Why does Japan like to take a small fan no matter what it does?

Fans originated in China (so did the Egyptians) and have a history of more than 3,000 years in China. It first appeared in the Yin Dynasty and was made of colorful pheasant hair, so it was called "barrier fan", so the word "fan" had the word "feather".

The early Japanese fans in Japan were called fans and consisted of thin fan bones. Each fan bone is closed separately, similar to today's folding fans, but the shape is not perfect when unfolded. According to some literature records, Japanese craftsmen gradually explored and covered the fan bones with stickers, which made the fans merge into one, thus forming a new style. River fan is not only a cool tool in Japan, but also an important symbol of Japanese culture. Like fans and belts, handbags and clogs, it is a part of the regular kimono; In the tea ceremony, if the other party puts a folding fan horizontally in front of you, it represents a screen, reminding you that "the tea is not ready yet, don't reach through the screen to get it." Then why not get a real screen? Because an important part of tea ceremony is to let tourists watch the process of making tea, if you really put a screen on it, you can't see anything.

Interestingly, according to the theory that folding fans originated in Japan, although Japanese harmony fans were once favored by celebrities such as Su Dongpo after they were introduced to China, on the whole, this exquisite little thing was initially accepted by the middle and lower classes in both China and Japan. In Japan, the harmony fan has become one of the props of Japanese "fan dance". Unfortunately, some schools of Japanese fan dance are the pioneers of ancient "erotic dance", which created a looming temptation with the opening and closing of the fan. In China, Liu Yuanqing in the Ming Dynasty said in "An Analysis of Xian Yi": "Southern women all use round fans, while prostitutes use scattered fans (that is, folding fans)." It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that folding fans became a common commodity for bureaucrats. Celebrities wrote inscriptions on fans, gradually forming a new art form. Later, even more exquisite than Japanese fans, they were exported to Japan in large quantities, so that "Made in China" became the mainstream of the Japanese market during the Edo period. The introduction of "Hefan" into China and its return to Japan is an interesting exchange in the history of oriental culture.

It is worth mentioning that elegant and gentle fans also have a relationship with violence in Japan. Japanese peace fans used to be Japanese weapons. According to the Ming History, when the enemy gets cold feet, they often dance with the one in front to attract the attention of the Ming army. Then, he "formed a butterfly array, waving with his own fan as the number, one waving a fan, and everyone waving a long knife, and the knife was shining." Fan has actually become a command tool similar to today's semaphore. Today, we can see many cultural influences from other countries on the popular harmony fans in various countries. Although Japan still calls it a "harmonious fan", on the whole, it has been somewhat misnamed.