By the word "fan" we understand the folding object. Such a fan, brought to Europe in the XVII century, was designed to save fashionable women from the theatrical spirit.
In Russian, the word "fan" was first recorded in 1724. It was a sheet of paper, silk, glued into a bamboo round frame. It was a bit like a ping-pong racket. The earliest form of such a fan was puffed up.
In China, such a fan is known for at least 2000 years.
The fan was intended not only for "ventilation", but also for protection from the sun, mosquitoes and hiding a woman's face from strangers - the Japanese version of the burka. In the Middle Ages, Japanese women believed that it was indecent and even dangerous to flaunt their faces. An open face is like the discovery of your name, which makes you defenseless, both in front of a man and in front of evil spirits. It was also considered unacceptable to have tanned skin. One of the signs of a "real" beauty who had never worked in the field was white skin. It should have distinguished her from ordinary women, i.e. sunburned peasant women. In Japan, the fan appeared no later than the 8th century, and there is written evidence of this: in 762, an old man in the form of a special favor was allowed to come to the court with a staff and a fan. In addition to these purposes, a fan with a metal handle and metal trim (the blade itself was made of lacquered wood) was used by samurai commanders to guide the battles. Currently, such fans are used by the judges in Sumo wrestling - the judge indicates the winner of the bout. The medieval epic "The Tale of the House of Tyre" tells the story of how the mighty commander of Tyra Kiyomori, caught at the crossroads of darkness, the wave of a fan-forced the sun to rise again to the sky. A fan attached to a shaft stuck in the ground indicated the location of the commander's horse. One of the many legends about the famous general Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) tells that with the help of a fan Shingen defended himself from the enemy troops that were pushing him down. In Japanese fairy tales, the fan also has the role of a magic wand. The fan is an indispensable attribute of the demon Tangu - a hybrid of dog and bird, a long-nosed demon that lives on top of a tree, usually pine trees. With the help of a swing of around faith, Teng could lengthen and shorten the human nose.In addition to the fun, a folding fan (horns or sensei) was also widespread in Japan. It is believed that horns were invented in Japan and then borrowed by China, the rarest case in antiquity. Usually, the flow of technological information was directed directly in the opposite direction. The folding fan was decorated with paintings and poems. In "Okagami" it is said that "the courtiers made different fans and presented the Emperor. Many covered the fan strips with gold and silver lacquer, some of them inlaid the fan strips with inlays made of gold and aromatic jin and purple sandalwood, carved, wrote Japanese songs and Chinese poems on unspeakably beautiful paper, redrawn pictures of famous places from books...". The fan was used for ceremonial purposes as well - the emperor granted fans to the especially distinguished courtiers. One of the most popular gifts was a fan. It was believed that it brought happiness and prosperity. The shape of the fan, it would seem, is not suitable for games. However, during the Edo period, the Japanese were fond of playing with fans. On the surface of the table was set a target in the form of a ginkgo tree. It was thrown with an open fan. By the way, the tree fell down and to what extent the fan turned out to be open after that, the fan, who threw a certain amount of points.
The idea - the fan hides the face, and therefore the soul, finds its expression in the fact that when you meet with a man of higher rank than you are, the use of the fan for his direct purpose is prohibited by the rules of decency: the face of the subordinate must always be open.
The fan is also an indispensable accessory for the actor. In the representations of the medieval theater Noh, which has survived to this day, each character has a unique fan. If he is Chinese, he will have around the fan in his hands. Fans with black plates (there should be 15 of them) are designed for men's and women's roles, with light - for the elderly and monks. Since the movements are made during waving, directed both to themselves and from themselves, in the rituals of the fans are used for two purposes. On the one hand, it can drive away evil spirits, but on the other hand - the accentuated movement of the fan is designed to cause the deities. The fan is widely used in ritual dances performed in Shinto shrines. In this regard, an indispensable attribute of the priest is a fan. There are cases when the fan is revered for the main temple shrine in which the deity lives. One of the terms for the community of believers is the fan. That is, the pinned planks of the folding fan symbolizes the unity of its bamboo components - members of the religious community of Feyer is widely used in ritual dances performed in Shinto shrines. In this regard, a fan is an indispensable attribute of the priests. There are cases when the fan is revered as the main temple shrine in which the deity lives. One of the terms for the community of believers is the fan. In other words, the pinned planks of the folding fan symbolize the unity of its bamboo components - members of the religious community.
In the Japanese view, the afterlife was ruled by Buddhists rather than Shinto deities. Therefore, to successfully rebirth in the Buddhist paradise, it was necessary to sever their ties with the deities, although it was (and still is) quite normal for almost every Japanese to visit both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Also, it was necessary to prevent the spirit of the deceased from returning to the world of the living and to arrange for the soul of the deceased to leave the world completely. Otherwise, the evil spirits could do him irreparable harm through the closest thing to him. There were several ways to break with the gods and life. It was possible to turn inside out the clothes of the deceased. It was possible to break his cup. And it was possible after death to break the fan and throw it on the roof of the house or throw it over its horse.
Even geographical maps were drawn on fans - such fans were taken by travelers on their way.