A beautiful sunny autumn afternoon, several years ago.  Gerard van der Loo invited some japanese kitefliers to Holland. On the heath they flew one of their superb O-dako kites. These photos will give you some idea of the skills of these kitefliers from the other side of the globe.

	Can you roll up your kite without taking the  frame out? Amazing how flexible bamboo can be.  This giant was transported as a whole in a Boeing. The transportation is done under careful  supervision of the senior kitemaster.
The first job on the field is to attach the bridle  lines. Since there are about 50 lines on this kite it is  a lot of work, but with some great teamwork  the job is done fast and accurate.
	Sometimes it's quite handy that the Japanese  are small :-) A female helper pushes the  bridle lines back from inside the kite.
When all lines are attached the kite is laid flat on  the ground. The length of the bridle lines is  constructed on the ground. Everything is  measured in steps, armlengths,  and handspans.
	First a triangle is made with the lines on the top  corner and bottom corner, after which the lines in  between are measured.  Then, row after row, the  bridle is completed, adding and distracting small  lengths to compensate for the dihedral of the kite
And I thought I made a mess of my lines ;-) The lines of natural fibres (hemp) are quite rough on the outside, but the skilled fingers of the japanese handle them with ease
	Finally the kite is ready for launch. Mind you,  all the work is for one flight. The kite is not  re-usable.  Only the frame is saved, and in  some cases used for several generations by the kitefliers
Airborne! Amazing how easy the  30 kilograms of bamboo and washi  paper soar on the light wind. The spars get thinner from top to  bottom, and there are no diagonal spars. This makes the bottom  corners of the kite very flexible,  and more sensitive to the wind.
	The long bridle lines have a stabilizing effect, and distribute the forces even  over the kite. The o-dako has an incredible windrange for a large, framed kite. I've seen it fly at Scheveningen in windforce 6 Bft. without any problems.
A gentle landing, completely different from  the kitefights the kite is used for during the  annual kite festival in June. Standing on both sides of the Nakanokuchi river the kites try  to hook into each other, after which the kites  often end up in the river.
	Some other works of art by the japanese.  For those of you who think rokkaku kites come from Sanjo, think again: these  rokkaku kites come from Shirone.
Then why is it that most dutch kitefliers call a rokkaku a sanjo, while every other country calls  it a rokkaku. Is this Nops fault, did the magazine "VLIEGER" cause the confusion? Can anyone  solve this riddle?