Folding fan

扇子 sensu

Folding fan

A fan spreads open (suehirogari), wishing for growing prosperity; a wedding and New Year motif.

Folding fan invented in Japan, around the 7th–8th century; court use from the Heian period

Flat fans came from China via Korea, but the folding fan is a Japanese invention. The first were hi-ōgi of thin cypress slats carried by Heian courtiers; paper-covered kawahori ('bat') fans then became more popular, carried by warriors in the Kamakura–Muromachi periods. Fans were used in noh, dance and the tea ceremony, decorated with painting and gold leaf, and exchanged as gifts. The fan's spreading shape (suehiro) made it a wedding and New Year motif.

Kyō-sensu (Kyoto folding fans) is a designated traditional craft.

Technique catalog · draft for review

Every way to wrap, carry and wear a furoshiki.

The furoshiki.com archive, sliced into annotated steps with plain directions, plus techniques found in research.