HOW JAPANESE FANS ARE MADE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3147, 29 July 1881, Page 4

HOW JAPANESE FANS ARE MADE.

A British consul in Japan giveß the following particulars touching the manufacture of folding fans at Osaka:—As in many other branches of industry, the principle of division of labour is carried out in the fanmaking trade. The bamboo ribs are made in < 'iaka and Kioto by private individuals in their own houses, and combinations of the. various notches cut in the lower part are left to one of the finishing workmen, who forms the various patterns of the handle according to plans prepared by the designer. In like manner the designer gives out to the engravers the patterns which his experience teaches him will be most likely to be saleable during the ensuing season j and when

the different blocks have been cut, it still rests with him to say what colours are to be used for the two sides of each fan. In fact, this official holds, if not tho best paid, at any rate tho most important, position on the staff in ordinary. When the printed sheets which are to form the two sides of the fans have been handed over to the workman, together with the sets of bamboo slips which are to form the ribs, his first business is to fold the two sheets of which the fan is to he composed, so that they will retain the crease, and this is done by putting them between two pieces of paper, well saturatod with oil, and properly creased. The four are then folded together and placed under a heavy weight. When sufficient time has elapsed the sheets are taken out and the moulds used again, the released sheets being packed up for at least twenty-four hours in their folds. The next process is to take the ribs, which are temporarily arranged in order on a wire, and "set" them into their places on one of the sheets, after it has been spread out on a block and pasted. A dish of paste then gives tho woodwork adhesive powers, and that part of the process is finished by affixing the remaining .-hp*t of paper. The fan has to be foHpd up and opened three or four times before the folds take the proper shape ; and by the time the fan is put up to dry it has reeo" ■• 1 f >iT" Ti--r<> handling than ai y foreign paper could stand ; indeed, foreign paper has h"en trii-d. and had to bp given up as uns'iH.a'■>!«• f*r the work ; but. with great cam thn ' !n>ilr.-i fannmkers have been able to make some fans with printed pictures which have been sent over from America, though the* - re invariably obliged to use one face •'*' Japanpf" rt'inpv T>ip qualities of native •■"••:•; ;; '.. u«i>-'. ->-p not nearly so goo' •■; ■■■■.-.■■. ■■:•;';\<'. : ) •.'•.<■> ]' fans were ma I•, ■•nd, in consequence, th' l style of manufacture has had to be changed. Instead of first pasting the two faces of the fan together and then running in pointed ribs, the ribs are square, and are pasted in their places in the manner described above. The outside lacquered pieces and the fancy work are all done in Osaka and Kioto, and some of the designs in lacquer on bone are really artistic ; but the demand for the highly ornamented description of fans is not sufficient to encourage the production of large quantities of first-olass work. When the insides are dry, the riveting of the pieces together, including the outer covering, is rapidly done, and a dash of varnish quickly finishes the fan.