Fans

Ancient history

Fan history stretches back thousands of years. Since antiquity, fans have possessed a dual function – a status symbol and a useful ornament. In the course of their development, fans have been made of a variety of materials and have included decorative artwork. The simplest fans are leaves or flat objects, waved to produce a cooler atmosphere. These rigid or folding hand-held implements have been used for cooling, for air circulation, as a ceremonial device, and as a sartorial accessory throughout the world from ancient times. They are still widely used.

Asian history

In China, screen fans were used throughout society. The earliest known Chinese fans are a pair of woven bamboo side-mounted fans from the 2nd century BC. The Chinese character for "fan" (扇) is etymologically derived from a picture of feathers under a roof. The Chinese fixed fan, pien-mien, means 'to agitate the air'.

ans were part of the social status for the Chinese people. A particular status and gender would accord a specific type of fan to an individual. The folding fan was invented in Japan in the 8th century and taken to China in the 9th century. The Akomeogi (or Japanese folding fan; 衵扇; Hiôgi) originated in the 6th century. These were fans held by aristocrats of the Heian period when formally dressed. They were made by tying thin stripes of hinoki (or Japanese cypress) together with thread. The number of strips of wood differed according to the person's rank. They are used today by Shinto priests in formal costume and in the formal costume of the Japanese court (they can be seen used by the Emperor and Empress during coronation and marriage) and are brightly painted with long tassels. The Chinese dancing fan was developed in the 7th century. The Chinese form of the hand fan was a row of feathers mounted in the end of a handle.

In China, the folding fan came into fashion during the Ming dynasty between the years of 1368 and 1644, and Hangzhou was a center of folding fan production. The Mai Ogi (or Chinese dancing fan) has ten sticks and a thick paper mount showing the family crest. Chinese painters crafted many fan decoration designs. The slats, of ivory, bone, mica, mother of pearl, sandalwood, or tortoise shell, were carved and covered with paper or fabric. Folding fans have "montures" which are the sticks and guards. The leaves are usually painted by craftsman. Social significance was attached to the fan in the Far East. The management of the fan became a highly regarded feminine art. The function and employment of the fan reached its high point of social significance (fans were even used as a weapon - called the iron fan, or tiě shān in Chinese, tessen in Japanese). Simple Japanese paper fans are sometimes known as "harisen". In Japanese current pop culture, Harisen are featured frequently in animation and graphic novels as weapons.

Printed fan leaves and painted fans are done on a paper ground. The paper was originally hand made and displayed the characteristic watermarks. Machine made paper fans, introduced in the 19th century, are smoother with an even texture.

Japanese war fan

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A number of war fans were used in Japanese feudal warfare, of varying size and material, for different purposes. One of the most significant, and perhaps most interesting, uses was as a signaling device. Signalling fans came in three varieties: a tasseled pom-pon, a solid iron fan, or a wood and paper one, very similar to the gunbai used today by sumo referees. The commander would raise or lower his fan and point in different ways to issue commands to the soldiers, which would then be passed on by other forms of visible signaling. The art of fighting with war fans is tessenjutsu.

Types of war fans

Uchiwa were large iron fans, sometimes built on a wooden core, which were carried by high-ranking officers. They were used to ward off arrows, as a sunshade, and to signal to troops.
Gunsen were folding fans used by the average warriors to cool themselves off. They were made of bronze, brass or a similar metal for the inner spokes, and often used iron for the outer spokes, making them lightweight but strong. Warriors would hang their fans from a variety of places, most typically from the belt or the breastplate, though the latter often impeded the use of a sword or a bow.
Saihai were tasseled signaling fans which would be used by a commander to signal troop movements.
Tessen were folding fans with outer spokes made of iron which were designed to look like normal, harmless folding fans or solid clubs shaped to look like a closed fan. Samurai could take these to places where swords or other overt weapons were not allowed, and some swordsmanship schools included training in the use of the tessen as a weapon. The tessen was also used for fending off arrows and darts, as a throwing weapon, and as an aid in swimming.

War fans in history and folklore

One particularly famous legend involving war fans concerns a direct confrontation between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin at the fourth battle of Kawanakajima in 1561. Kenshin burst into Shingen's command tent on horseback, having broken through his entire army, and attacked, his sword was deflected by Shingen's war fan. It is not clear whether Shingen parried with a tessen, a dansen uchiwa, or some other form of fan. Nevertheless, it was quite rare for commanders to fight directly, and especially for a general to defend himself so effectively when taken so off-guard.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune is said to have defeated the great warrior monk Benkei with a tessen.

Araki Murashige is said to have used a tessen to save his life when the great warlord Oda Nobunaga sought to assassinate him. Araki was invited before Nobunaga, and was stripped of his swords at the entrance to the mansion, as was customary. When he performed the customary bowing at the threshold, Nobunaga intended to have the room's sliding doors slammed shut onto Araki's neck, killing him. However, Araki supposedly placed his tessen in the grooves in the floor, blocking the doors from closing.

The Yagyū clan, sword instructors to the Tokugawa shoguns, included tessenjutsu in their sword school, the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.

War fans in popular culture

Many fictional characters use war fans as weapons in battle: Yumi Ishiyama in the French animated series Code Lyoko uses war fans as her weapons, as do Mai Shiranui of Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Anji Mito of Guilty Gear X, Kitana of Mortal Kombat, and Temari from Naruto fights with a giant fan. Kagura from the anime InuYasha wields a fan to use her powers. Tasuki from Fushigi Yūgi is also known for wielding a flaming war fan. The Kyoshi Island Warriors from Avatar: The Last Airbender use metal fans as their primary weapon and even utilize retractable fans as wrist shields. Yori from the cartoon show Kim Possible wields a pair of Tessen in the third season episode "Gorilla Fist." Jinta Hanakari, a supporting character in the anime and manga series Bleach wields an oversized Tessen as a weapon. Hakuoro, the masked protagonist of Utawarerumono, fights with a metal fan in all his battles. Also, in Super Mario RPG, one of Princess Toadstool's weapons is a War Fan. In the game Soulcalibur III, certain classes in Character Creation Mode can equip war fans. In recognition of the aforementioned conflict at Kawanakajima, Takeda Shingen wields a dansen uchiwa in Samurai Warriors and Samurai Warriors 2 the character Mitsunari Ishida also from the same game wields a tessen. Several playable characters in the Dynasty Warriors video game franchise wield war fans in battle. War fans have also been named as shukusen in some popular culture. An example of this is in Tamora Pierce's Quartet: Protector of the Small. In this set of books, Yamani women wield deadly metal fans which they use for decoration, complex fan dances and self-defense. It is interesting to note that Yamani culture is partly based on historical Japanese culture. In the film The Last Samurai one of the samurai is briefly seen practicing with a war fan before the final battle of the movie.

In the computer game Battle Realms, the units called the Fan Geisha, healers of the Serpent clan, use razor war fans as weapons.

Harisen

The harisen (literally meaning "paper fan" in Japanese) is a giant paper fan. Usually made in a closed fashion, it is used in Japanese comedy shows as a form of physical comedy. This is what is usually seen in anime when a character smacks another on the head with a paper fan. The character Dr. Eto in the anime series Nodame Cantabile is known by the nickname "Harisen" because he uses one to punish his students.

In Negima!, Asuna Kagurazaka wields a giant sword-sized harisen that later transforms into an enormous single-edged sword.

Kaname Chidori of the anime Full Metal Panic uses a harisen that she seems to put out from hammer space to stop Sousuke from doing anything that could injure or kill a civilian in Tokyo.

The psychopathic character Kazuo Kiriyama is given a harisen in the movie Battle Royale.

In the video game Super Smash Bros. Melee, a large fan is a usable item. Characters will wield it as a very fast weapon. It is also set to make a reappearance in the sequel Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

In the series Saiyuki a character named Genjyo Sanzo also uses a harisen to punish both Son Goku and Sha Gojyo when the two argue against each for even the smallest of things.

War Fan of Asia

Fans are also used for offensive and defensive purposes in the Chinese and Korean martial arts. They are called "铁扇" (tiě shān, literally 'steel fan') in Chinese, and "부채" ("Buchae") in Korean.