In common with a dinner party guest, or more so a guest at a medieval banquet, those invited to a tea event need to carry appropriate items: a bottle of wine or a sharp knife, respectively. The tea guest has more complex requirements but let us, to avoid digression, focus on the fan.
The small folding fan (even smaller for women) (sensu) is worn as an accessory to kimono tucked diagonally, pivot end down, into the obi at the left side. This fan is rarely opened and never used for cooling purposes. If such is required then men may tuck a larger, folding fan in the back of the obi. Women, I think, tend to remain unencumbered and must endure the heat, though a considerate host may supply uchiwa (flat fans) for use during less formal sections of an event.
When travelling the fan remains in the obi. If a meeting is likely or imminent, then the fan is held in the right hand, having been taken out and transferred elegantly, imperceptibly, so a formal bow may be made.
When seated in a tatami room the fan is placed in the manner of a samurai’s shorter sword, just in front of and parallel to the two kneeling knees. This is historically a gesture of revealing one’s weapon and placing it in a disadvantageous place, simultaneously creating a barrier and a link. The fan is a link, of peace.
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.
