Me j^Wlies’ Slorat BaEinet «wi3 fietoiml Some fiamjiajiioii. 
JAPANESE FANS. 
In Japan the fan which opens and shuts, called the 
agi, belongs exclusively to the men ; and the flat fan, 
called uchiwa, is used only by women. For a Jap¬ 
anese gentleman to carry an uchiwa in the street 
would he such a dire breach of etiquette that I doubt 
whether any sane one ever did such a thing. More¬ 
over, 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” in¬ 
variably 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-bar¬ 
rel on the smooth-shaven 
scalp. Formerly, all Jap¬ 
anese 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 some¬ 
thing to thrust in their 
place, bought fans on pur¬ 
pose to have one always 
in their belt. 
It is very probable that 
at least sixty million fans 
are made in Japan every 
year. They have now be¬ 
come an article of export 
to many countries. They 
are cheap editions of Jap¬ 
anese works of art for the 
rich and poor of all the 
world to look at. Some 
people have an idea that 
the pictures on them are 
exaggerations or mere im¬ 
agination. This is not so. 
In general, the represen¬ 
tations are strictly true to 
life. The Japanese have 
no immense manufactories 
employing hundreds o f 
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 coun¬ 
try, in hundreds of cities and villages. The place 
most noted for its production in this line, however, is 
Nagoya, in the province of Owari. Most of those 
which come to England are from this fourth largest 
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 pro¬ 
duces 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. 
made of waterproof paper, which can be dipped in 
water, and which creates greater coolness by evapora¬ 
tion, without wetting the clothes. The uchiwa, or flat 
fan, is frequently 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 this account that it holds the lowest 
grade in the caste of fashion. 
The Japanese gentleman—I mean one of the old 
school—who never wears a hat, uses his fan to shield 
his eyes from the sun. His head, bare from childhood, 
hardly needs shade, and 
when it does he spreads 
an umbrella. With his 
fan he directs his servants, 
and saves talking. With- 
in-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 
the deftness displayed in 
opening or shutting it. 
The Japanese dancing-girl 
makes the fan a very part 
of herself, and most grace¬ 
ful motions being per¬ 
formed by its help. 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. 
In Japan, people are 
continually making pres- 
Enjoying Their Letters. 
iron covered with thick paper. In the centre 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, hav¬ 
ing 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. 
All the varieties of fans known among us have been 
made for centuries in Japan. One notable variety is 
ents to each other, though 
the gifts are usually very 
small. A fan is always a 
proper gift. In nearly 
every house are one or 
more fan-cases leaning or 
hung 
£5 
the wall. 
They are of all kinds, 
from the cheap tube of 
bamboo and lacquered 
wood up to the splendidly- 
gilt and inlaid case, cost¬ 
ing many dollars. In 
these cases are holes, in 
which the handles of the 
fans are put, or silver 
hooks, between which they 
hang. On marriage occa¬ 
sions, friends offer costly 
gifts ; those who are ac¬ 
quaintances merely, usu¬ 
ally send a fan, on 
which are written congratulations. They are often 
used as cards by proxy callers on New Year’s 
Day. 
When a young man attains to office, or an officer 
is promoted, a fan with a line or two of writing sent 
him is the equivalent for congratulations in person. 
It is the custom to ask friends or distinguished per¬ 
sons to write their names, or some original poetry, or 
classic quotation, on fans, thus filling the place occu¬ 
pied by our mother's, or father’s, or our own youthful 
\ “albums.” 
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 im¬ 
posing 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 
