The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-04-02
Japanese Fans.

now abound in every house, and which
may be bought by the dozen at NOM
inal price, were regarded as genuine
curiosities. Now, from the very reason
that they are cheap and common, they
are rarely examined, although their
utility as protection against fire heat,
or as filling up a blank corner, and
their ornamental qualities when dexter
ously bound in worked satin are gener-
ally acknowledged. Yet each of these
fans is in reality curiosity, and there
is far more food for study in them than
in half the blue-smudged china which
fetches fabulous prices in the market.
The fan painters of Japan are an es-
peeial, 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 rep
resentatlon 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 special Specification a
story, or part of story; an sllusion, a
satire, or suggestive idea. To Ger
tain degree the fan is to the japanese
citizen what Punch or 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 of new fans upon
the market, and the Japanese, who
have the keenest sense of humor and
ridicule, find that to Rbel, or criticise,
or caricature by means of a
fan, is safer and cheaper than by means
OF the press. When Japan was first
thrown open to a certain extent to for
elgners, and even Cor some time after,
until the nativeI grew accustomed to
their new guests, it was difficult to take
up a fan without being confronted by
some hideous caricature of Western
personal appearance, manners and Gus
toms. But now that every town bred
native tries to look as much as possible
like an European, and that the common
crowd have become familiar with ci-
gars and breeches, the fountain head of
ian ridieule is the powers that be- Fan
libel is cheaper and safer mode of
procedure than pen libel, because the
public eenSOrs are 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 al
fusion. Sometimes it is a simple carl
cature, 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 Fruit yama,
or tea house by q torrent, or coun-
try side represented by few apparent
| ~ random dashes, of which each, how
ever, tells its tale-or we get one of
those weird moonlight effects of which
the Japanese are so fond. The grea at
characteristic of all these is truth to
nature. The rabbits nibblirg at q bale
| of rice may have clothes on, but they
are rabbits for all that; foxes espe-
cially are delineated in all conceivabIs
attitudes and costumes, but they s,ro
perfect 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 i'm
memorial, and in many cases bear so
strong family likeness to the stories
familiar to English childhood. The
popular actor in Japan shares with the
popular wrestler the privilege of bask
ing in the sunshine of the best circles o.
society; he has always been very mucl
what the English popular actor prom
ises to become, the darling of the
masses and the favorite of the Court.
Consequently his portrait appears or
the fans, and although to US the faces
on Japanese fans appear as like ont
another as are the faces of Sir Pete
Lely's beauties in Hampton Court Pal
ace, the japanese citizen pretends tC
discover likeness by the accessories
So there are certain plays in which
these actors take chief parts, and o
which Toxic audiences never weary
and, as rule, the printed side of thu
fan represents scene from one of thes'
plays-perhaps Karukaya, the self
exiled prince, with his child clinging K
him, or a scene from the famous pla,
of the Forty Seven Ronins,o or an in
| - ho n
Gompachi and Komurasaki, or thu
Prince of Sendai lamenting his lost low
on the shores of Takasago Bay. Th
, legends and stories are plentiful,
drawn upon by the japanese fan artists
and every child knows at once when h
sees Inari, the fox god, or Hatchiman
the war god, or Iyeyas, the warrio
priest, or Benten, the goddess of tn
sea, or any other hero or heroine O
popular mythology, just as an EnglisI
child knows Blue Beard or Cinderella
All classes appreciate the artistic value
of the fan in Japan. The great lori
i counting board, the priest presiding a
$ the money Golfer, the tea-house gil
calling out to passers by to crest thei
honorable limbs the pilgrim toiling u
T. the holy mountain, the coolie resting O
the pole-all see in it something +
!: amuse or something to interest. A
b the fan accompanies the Japan ese at a
hours and under all circumstances,
is not surprising that it plays somethin
more than the part of machine TO
waiting cool air. To the illiterate man
70 is a hook. to the oDnressed man il is
;. reyiver; to the political student it is
a Isuggester; to the child it is a stor
teller London Globe.