While the origin of many cultural traditions in Japan can be traced back to China, the folding fan is a uniquely Japanese development that later spread to other parts of the world. It is the origin of the Victorian folding fan, loaded with secret messages and gestures unique to aristocratic courtships, or the feathered fan of the burlesque dancer used to titillate audiences as a screen for nudity. While the fixed fan, called uchiwa in Japanese, has ancient Chinese and Egyptian origins, the first folded fan made a societal appearance in Japan in around the 8th century. Historians believe it was derived from mokkan, an early form of the book that was made up of thin wooden tablets, strung together around a pivot from which the wooden pages could be unfolded.
The oldest variation of the folded fan (ōgi) is called a hiōgi. It was typically made from thin wooden sheets, linked around the pivot by a threaded ribbon. A later development of this fan in France is known as the brisé fan and is typically made of ivory or tortoise shell. The paper folding fan is referred to as a kawahori or ‘bat’ fan because the open fan looks like the wings of a bat. It became so popular in Japan between 794 and 1185 that laws were passed to restrict their use to particular social classes. Crafted from Japanese cypress hinoki, the number of wooden strips per fan was regulated as an indicator of an owner’s rank and status. As such, the folding fan became entrenched as a signifier of class and cultural refinement, communicating unspoken messages of authority and rank.
Ama No Hashidate in Tango Province from the Series Three Views of Japan (Nihon Sankei). between 1852 and 1858. Utagawa Hiroshige. Brooklyn Museum.
Initially the folding fan was cultivated as a portable painting with painted designs employing all the finest techniques of the time including carving, maki-e (ornate lacquer), inlay, zōgan and filigree or gilding. Fan making and painting was traditionally a women’s profession. During mokuhanga’s heyday in the Edo period, ukiyo-e fan designs were printed and used by the flourishing middle-class as both fashion and cultural signifiers. Fans were designed and printed by woodblock printers to accentuate or compliment the fabric designs of the kimono. Famous Mokuhanga fan designs typically depict seasonal particularities including birds, insects and plants with the idea that a wearer could have a fan specific to each season.
The first export of the folding fan has been traced to the Chinese Song Dynasty in 988 when the Japanese monk, Chonen, gifted a hiōgi and kawahori fan to the Chinese Emperor. Korean envoys to the Chinese court later brought the Japanese folding fan design to the Korean Peninsula in the 11th century. By the 17th century in Europe folding fans were manufactured in France as a typical European asset. There are painted depictions of a folded fan in the hands of Queen Elizabeth I as early as 1592. The folding fan is believed to have been introduced to Europe either through Portuguese and Dutch trade in the 16th century or from Chinese monks travelling the silk route.
Fans are used by both men and women in Japan. They remained an integral part of ceremonial court life well into the 19th century with men favouring the folding fan to the rigid uchiwa fan. The more restrained colours and designs preferred by men meant there was a greater appetite for ukiyo-e printed uchiwa fans during the Edo period. While contemporary imagination has seen the fan employed as a weapon of battle in anime stories, traditionally the military fan was used for signaling during combat. A samurai may be equipped with a tessen fan that is made with metal spokes but designed to look like a harmless folding fan. This could be employed as a means of self-defense when the samurai entered places where swords were not allowed. Despite its historic ceremonial uses, the fan remains an essential item for cooling down during the hot summer months.
Featured image: Screen with Scattered Fans, Freer Gallery of Art Collection. https://asia-archive.si.edu/object/F1900.24/. (accessed 18/11/2024, 20:33:02).
Blue fan with white, gold and silver geese. Japanese Fan Design. Japanese School. Possibly by Yamaoka Chinpei.circa 1930. https://www.ursusbooks.com/pages/books/147386/japanese-school/blue-fan-with-white-gold-and-silver-geese-japanese-fan-design
References
The Fan Circle International. 2024. Japanese Fans. Online. https://fancircleinternational.org/japanese-fans/
Kanji Ishizumi. 2009. ‘Tracing the Origins of the Folding Fan.’ Japan Society Proceedings. P76-85.
Teni Wada & Lucy Dayman. 2021. ‘7 Things You Should Know About Japanese Fans’ in Japan Objects, October 1, 2021. Online. https://japanobjects.com/features/japanese-fans
Leicester Museums & Galleries. 2023. Folded Hand Fans: An International Cultural Icon. Online. https://www.leicestermuseums.org/news/folded-hand-fans-an-international-cultural-icon/
Powell-Cotton Museum. Japanese Fans. Online. https://powell-cottonmuseum.org/resources/japanese-fans/
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