Hagoita wooden paddles featuring nine prominent people of the year, such as shogi prodigy Sota Fujii and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, were put on display at a Kyugetsu Co. doll shop in Taito Ward, Tokyo, on Thursday.
Fujii became the youngest holder of two major shogi titles this year, and Suga took office in September. The nine people depicted on the kawari hagoita paddles also include swimmer Rikako Ikee, who returned to competition in August after being treated for leukemia.
Their faces, with Fujii wearing a sanitary mask and others smiling, are depicted on seven colorful hagoita paddles, each of which are 60 centimeters long and 25 centimeters wide.
"We created the paddles with the hope of dispelling the bad luck of the novel coronavirus and building a momentum for next year," said Kyukichiro Yokoyama, 72, president of Kyugetsu.
The exhibition lasts through Friday.
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