The flying of large kites began during the Bunsei years (1804 to 1830) in the Edo era, as an event to celebrate Boys' Day on May 5th. Initially such kites were 3 or 4 meters in size, and they were flown by individual families in such regions as Sindenjuku, Yotsuya, Zama, and Kurihara. As time went by, the kites became larger, and young people in regional areas began to fly them in groups, together, the kites reached their present size during the Meiji era. In the Showa period, more and more homes were built, as well as electric utility poles, which made it difficult for people to find places to fly the kites. Around 1955, they came to be flown at only one location by all kite-fliers, in the city of Zama. In addition, concern arose about passing on the techniques of making and flying the kites to future generations, accompanying social changes and the like. Presently, therefore, kite-flying is conducted by the "Zama City Large Kite Preservation Association."

　The Zama “Large Kite Festival” is one among 50 festivals in Kanagawa prefecture. The large kites are built by people of the city's Large Kite Preservation Association.
Creation of these large kites consists of framing, rope insertion, character writing, and string attachment, proceeding in the above order.
It takes about two months to complete a kite.

　Bamboo used for framing is from both male and female bamboo trees, of about 8 to 10 cm in thickness. Before it is used, in order to after is cut Slightly increase its elasticity, the bamboo is left to sit. About 150 pieces of bamboo are used. Whole and split bamboo stalks are tied using rope and straw rope.

　The kites use a handmade Japanese paper that is especially made for this purpose. The pieces are about the size of an opened newspaper, and a total of 250 sheets of it are used. From the paper, 16 sheets 1.7 meter long and 6.6 meter wide are prepared, a into the four corners of 16 sheets, 1-cm-thick rope is inserted and attached with glue.

　The 16 sheets of papers are spread out on a gymnasium floor, and characters are written with reference to a small sample. One of the features of Zama's large kites is that they are character kites. They bear two characters: one that expresses the sun, in red, in the upper right; and the other that expresses the earth, in the lower left. In order to make people more familiar with the large kite festival, which has a history dating back about 200 years, the characters are selected from among widely collected suggestions by people both from Zama and from outside the city.

　String attachment is so important it is said to determine whether or not a kite will fly. As such, a total of 47 strings are attached, requiring much patience and time. The kite strings are rope that is as thick as 1 cm, and it is attached so that the kite will tilt forward in the sky, with bottom strings on both the left and right sides kept slackened.