Illustrated Japanese Culture
団扇
An uchiwa is a hand fan with a fixed face, usually held by a handle. Its frame stays open, unlike a folding sensu. Paper and bamboo are familiar materials, but cloth faces, different outlines and several handle constructions also belong to the craft.
01
The ribs support a broad surface that moves air when the fan is waved. An uchiwa need not be circular: round, oval and other outlines occur. Its fixed construction separates it from a sensu, whose ribs open and close around a pivot.
Uchiwa have been used for personal cooling, cooling food, fanning fires, providing shade and driving away insects. The printed or painted face also provides space for pictures and messages.
02
Bōshū makers split one end of a round medake bamboo stem into fine ribs while retaining the other end as the handle. A curved brace and thread hold the ribs in position. The open area above the handle forms the characteristic window.
Many Kyō-uchiwa use an inserted handle: the face and frame are made separately from the handle and then joined. Kyoto Prefecture associates this construction with a Korean fan tradition. Edo-period court fans included paintings by Tosa and Kanō school artists. Kyōmaru fans use a different construction, splitting the ribs and handle from one piece of bamboo.
Round-handled fans became souvenirs for pilgrims travelling through Marugame to Konpira. Flat handles developed there during the Meiji period, alongside specialised, large-scale production. The region makes more than one handle type.
03
In a typical Marugame process, the bamboo is split into fine ribs, bent and spread, fitted with a curved brace, and bound with thread. The frame establishes the outline before paper is attached.
Paper is pasted onto the frame. In Marugame, a shaped blade and mallet trim the outline; a narrow strip of paper protects the edge. Bōshū production also includes heat adjustment of the ribs, drying and edging, and may use cloth for the face.
Nara uchiwa use openwork cut into dyed washi, often with deer or wisteria motifs. Their present form developed in the middle of the Edo period. A traditional account links them to fans at Kasuga Shrine.
04
The women painted in the Takamatsuzuka tomb include a figure with a round, long-handled fan. Such ceremonial fans could screen a face and mark formal attendance. Ancient court fans included forms and materials different from today’s bamboo-and-paper uchiwa.
The gunbai was used for command. Sumo referees still carry a gunbai today. Its rigid form and signalling role distinguish it from the light paper fan used for cooling.
05
Bamboo-and-paper uchiwa became widely used during the Edo period, with production developing in several regions. In Marugame, the domain encouraged retainers to make fans as a sideline, while pilgrimage traffic provided a market for souvenirs.
Uchiwa-e were colour woodblock prints intended to be cut to shape and pasted onto a fan. Hokusai and Hiroshige designed them. An uncut museum print preserves the sheet before it was mounted on a frame.
The 1787 Shūi Miyako Meisho Zue depicts fan making and shops at Fukakusa. The scene places uchiwa within the workshops and commerce of Edo-period Kyoto.
06
During the Meiji period, uchiwa were exported as craft goods and distributed by businesses with advertising on their faces. Marugame developed flat-handled production, while fan making expanded in Bōshū.
Tokyo wholesalers moved to Bōshū after the Great Kantō Earthquake, helping production expand. Women in fishing communities had made fans as household work. Later, household electrical appliances reduced demand for everyday fans; Bōshū uchiwa received national traditional-craft designation in 2003.
Shikoku Dansen introduced its plastic New Fan in 1966 and began injection moulding in 1968. This industrial method provides a different route to a fixed fan frame from splitting and binding bamboo.
07
At Ōkunitama Shrine’s Sumomo Festival, crow-decorated fans are associated with prayers against misfortune and for a good harvest. The meaning belongs to this shrine’s observance.
Kyoto geiko and maiko distribute Kyōmaru fans printed with their names during summer. Their one-piece bamboo construction differs from the inserted handle used in other Kyoto fans.
Uchiwa remain in use for cooling, festivals and Bon dancing. Makers offer different outlines, handle lengths and paper or cloth faces. The construction and decoration can be chosen for the particular use.
Its face stays open; a sensu folds around a pivot.
No. Oval and other outlines also occur.
They are formed from the same bamboo stem.
The Kyō-uchiwa handle is made separately and inserted; a Kyōmaru fan’s ribs and handle come from one piece of bamboo.
No. The region has both round- and flat-handled traditions.
A curved brace and thread secure the frame.
A woodblock print designed to be cut out and pasted onto a fan.
Openwork patterns cut through dyed washi.
Tokyo wholesalers relocated there after the Great Kantō Earthquake.
No. It is a rigid signalling fan, still used by sumo referees.