Middletown transcript., 1884-02-29
Japanese Fans.

nominal price, were regarded as
genuine curiosities. Now, from the
very reason that they are cheap and
common, they are rarely examined, al
though their utility as protection
against fire heat, oras filling up a blank
corner, and their ornamental qualities
when dexterously bound in worked
satin, are generally acknowledged.
Yet each of these fans is in reality a
curiosity, and there is far more good
for study in them than in half the blue
smudged china which brings fabulous
prices in the market.
The fan painters of Japan are an
especial separate guild, as distinct from
artists in other branches as with US the
scene painter is from the portrait
painter. The unknowing Englishman
looking at Japanese fan sees nothing
in it but upon one side grotesque
representation of the "penny plain and
! twopence colored" order, and upon the
other few crude splashes of ink. But
to the citizen of Toxic or Osaka each
fan carries a special signifcation-a
story OF part of story an allusion, a
satire, or a suggestive idea. To GER
tain degree the fan is to the japanese
citizen what Punch OF the window OF
the Stereoscopic Company is to the
Londoner. If a political event Of some
Importance takes place, it is sure to be
followed by flood ofnew fans upon the
markets, and the japanese, who have
the keenest sense of humor and ridicule,
find that to libel, or criticise, or carica-
ture by means of fan, is safer and
cheaper than by means Of the press.
When Japan was first thoWn open to
certain extent to foreigners, and even
for some time after, until the natives
grew accustomed to their new guests,
it was difficult to take up fan with
out being confronted with some hideous
caricature of Western personal appear
ance. manners and customs. But now
that every town-bred native tries to
look as much as possible like Euro
pean, and the common crowd have
become familiar with cigars and
breeches. the fountain head Of fan
ridicule is the powers that be. Fan
libel is a cheaper and safer mode of
procedure than pen libel, because the
public censors are Il thoroughly ac-
quainted with the editors and proprie-
tors of the few public journals, while
the number of fan artists and mer-
chants is legion. Not always does the
reverse side-the palmer side-Of the
japanese fan bear a well-knOwn allu-
sion. Sometimes it is simple carica-
ture, and an examination Of one Of
these caricatures reveals that. however
crude and sketchy the execution, the
most genuine vein of humor lies be-
meath it, especially if it be what is
deemed the forte of japanese carica-
turists-the delineation Of grotesque
animals Sometimes we get a bit of
landscape, the inevitable Fuji yama, OF
a tea house by torrent, or a country
side represented by few apparently
random dashes, of which each, how
ever, tells its tale-or we get one ct
those wierd moonlight effects of which
the Japanese are so fond. The great
Characteristic Of these is truth to
nature. The rabbits nibbling at bale
of rice may have clothes on, but they
are rabbits for all that foxes especially
are delineated in all conceivable atti-
tudes and costumes, but they are per-
feet foxes SO with wild birds, frogs,
monkeys, fish and storks.
The gaudy side of the japanese fan
is invariably serious piece Of work,
and the scenes depicted are generally
either bits from popular drama OF
from one Of those countless legends
and stories which have delighted
japanese of all classes and ages from
time immemorial, and in many cases
bear so strong a family likeness to the
stories familiar to English childhood.
The popular actor in Japan shares
with the popular wrestler the privilege
Of basking in the sunshine of the best
circles of society he has always been
very much what the English popular
actor promises to become, the darling
of the masses and the favorite of the
Court. Consequently his portrait" +"
appears on the fans, and although to
us the faces Oh Japanese fans appear
as like one another as are the faces of
Sir Peter Lely's beauties in Hampton
Court Palace, the Japanese citizen
pretends to discover likeness by the
accessories. So there are certain plays
in which these actors take chief parts,
and which of Toxic audiences never
weary and, as rule, the painted side
OF the fan represents scene from one
of these plays-perhaps Karukaya, the
self-exiled Prince, with his child cling
ing to him, or a scene from the famous
play of the & Forty-Seven Ronins," or
an incident from the touching history
of Gompachi and Komurasaki, OF the
Prince of Sendi lamenting his lost love
on the shores Of Takasago Bay. The
legends and stories are plentifully
drawn upon by the Japanese fan artists,
and every child knows at once when
he sees Inari, the fox god, or Hatchi-
man, the war god, or Iyeyas, the war
rior priest, or Beaten, the goddess OF
the sea, OF any other hero or heroine of
popular mythology, just as an English
child knows Blue Beard or Cinderella.
All classes appreciate the artistic value
Of the fan in Japan. The great lord al
the council, the merchant over his
counting board, the priests presiding
at the money Golfer, the tea-house girl
/ L. ~