Oibane, Playing Battledore and Shuttlecock — 追羽根

This 1953 oban woodblock print shows a woman playing oibane, the traditional Japanese game of battledore and shuttlecock (hanetsuki). Shimura Tatsumi captures the athletic grace of the game, the player reaching upward to strike the feathered shuttlecock with her decorated paddle. The game was traditionally associated with the New Year season, and its depiction in prints carried associations of celebration, feminine leisure, and the physical vitality of winter holidays. Shimura renders the kinetic moment with fluid lines that convey the upward sweep of the arm and the reactive billow of the kimono sleeve.