Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1874 — Japanese Fans. [ARTICLE]

Japanese Fans.

The fan, which with us is little more than an article of necessity in hot weather, holds in Japan a very high place in the personal equipment and social amenities of both sexes. Comparing its use in the two countries of Japan and America, we find in each the antipodes of etiquette. With us (I mean Americaifs, though I am writing in Japan) the fold-ing-fan is the ladies’ own; the flat fan appertains strictly to the males. Imagine a gentleman walking down Broadway and winnowing his face with a foldingfan, or a lady, in full dress, flirting with a “palm-leaf!” In Japan, however, the fan which opens and shuts, called the ogi, belongs exclusively to the men; and the flat fan, called uchiwa, is used only by women. For a Japanese gentleman to carry an uchiwa in the street would be such a dire breach of etiquette that I doubt whether any sane one ever did such a thing. Moreover, it is exceedingly impolite to use a flat fan in the presence of a Japanese gentleman; and neither’by man nor woman must a flat fan be taken out of doors. The masculine native of the “ Land of the Gods” invariably carries a fan in his girdle or in the bosom of his flowing dress in hot weather; and not a few carry them all the .year round. Among the lower classes the fan is stuck in the back or over the neck under the collar, and is even safely stowed under the projecting cue of hair which lies like a gun barrel on the smooth-shaven scalp. Formerly all Japanese gentlemen wore two swords in their girdle. The custom was abolished in 1872; but not a few of them, being long used to their swords, and feeling the absolute need of something

to thrust in their place, bought fans on purpose to have one always in their belt. It is very probable that at least 60,000,000 fans are made in Japan every year. They have now becom e an article of export to many countries. They are cheap editions of Japanese works of art for the rich and poor of all the world to look at. Some people have an idea that tlie pictures on them are exaggerations or mere imagination. This is not so. In general the representations are strictly true to life. The Japanese have no immense manufactories employing hundreds of operatives; no centralized capital; and 'the division-of-labor principle is hardly known among them. Hence, fans are made by thousands of independent workers all over the country in hundreds of cities and villages. The place most noted for its productions in this line, however, is Nagoya, in the province of Owari. Most of those which come to America are from this fourth Jargest city in Japan. Kioto is famous for very fine fans, and her artists excel in delicacy*of tints and richness of coloring. Tokio (formerly called Yeddo) also produces several millions annually. Ivory boned and handled fans, made for foreign ladies and richly adorned with gold lacquer, mosaic, silk cord, etc., are especially made in Tokio. There are a great many varieties of fans, and they are put to a great many and curious uses. Besides those in common use, the umpire at wrestling and fencing matches uses a heavy one shaped like a huge butterfly, the handle being the body, and rendered imposing by heavy cords of silk. The various motions of this fan constitute a language which the wrestlers fat fellows, who look as though stuffed with blubber by means of a sausage-blower—fully understand and appreciate. Formerly, in time of war, the Japanese army-commanders used a large fan having a frame of iron covered with thick paper. In the center of the fan was a red ball on a golden or silvern field. The red ball represented the sun, the martial symbol of the Japanese nation. The fans of the present day, having a large red, silvern or golden ball on a colored or white field, are in imitation of the old war-fan with which the Japanese hero used to signal in the field. In cases of danger it could be shut, and a blow from its iron bones was no light affair. From this and other fans, arranged in various tasteful figures, were formed the crests of several daimios, including those of the renowned Satake family, as well as that one of the Matsudaira clan whose ancestor led the army that slaughtered the 27,000 Christians, with the aid of Dutch cannon, at Shimabara, in 1636. All the varieties of fans known among us have been made for centuries in Japan. One notable variety is made of water-proof paper, which can be dipped in water, and which creates greater coolness by evaporation, without wetting the clothes. The uchiwa, or flat fan, is fre quently made of feathers, leaves or fine silk. It is oftener made of rough paper and used as a grain-winnow, to blow the charcoal fires, and as a dust-pan. Probably it is on account of these menial uses that it holds the lowest grade in the caste of fashion.

The Japanese gentleman—l mean one of the old school —who never wears a hat, uses the fan to shield his eyes from the sun. His head, bare from childhood, hardly needs shade, and when ic does he spreads an umbrella. With his fan he directs his servants, and saves talking. Within-doors the graces of the Japanese maiden and the dignity of the wife are enhanced by the fan. To the Japanese actor the fan is indispensable, and he brings down the house by his deftness displayed in opening or shutting it. The Japanese dancing-girl makes the fan a very part ot herself, the most graceful motions being performed by its help. Those very large, highly-colored, gilded or flowered fans, so much admired at fashionable watering-places of late years, at home, are exclusively in use among the Japanese singing-girls, and belong to the dance which, in Japan, consists in posturing, gestures and expression, and not in active motion. These girls, or artietee, are public characters, and a Japanese lady would not, by any means, use one of their gaudy toys. To the juggler the fan is a necessity, many of his cleverest tricks, including that in which he makes a butterfly hover up and down the edge of a sword, being performed with bits of paper and a fan.— Appleton'e Journal.