---
title: 'Axis battledores (hagoita) and ''Axis young ladies'': cover of Shashin Shūhō No. 151, Japan'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/axis-hagoita-shashin-shuho-1941/
description: The colour cover of the government photo weekly shows three young women in a garden, each holding a New Year hagoita (battledore) painted with a leader's…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Axis battledores (hagoita) and 'Axis young ladies': cover of Shashin Shūhō No. 151, Japan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/axis-hagoita-shashin-shuho-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/axis-hagoita-shashin-shuho-1941.jpg)

# Axis battledores (hagoita) and 'Axis young ladies': cover of Shashin Shūhō No. 151, Japan

The colour cover of the government photo weekly shows three young women in a garden, each holding a New Year hagoita (battledore) painted with a leader's portrait: Konoe of Japan, Mussolini and Hitler. The issue's caption, as quoted on Commons, calls them 'Axis battledores' and 'Axis young ladies' that make the garden 'heartwarming and bright'. A holiday custom and children carry warmth onto the three governments' leaders.

- **Date:** January 15, 1941
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** Cabinet Information Bureau (Jōhōkyoku), Empire of Japan, in Shashin Shūhō
- **Region:** [East Asia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=east-asia)
- **Country:** [Empire of Japan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=empire-of-japan)
- **Medium:** [Photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=photograph)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Showa Japan](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=showa-japan)
- **Leader:** [Fumimaro Konoe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=fumimaro-konoe)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Media and information](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=media-information)
- **Event:** [Tripartite Pact](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=tripartite-pact)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Regime:** [Empire of Japan, 1937 to 1945](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/showa-japan/)
- **Leader:** [Fumimaro Konoe](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/showa-japan/#fumimaro-konoe)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons (scan of Shashin Shūhō No. 151)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shashin_Shuho_No_151.jpg), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (Japan: work of an organisation, term expired; U.S.: public domain in Japan in 1996) Cabinet Information Bureau (Jōhōkyoku) / Cabinet Printing Bureau, Shashin Shūhō No. 151, 1941; scan via Wikimedia Commons

## Text on the object

Original (Japanese) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
寫眞週報
情報局編輯
一月十五日　第百五十一號
十セン

[caption quoted on Commons from the issue, not visible on the cover:]
近衛さんにはウルズラさん，ムッソリーニには明子さん，ヒトラーにはフランチェスカさん．枢軸羽子板と枢軸令嬢の組合せに新春の庭は微笑ましく，うららかだ
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Shashin Shūhō (Photo Weekly)
Edited by the Information Bureau
15 January, No. 151
10 sen

[caption quoted on Commons from the issue, not visible on the cover:]
Ursula for Mr. Konoe, Akiko for Mussolini, Francesca for Hitler. With the combination of Axis battledores and Axis young ladies, the New Year garden is heartwarming and bright.
```

The cover masthead, bureau line, date, issue number and price were read from the small scan; the price '十セン' (10 sen) is read right to left and is the least certain reading. The bracketed caption is copied from the Commons file description, which reproduces the issue's printed caption, and is not on the cover.

[← V = Duitschland wint voor Europa op alle fronten (V = Germany wins for Europe on all fronts)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/v-duitschland-wint-voor-europa-1941/) [Muscovites at TASS Window No. 5, 'What Hitler Wants' (Chego Gitler khochet) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/what-hitler-wants-tass-window-1941/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)