Bowed kites such as the Japanese rokkaku, and traditional versions of the more familiar "diamond" shaped kites such as the Malay or Eddy, are tensioned into a bow in order to improve their stability to the point where a tail often becomes unnecessary.
The classic long-tail diamond kite, with a simple two-point bridle, has its lateral roll or flutter (oscillation) greatly reduced or eliminated by a bow in its horizontal spar. Some modern designs use a fixed plastic joiner with a dihedral shape instead of a bowed spar to achieve the same stability effect.
Famous quotes containing the words bowed and/or kite:
“... having bowed to the inevitability of the dictum that we must eat to live, we should ignore it and live to eat ...”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)
“What is to be done with people who can’t read a Sunday paper without messing it all up?... Show me a Sunday paper which has been left in a condition fit only for kite flying, and I will show you an antisocial and dangerous character who has left it that way.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)