About the Folding Fan

A Japanese invention

IThe flat, rigid fan came to Japan from China in antiquity. The folding fan did not — it was invented in Japan, during the Heian period, and it is one of the few everyday objects the country can claim entirely as its own.

It began as a notebook

IIThe first fans, called hiōgi, were thin wooden slips bound at one end — used to write down the intricate etiquette of the imperial court. They were not for cooling anyone. The oldest one still in existence was found inside the arm of a Buddhist statue at Tō-ji temple in Kyoto, inscribed with the year 877.

The ancestor of the European fan

IIIIn the 13th century Japanese folding fans travelled through China to Europe, where they were remade in feathers and lace. The fan held in a European portrait traces its design back to Japan — which means this object may be less foreign to you than it first appears.

Story

Twelve hundred years in the palm of a hand

For twelve centuries, since the Heian period, the fan has done far more than move air. It has appeared at celebrations, in dance, in the tea room, and as a gift offered with both hands. A fan has always rested in the Japanese palm.

The frame of a fan, showing thick and powerful bamboo ribs

What makes an Edo fan

Edo is the old name for Tokyo. An Edo fan has fewer ribs than a fan from Kyoto, and each rib is thicker — plain, and quietly strong. Close one, and it snaps shut with a clear, crisp sound. That sound is possible only because the ribs are built this way.

Hiroshi Matsui at work in his fan workshop

III

In Edogawa, only one artisan still carries this craft

Hiroshi Matsui, of the Edo fan workshop Matsui. In 2004 he was registered as a holder of an Intangible Cultural Property designated by Edogawa City, Tokyo. Few artisans anywhere in Tokyo still make Edo fans, and in Edogawa City he is now the only one.

Leather shaved as thin as paper, prepared for a fan face

One artisan helped another

A fan made of leather. The leather artisans of Tokyo's shitamachi, the old riverside workshops of the city's east, shook their heads at first. Then they learned that in Edogawa only one person was left to carry the fan-making craft, and the mood in the room changed. After roughly a year of trial and error, a fan appeared faced with cowhide about 0.3 mm thick, as thin as paper.

The ones who raised their hands were the artisans of Katsushika Leather, a hundred-year-old workshop in the leather district between the Sumida and Edo rivers.

The full story of this meeting is told in an interview article (in Japanese) →

Four Colours

Each fan carries a traditional Japanese pattern on its reverse side. These are kisshō monyō — auspicious patterns, chosen for centuries to carry a wish for the person who receives them.

Chitose-midori

千歳緑 — “thousand-year green”

Composed and dignified

Reverse: washi paper, shippō — named for the seven treasures of Buddhism. Circles interlock and repeat without end: a wish for harmony, for good relationships, and for a family line that continues.

Karasuba

烏羽 — “raven’s wing”

Deep black, quietly striking

Reverse: washi paper, asanoha — the hemp leaf, drawn as a hexagon. Hemp grows fast and straight, so the pattern was long placed on children’s kimono: a wish for healthy growth, freedom from illness, and protection from harm.

Akane

茜 — “madder red”

Vivid and memorable

Reverse: washi paper, sayagata — an unbroken key fret, carrying the idea of fudan-chōkyū, “ceaseless and long-lasting”: a wish for prosperity and long life that never breaks off.

Koiai

濃藍 — “deep indigo”

Intelligent and trustworthy

Reverse: washi paper, seigaiha — calm waves spreading outward without end. The widening shape means growing fortune, and it echoes the shape of the opened fan itself: a wish for peaceful days, one after another.

The front of the Karasuba fan: a face of black leather — **Front — leather**Cowhide about 0.3 mm thick

The reverse of the Karasuba fan: gold washi with the asanoha hemp-leaf pattern — **Reverse — washi**The *asanoha* auspicious pattern

These are two sides of the same fan. The front of the face is cowhide about 0.3 mm thick; the reverse is patterned washi, Japanese handmade paper.
Turn it the other way and it becomes a different object.

Two Artisans

Fan making | Edogawa, Tokyo

Hiroshi Matsui

Edo fan workshop “Matsui” — fan maker

2004Registered holder of an Intangible Cultural Property designated by Edogawa City, Tokyo
2014Tokyo Meister — Governor’s Award for Outstanding Skilled Craftsmen, Tokyo Metropolitan Government

He has been making fans since 1963, taking over the workshop from his father. He carries out all thirty-odd stages of the work himself. His eldest son, Tomoya, is training to inherit it.

Leather | Sumida & Edo rivers, Tokyo

Katsushika Leather

Tokyo’s east side, the leather district — a hundred-year-old maker

Both banks of the Sumida and Edo rivers have been leather country for generations: hides were tanned on one side and turned into shoes, bags and small goods on the other. Katsushika Leather is known for the depth of its finish, drawn out by scorching wax into the hide — an original blend re-mixed for each season and worked in by hand.

Shaving hide down to 0.3 mm for a fan face is work most factories refuse: if the blade drifts even slightly, the machine itself can be destroyed. Leather is not an industrial product, so its thickness is never even, and the artisan corrects for that difference by feel as the hide passes through.

Price

Edo Leather Fan

27,500 JPY (tax incl.)

The dedicated stainless steel case, shown in all four colours

Edo Leather Fan with stainless steel case

29,700 JPY (tax incl.)

Each fan is made to order, from a single piece. Engraving and bespoke specifications are quoted individually.

Enquire about an international order

Our online shop currently serves Japan only. For delivery outside Japan, please email us — we will confirm shipping and any customs charges for your country before you commit to anything. We reply in English, usually within two business days.

Just 0.3 mm thick.