The hagoita is a paddle used in a game played at the beginning of the new year.
Japanese people also display specially decorated hagoita for New Year's.
The history of decorative hagoita date back to the beggining of Edo era.
He was a allegiant of Yoshitsune Minamoto.
Speaking of Benkei, there is a very famouse legendary episode.
It is said that he died standing up to protect Yoshitsune from a rain arrows.
Their story was played on Kabuki stage in the Edo period.
Since then, Benkei and Yoshitsune has become very popular persons in Japan.
Back at the Hagoita, Hagoita is a lucky charm against bad luck of the next year.
In other words, it's used as scapegoater to transfer misfortune and disease.
Baically, Hagoita as a lucky charm is valid for one year.
So the Hagoita fair has held every year in Japan. The fair becomes crowded with hundreds of thousands of people shopping for them, and old Hagoitas are taken to shrines and burned. It's called "Otakiage".
It is extremely unlucky to get old Hagoita so Japanese people never gift or sell it.
But, many old Hagoitas are listed on eBay.........It's scary.
If you want to get a Hagoita, You should buy new one.
The genuine Hagoita made in Japan will be priced from $100 to $500 on the market, depending on size.
http://stores.ebay.com/Katsushika-densankan
