A Japanese dictionary dated 981 AD was the first to record the Japanese word for kite and used the characters for "Kami Tobi" meaning paper hawk - which suggests that the first kites were bird shaped. The Japanese absorbed much of the Chinese culture but they developed their own distinctive kite designs and traditions. They were used from earliest times for practical purposes such as in the construction of many shrines and temples in Japan where large kites were used to lift tiles and other materials up to workers on the roof tops.
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