The Russellville Democrat. [volume] (Russellville, Ark.) 1875-1898, 1886-03-04
RUssELLvILLE POPE co. ARK, Marcia. 1886.


VMVNMG3Q 4 0M6e
Twenty years ago these fans, which
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 a protection against fire heat,
or as filing up q 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 a 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-
pecial. 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
resentation 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 q
story, or part of story; an allusion, a
satire, or suggestive idea. To q GER
tain degree the fan is to the Japanese
citizen what Punch or the window of
the Stereoscopic Company is to the
Londoner. If 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 a certain extent to for
eigners. 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 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
Tan ridicule is the powers that be. Fan
libel is q 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 is1egion. Not always does the
reverse side-the palmer side-of the
Japanese fan bear well-known al
lusion. Sometimes it is 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 Fruji yama,
or tea house by torrent, or coun-
try side represented by few apparent
ly 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 great
characteristic of all these is truth to
nature. The rabbits nibbling at bale
of rice may have clothes on, but they
are rabbits for all that; foxes espe-
cially are delineated in all conceivable
attitudes and costumes, but they are
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 a popular drama or
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 tho 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 OF
society; he has always been very much
what the English popular actor prom
ises 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
on Japanese fans appear as like one
another as are the faces of Sir Peter
Lely's beauties in Hampton Court Pal
ace, the Japanese citizen pretends to
discover 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 printed side Of the
fan represents scene from one of these
plays-perhaps Karukaya, the self
exiled prince, with his child clinging to
him, or a scene from the famous play
of the Forty Seven Ronins," or an in
cident 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 plentifully
drawn upon by the Japanese fan artists,
and every child knows at once when he
sees Inari, the fox god, or Hatchiman,
the war god, or Iyeyas, the warrior
priest, or Benten. The goddess of the
sea, or any other 1ro 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
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 Japan ese at all
hours and under all circumstances, it
is not surprising that 1t plays something
IL g..