1. What is “Oshie-Hagoita”
Oshie-Hagoita (literally, “pushed wooden paddle”) is a wooden paddle ornament with three-dimensional, padded fabric collage which became very popular among the aristocrats and the elites during the Edo period (the 17th to the mid 19th Century) in Japan. Padded fabric collages are usually the face or the pose of popular Kabuki actors. There was no photographic technology at the time in Japan and therefore the ornaments were considered as having your favorite artist's picture.
Before Oshie-Hagoitas became beautifully adorned ornaments, children played with wooden paddles and shuttlecocks, which became a popular game among everyone to play in new years to “ward off bad and evil spirits”. Over the years, wooden paddles became ornaments to give as a gift to women to spell off bad and evil spirits.
In recent years in Japan, they are gifted for the occasions of moving to a new house, warding off bad spirits, the first new year for a new born girls, etc.