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Description
Part of a triplicate, which includes [link] & [link]

Actually, this is more about the Japanese New Year, which is far more important to them, and it's to go with two other images on site - 'Swiss Christmas' and 'Russian Christmas'.

The kids are playing Karuta, a kind of card gamei involving poetry. The cards have pictures, poems, characters, and proverbs on them and the aim is to pick the correct cards first. Someone reads the first part of poem while the players search for the card on which the last part is written. The thing behind them is a Daruma doll, which can be any size, so I drew it massive! It doesn't have any eyes when you buy it. Instead, you paint one in and make a wish. When the wish is fufilled you paint on the other eye. The birds hanging above are origami cranes, which are thought to bring peace and happiness to the New Year, whilst the rope above is a Shimenawa, a sacred rope made of straw on which zig-zag strips of paper (shide) are hung. It's placed above the door to keep "evil spirits" out of the house.

Description
Part of a triplicate, which includes [link] & [link]

Actually, this is more about the Japanese New Year, which is far more important to them, and it's to go with two other images on site - 'Swiss Christmas' and 'Russian Christmas'.

The kids are playing Karuta, a kind of card gamei involving poetry. The cards have pictures, poems, characters, and proverbs on them and the aim is to pick the correct cards first. Someone reads the first part of poem while the players search for the card on which the last part is written. The thing behind them is a Daruma doll, which can be any size, so I drew it massive! It doesn't have any eyes when you buy it. Instead, you paint one in and make a wish. When the wish is fufilled you paint on the other eye. The birds hanging above are origami cranes, which are thought to bring peace and happiness to the New Year, whilst the rope above is a Shimenawa, a sacred rope made of straw on which zig-zag strips of paper (shide) are hung. It's placed above the door to keep "evil spirits" out of the house.