Huge shrine decorations consisting of 3 metre poles wound with cloths of five different colours and hung with shide and other decorations. Their shape is something like a giant pair of trousers. At the bonden festival of the Asahi-okayama-jinja, Akita on February 17th they are carried by groups of 20-30 youths who shake and twirl the bonden and compete to get theirs first to the shrine for consecration. At the Izuyama-jinja, Akita on the same day bonden are floated across a river on rafts to reach the shrine.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.