Date: Sat, 8 Apr 1995 12:30:58 -1000 From: jburka@Glue.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) Message-Id: <3m72r2$5hu@geog20.umd.edu> Organization: Project Glue, University of Maryland, College Park Subject: Giant edos attack the Mall! Today was the annual Cherry Blossom Festival Parade here in DC, and this year the local kiters had quite a treat. The Kennedy Center, as part of a display on the arts of Japan, had been given a number of kites, edos and rok's from Shirone. The kites are fairly traditionally constructed of washi on bamboo (okay, so maybe the wingnuts on the edos weren't quite traditional... ;-), and handpainted with traditional graphics. A passle of us gathered bright and way-too-early on the Mall to assemble the kites and get them ready to be marched through the parade. Amongst us, we had 3 rok's, perhaps 8' tall, and 3 edos -- two of which were 17'x12', the other being 20'x15'. We carried the kites through the parade, occasionally stopping to turn rotate them so the crowd could see the graphics. Personally, I found the parade to be a bit dull, but I'm not much of one for that sort of thing. *Far* more interesting was what happened when we reached the end of the parade route: we carried the kites up on to the Western grounds of the Washington Monument (site of the Smithsonian Festival), and flew all three edos and one of the roks. The two smaller edos flew fairly briefly. The rok stayed up for an hour or so and looked amazing with its fierce samurai warrior's face peering down. But even more impressive than the rok was the large edo, which we flew for about half an hour. It went up beautifully, and stayed flying. I'm way too lazy to calculate the surface presented to the wind when bowed, but this beast pulled like you'd expect a flattened kite of 300 square feet to pull. With its tangle of bridle lines branching off the face, lower handfuls dangling loosely providing drag and stability, this kite was unbelievably beautiful, huge, and inspiring. The crowd on the Mall was as taken as we were, crowding around to ask questions about the origins of the kite, as well as others about its size, construction, and pull. Despite occasional small oscillations, I'd have to say that the kite was extremely stable, responding well to slack and pull on the line -- held at most times by 5-7 people. Wow. This is a kite fly I won't soon forget! --- I have a question for anyone who might be knowledgeable about edos. All the edos (and for that matter, hammamatsus, which are rather similar frames, though they have a lower aspect ratio and the extended central spar "tail" with it's rope extension), have been framed with light spars forming a grid behind the sail, and an X of heavier spars spanning the diagonals. The Shirone edos did not have the cross spars, relying solely on the vertical and horizontal bamboo slats to provide tension to the sail. The vertical shafts were bolted to top and bottom horizontal slats, but I'm not sure if that's the reason the diagonals were left out. Can anyone out there comment about the framing of these giant kites? Jeff (who suspects that this summer will see the emergence of a smallish edo >From his own sewing machine... ;-) -- |Jeffrey C. Burka | Pithy, insightful quote to be inserted | | | when one occurs to me. *If* one occurs | |jeffy@glue.umd.edu | to me. | = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 08:56:49 -1000 From: gilchgw@zoology.washington.edu (George W. Gilchrist) Message-Id: <3mejdh$3bbt@nntp2.u.washington.edu> Organization: University of Washington Subject: Re: Giant edos attack the Mall! In article <3m72r2$5hu@geog20.umd.edu>, jburka@Glue.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) says: >I have a question for anyone who might be knowledgeable about edos. All >the edos (and for that matter, hammamatsus, which are rather similar >frames, though they have a lower aspect ratio and the extended central spar >"tail" with it's rope extension), have been framed with light spars forming >a grid behind the sail, and an X of heavier spars spanning the diagonals. > >The Shirone edos did not have the cross spars, relying solely on the >vertical and horizontal bamboo slats to provide tension to the sail. The >vertical shafts were bolted to top and bottom horizontal slats, but I'm not >sure if that's the reason the diagonals were left out. Can anyone out >there comment about the framing of these giant kites? > Jeff, I certainly don't know much about these, but I did pick up a little book by Dan Kura???? (sorry, I meant to bring it to work, but forgot) about the making of Japanese kites. Anyway, Dan was a the Ft. Worden Kitemaker's Workshop making kites at the other end of the scale (miniatures). He has studied with some of the best kitemakers in Japan and seems to know his stuff. In his book, he points out that the Edo kites are framed heavily with the cross-spars and can fly with few bridle lines whereas the Shirone kites are made for lighter winds and rely on the vast array of bridles to hold their shape. He has some brief, but very nice instructions for making these kites and managing their bridles, as well as a great chapter on Roks. I understand Dan sells these books directly at his workshops for about $10. If you want his address, I can provide it. Cheers, George ============================== George W. Gilchrist gilchgw@zoology.washington.edu University of Washington Department of Zoology Box 351800 Seattle, WA 98l95-1800 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =