Both of these functioned as cooling devices, although the non-folding type (uchiwa) was also a fashion accessory. At traditional festivals in summer it was considered cool to wear yukata. Not the flimsy cotton sleeping garments, generally blue and white, erroneously referred to in the UK as kimono and used as dressing gowns, but colourful (for women) heavier cotton or linen items tied with an informal sash tied behind with a similarly informal knot. Men would wear something similar but more subdued. Footwear is geta, wooden soled and thonged, flip-flop style, with two blocks of wood elevating the wearer, which were also worn with more formal kimono in wet weather. These provide a wonderfully evocative clatter and are cool in hot, humid summer evenings.
The fans, when not in use, are prodded downwards between the sash and the wearer so that the taut, stretched paper head lies flat against the back, displaying the applied motif. Sometimes these would be prints of traditional imagery but many would be corporate advertising, the fans being handed out freely close to the festival site.
The third category was folding paper fans intended for display. The least of these are mass-produced, almost the equivalent of posters. The finest were hand-painted images or calligraphy, often poems. At tea events these may be used in informal spaces such as the waiting room.
Alex Fraser runs east teas, now relocated in the new Jubilee Market of Borough Market, London, on Fridays 12-6 and Saturdays 9-4. Contact via epoch@eastteas.com.
