Otedama is now a cushion-shaped craft, made of sheets of cloth and red beans inside, but its style varies from place to place. For example, some places put different things inside otedama depending on their regional specialties. Some use dried corn, and others use seashells instead of red beans to fill otedama. In addition, the shapes of otedama differ as well. Some look like a baby monkey (called Sarubobo; a photo on the right) and some others look like a flower.

Play Style

You can play otedama in basically two ways: Nage-dama and Yose-dama. Both terms are the combination of two Japanese words. First, Nage-dama is the combination of Nage and Dama. Nage means to throw, and dama means ball in Japanese, respectively, so nage-dama is a play where you throw several otedama balls up in the sky. On the other hand, Yose-dama is a combination of the Japanese words, Yose and Dama. Yose means to drag something close to you. Yose-dama, therefore, basically means a play where you drag otedama balls close to you. More precisely, in Yosedama, you scatter some otedama balls on the ground first, and you try to pick them up while throwing other otedama balls up in the sky.

Otedama culture in Akita 

Akita City holds an event where the elderly teach how to play Japanese traditional plays including otedama to young kids. Watch the youtube video on the right to know the event more!

To know more!