Good luck charms for the New Year, Hagoita

After so many visits to Japan, some Japanese traditions became my own, somehow I feel that some of them are close to my own way of feeling and thought... So I found myself looking forward to buy some lucky charms for the New Year (^_^)

I like this tradition even more because it's really not so simple than it seems to be. There are many kinds of lucky charms, some are sold at temples or shrines, other are sold at fairs, some are available before the New Year, others during the first days of the year...

The first of them is a new hagoita and not from everywhere, but from the largest fair in Tokyo, which takes place these days at Senso-ji in Asakusa: there are here dozens of stalls, offering hundreds of models.

Hagoita is a wooden paddle used in the past for Hanetsuki, a sort of badminton, but what is today available at the hagoita fairs is something special: elegant 3D models made of silk and washi Japanese paper are decorating the wooden paddle, representing kabuki actors, geisha, modern personalities like singers, sport and movie stars or even anime characters and Hello Kitty. Of course, they are not used for games anymore, they are now good luck charms - it is said that you hit the bad luck with them... (^_^)

Which one to chose? Though choice...