The basic idea of flying fighter kites is pretty much the same the world over. The last kite in the air wins, and this is usually achieved by cutting the flying lines of the other kites. By friction against other flying lines, not with scissors!
However, a pair of scissors did make an appearance during one highly irregular Rokkaku Battle. That was during a South Australian kite festival some years ago, here in Adelaide! So a little birdie told me.
Talking about Rokkakus, the traditional Japanese bouts just involved the downing of kites, by means other than sawing through the flying lines.
Most other fighter designs are actually unstable in the air while there is low tension in the flying line. With the right amount of extra tension applied, a skillful flyer can cause the kite to dart off in any straight line direction desired.
Flying fighters is not necessarily 'kids stuff'. However, huge numbers of kids in the countries with a kite-fighting culture do participate. The skills, in both construction and flying, have been passed down for generations.
On this site, there's more kite-making info than you can poke a stick at :-)
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The Big MBK E-book Bundle is a collection of downloads - printable PDF files which provide step-by-step instructions for many kites large and small...
Every kite in every MBK series.
In addition to Japan's Rokkaku, a number of other countries have one or more distinctive local fighter kite designs. Here are the main examples, followed by the name of the traditional kite:
Here is a picture of all 5 types, in order corresponding to the points above:
Now, getting back to those child fliers, in all cultures... The kids
make fairly crude designs from whatever materials are available. Crude
in comparison to what can be bought from the local kite makers...
Kite masters or designers and their assistants turn out extremely neat and well-balanced fighter kites for sale. Often these kites are exquisitely attractive to look at too! The smallest and cheapest of these are often flown by kids. Bamboo still dominates as a great traditional spar material, but the traditional sail materials of tissue and silk are starting to give way to more modern materials such as nylon, mylar and plastic.
On one occasion at the Adelaide International kite festival, we took the above video. A small fighter is being expertly handled over the sand by artist and kite designer Tony Rice.
As mentioned earlier, there's more kite-making on this site than you can poke a stick at :-)
Want to know the most convenient way of using it all?
The Big MBK E-book Bundle is a collection of downloads - printable PDF files which provide step-by-step instructions for many kites large and small...
Every kite in every MBK series.
It's a printable PDF file. Make a diamond, delta or sled step-by-step. They fly hundreds of feet up for hours on end. Woohoo!
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