Bijin playing battledore

A bijin plays battledore — hanetsuki, the traditional New Year's game played with a wooden paddle and a shuttlecock — in this composition that gives the Yumeji-style woman a moment of physical activity and seasonal celebration. The game is associated with the New Year and with the prayers that accompany the shuttlecock's flight: tradition holds that the shuttle must not be allowed to fall, and the playing has an element of urgent hope to it. Yumeji's figure brings her characteristic concentrated expression even to this festive moment.