The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1884-02-16
Japanese Fans.
From the Londo,, Globe.


Twenty years ago these fans, which now
abound in every house, and which may be
bought by the dozen at 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, or as filling up blank corner,
and their ornamental qualities when dex-
terously 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 brings fab
ulous 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 unknow-
ing 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
or part of story; an allusion, satire, or
suggestive idea. To a certain 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 libel, 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 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
without being confronted with some hideous
caricature of Western personal appearance,
manners and customs. But now that every
town-bred native tries to look as much as
possible like European, and that the
common crowd have become familiar with
cigars and breeches, the fountain head of
fan ridicule is the powers that be. Fan
libel is cheaper and safer mode of pro-
cedure than pen libel, because the public
censors are thoroughly acquainted with the
editors and proprietors of the few public
journals, while the number of fan artists
and merchants is legion. Not always does
the reverse side-the palmer side-of the
Japanese fan bear a well-known allusion.
Sometimes it is a simple caricature, and an
examination of one of these caricatures re
veals that, however crude and sketchy the
execution, the most genuine vein of humor
lies beneath it, especially if it be what is
deemed the forte of Japanese caricaturists
the delineation Of grotesque animals.
Sometimes we get bit of landscape, the
inevitable Full yama, or tea house by q
torrent, or country side represented by a
few apparently random dashes, of which
each, however, tells its tale-or we get one
of those wierd moonlight effects of which
the Japanese are so fond. The great char
acteristic of all these is truth to nature.
The rabbits nibbling at a bale of rice may
have clothes on, but they are rabbits for
all that; foxes especially are delineated in
all conceivable attitudes and costumes, but
they are perfect foxes; so with wild birds,
frogs, monkeys, fish and sterks.
The gaudy side of the Japanese fan is
invariably serious piece of work, and the
scenes depicted are generally either bits
from popular drama or 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 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 fayorite
of the Court; Consequently his portrait
appears on the fans, and although to us
the faces on 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 a
likeness by the accessories. So there are
certain plays in which these actors take
chief parts, and of which Toxic audiences
never weary; and, as rule, the painted
side of the fan represents a scene from one
of these plays-perhaps Karukaya, the
self-exiled Prince, with his child clinging
the "Forty Seven Ronins, or an incident
from the touching history Of Gompachi
and Komurasaki, or the Prince of Sendai
lamenting his lost love on the shores of
Takasago Bay. The legends and stories
are beautifully drawn upon by the japanese
fan artists, and every child knows at once
when he sees Inari, the fox god, or Hatch
imam, the war god, or Iyeyas, the warrior
priest, or Beaten, the goddess of the sea,
or any other hero or heroine of popular
mythology, Just as an English child knows
Blue Beard or Cinderella. All classes ap-
preciate the artistic value of the fan in
Japan. The great lord at the council, the
merchant over his counting board, the
priest presiding at the money Golfer, the
tea-house girl calling out to passers-by to
''rest their honorable limbs, the pilgrim
toiling up the holy mountain, the coolie
resting on the pole-all see in it something
to amuse or something to interest. As the
fan accompanies the Japanese at all hours
and under all circumstances, it is not sur
prising that it plays something more than
the part of machine for waiting cool air
10 the lillIerate man IL Ii II oookj W INC
oppressed man it is reviver; to the politi-
cal student it is a suggester; to the child it
is story teller.
THE CIGAR.-In the pleasant flavor of
the pure Havana the habitual smoker claims
soothing luxury that quiets the nerves
and invites repose. Science ignoring such
pretence. minutely examines the element