Making Fans Since 1689

Imagine a slat of bamboo, 12 inches long and one, maybe two inches wide. Now cut it lengthwise along the grain into 80 lengths leaving the bottom inch uncut. Now break off each sliver of bamboo and place it by hand onto your paper. This is only the beginning of a one year process for making the traditional Kyoto style fan.

Tomiko Yamaguchi introduced us Saturday morning to Aiba, the tenth generation proprietor of the family business started in 1689. The fans made at her shop are special. Very special. They are made entirely in Kyoto and known as Kyo-Gosho. They are not the folding fans, they are the flat fan. The fans are created sometimes by painting, sometimes by wood block, sometimes both. They often feature representations of nature, a haiku or a poem.

Lauren created a little video of our time there and Andy got a few photos of the fans we made (which are nothing at all like the fans that Aiba and her craftspeople create). Here is one of Aiba’s creations and futher below are Lauren’s video and our meager attempts…