites to giant replicas of planes and birds, making this cramped exhibit look like a hidden attic full of treasures.

The kites themselves come in all shapes, sizes, and materials from traditional to modern and paper to nylon. Some hang from the ceilings, while others lean against the walls. Some kites even date from Japan’s Edo period, which lasted from 1603 to 1868.

 If, after seeing this impressive collection, you feel inspired to make a kite of your own, the museum is happy to oblige, as it offers building materials like bamboo, fabrics, and cords in its gift shop as well as fully-built kites and souvenirs.

Clancy's comment: Kites gave us heaps of joy when we were kids. Mind you, some of them never got off the ground.

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30 December 2018 - ALL SAINTS DAY KITE FESTIVAL IN GUATEMALA

ALL SAINTS DAY 

KITE FESTIVAL 

IN GUATEMALA

G'day folks,

 

On November 1st of every year the people of both Santiago Sacatepéquez, and Sumpango, Guatemala, put together giant kites to fly during the Day of the Dead during the All Saints Day Kite Festival.

The vibrantly colored designs on the kites, made of cloth and paper with bamboo frames, depict religious or folkloric themes and they are flown in the nearby Sacatepéquez cemetery to honor the dead. The locals in this small municipality dress up in colorful clothing and head to the cemetery to spend the day cleaning up the graves and decorating them with flowers while they have picnics right next to their departed family members.

Traditionally, the building of the kites takes 40 days, the first day marked by the village’s unmarried men heading out to the coast at 4:00 am to laboriously collect bamboo for the kite frames. Every part of the kite is made using nature’s bounty; the glue is a mixture of yucca flower, lemon peel, and water, ropes are made of the maguey plant (the plant that also brings us tequila), and the tails are made from woven cloth.

The practice of flying colorful kites during the Day of the Dead celebrations has been around for 3,000 years and is recognized by various religious sects, and locals believe it is a tool for communicating with the beyond.

Clancy's comment: What a great community project, eh? Kids would love it.

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