Suntory bottle with a surprise

I have not yet identified who designed and made these Suntory Royal bottles but they are a really attractive piece of Japanese glass.

This one is extra special because inside has been made a paper horse, part of a celebration for the Festival of Horses, Chagu Chagu Umakko, held in Iwate Prefecture each June.

Chagu Chagu (an onomatopoeic name for the sound horse bells make), started around 200 years ago to celebrate the horses that worked so hard in rice fields. June is the end of rice planting, a hard task for man and horse, and the festival is a release from that chore.

About 100 horses are dressed in silks, blankets and trims and are walked from the Sozen-jinja Shrine, which celebrates the deity of horses, about 10 kilometres to the Morioka Hachiman-gu Shrine located in Morioka City.

I have never seen it but photos show beautifully decorated horses proudly paraded before crowds of cheering people.

My little paper horse is beautifully decorated too.

I love this bottle - so Japanese in it's original design and function and now augmented by a very Japanese form celebrating a traditional festival.

It makes me smile.