Odawara Paper Lanterns

Odawara is famous for Odawara-jochin, a style of chochin (paper lantern) specific to Odawara City.

Different to ordinary paper lanterns, Odawara lanterns have independent ribs, so can be folded up, accordion-style for easy storage and transport.

Chochin are such an important part of Odawara culture that their summer festival features 3000 of them strung up around the castle, and there is a giant one on display in the main station.

At Odawara Rest House, a traditional building which has been converted into a rest stop and information center for tourists (although there is a surprising lack of English), every second and fourth Sunday visitors can make their own Odawara lanterns.

The classes cost only ¥1000, which includes an instructor and all the materials, and no reservation is required. Sometimes there is an English speaker present, but the process is simple enough that you can get by with basic gestures and demonstrations.

I showed up on a windy Sunday, and there were only a few older Japanese tourists finishing up, so they slotted me in immediately. I paid my fee and was handed a sheet of the lovely soft paper and some pens, crayons and watercolors with which to do my design.

When I had finished painting, I chose a big, red, square stamp to make it look nice and official, and put it aside to dry.

The slowest bit was taping all the bamboo ribs around a wooden centerpiece, then dabbing glue over every single one and smoothing the paper over it. When the paper was wrapped around the whole bamboo frame, the wooden centerpiece was popped out and my lantern held its shape by itself!

I folded the edges of my lantern in and glued them down, and then the instructor helped me stick my frame into the pre-made top and bottom pieces.

It takes about three hours for them to dry properly, but once mine was dry, I folded it down like a little accordion like the teacher had showed me, and it turned into a very light, portable little handmade souvenir!

This is a great low-cost but fun activity to do in Odawara and at the end you have something a bit special to show for it.