FANS OF JAPAN.* To be interested in fans it is

perhaps hardly necessary to call oneself a " Japonophile," or to become a complete devotee of that sentimental and toylike nation. One may even confess that aftera time Japanese art palls, and one may admit a doubt whether either art or nation has a very great future before it. Still, there is a fascination in fans, and a real interest in the curious study of their most respectable antiquity. There are few more charming relics than an old Louis-Quinze fan, its sticks of carved and painted mother-of-pearl cracked here and there, its Renaissance groups slightly faded, the lazy grace with which it opens and shuts itself suggesting old Court romances in which it may have played its part along with smiling lips and white hands, it alone remaining. Then a Spanish fan, with its endless varieties of language, whole his- tories written in its folds, the constant companion of dark eyes, the witness of tragic scenes; it also has a character which appeals more strongly to one's sympathy at the first glance than any number of representations of Fuji4cm with its snow and cherry-blossoms.

This, however, is prejudice; and it may perhaps be done away with altogether by study of Mrs. Salwey's gorgeous book. Her slight sketch of the history of Japan proves at once that the study of Japanese fans means the study not of

the history alone, but of the religion, etiquette, daily manners and customs, peace and war, agriculture, trade, games, litera- ture, in fact of the whole civilisation and art of Japan. From the sixth century downwards, fans were a part of the national costume. Every fan belonging to every rank had its meaning and was used in its own particular way, according 10 a strict

code of etiquette. A few of these very old fans have been preserved. One of the most interesting is that which belonged to the poor little Emperor Antoku, whose grandmother jumped

into the sea with him at the battle of Dan-no-iira in 1185, when he was only six years old. Mrs. Salwey gives an illus- tration of this fan. It is of the folding kind, or ogi–the flat ordinary fan, uchiwa, is of greater antiquity—and is made of painted wood scattered over with small landscapes and figures ; a delightful toy for a child.

The fiat fan, or uchiwa, was introduced into Japan by the Chinese, and has been made in different shapes and used in many different ways. The cheapest and most common form

of these flat fans is now an ordinary object in Europe, and used in ways which fill a Japonophile with indignation :—

" They find their way into almost every drawing-room and boudoir in our Western hemisphere, are twisted up with wool and tawdry materials, and repainted by the modern Goth. They are set in fireplaces and windows as summer screens, put to all sorts of tortures, for letter-racks and tidies, and devoted to uses for which they were never intended."

It is true ; the West invariably vulgarises the East. But the spread of civilisation must have these consequences ; and after

all, if Japonophiles wish their favourite land and its treasures to remain untouched by profane hands, they should not write books to make it fashionable. They are themselves the cause of all that they try too late to prevent. It is the way with discoverers and enthusiasts in everything.

Certainly the Japanese uchiwa, at home and in history, is a very much more interesting object than the modern specimen of its kind in an English room. One of its most curious varieties is the iron war-fan, invented in the eleventh century for the use of military commanders, either for direction and

signalling, or as a shield for defence. These fiat fans were made of leather and iron, one side being varnished with red lacquer, with the emblem of Buddha and some other native device. A fan of this kind with a brass handle is the subject of one of the beautiful coloured plates, the execution of which cannot be too highly praised, which ornament Mrs. Salwey's book. Illustrations are also given of the water-fans, which

are made of bamboo and thinly lacquered, so that they may be dipped in water to secure extra coolness while fanning. To harden these fans they are dipped in Shibu juice, which also acts as a dye, turning red when exposed to the air. Another kind of uchiwa is the revolving fiat fan, which whirls round

its stick and can be rolled up. Another strong fiat paper fan is used as bellows to blow the charcoal fire in the kitchen.

Among the folding fans, or ogi, the Hi wood fans are the Pans ofJapan. By Charlotte IL Salwey, see Birch. With Introduction by William Anderson, PALOS., late of R.M.'s Legation, Japan. With 10 full-page coloured Plates, and 39 Illustrations in black-and-white. London : Regan Paul, Trench, TrObner, and Co. 1894. most beautiful; they are painted with flowers and tied with white silk. Anciently they were hung with artificial flowers made of silk. These were the Court fans, and different flowers were appropriated by different great families, so that a fan answered the purpose of armorial bearings. Sometimes these beautiful Court fans were made of ivory and partly lacquered, thus becoming fine works of art. Folding fans also served the purpose of ensigns in war, and an enormous fan, Mita ogi, giant fan, was carried in processions in honour of the sun-goddess. Children and dolls have fans of their own, as exquisite as they are tiny. Dancers and jugglers carry peculiar fans ; there is a tea-fan, .Rikiu, used at the ancient tea-ceremony, a solemn feast among the Japanese; this is not for the undignified purpose of fanning, but for handing little cakes. The ogi fan is vulgarised nowadays by being covered with European advertisements; and till newspapers found their way into Japan, it was the only gazette. It was also used as a medium for caricatures, chiefly of Western man- ners. Mrs. Salwey says that these caricatures, often most outrageous, were one great cause of the dislike of foreigners which existed some years ago in Japan. Now the ogi is frequently made useful by being covered with engraved maps of the different provinces. Sometimes a fan-case holds a dagger. On the other hand, fans speak of religion and peace in the hands of a preacher, who makes points in his speech by sharply opening or shutting his inseparable white fan. Album fans, on which poems are written, are also a curious feature in the life of Japan, and many old legends are told again by the arrangements of houses, figures, flowers, and birds painted on the face of fans. There is an endless etiquette in the use of fans ; and to conclude, all this is explained when we know, as Mrs. Salwey says, that "with the Japanese the fan is an emblem of life. The rivet-end is regarded as the starting- point, and as the rays of the fan expand, so the road of life widens out towards a prosperous future." It is also said that the Japanese ogi originally took its shape from their wonder- ful mountain Fuji-san, which represents to them all that is beautiful, high, and holy. When one begins to understand all this, there comes a salutary feeling of ignorance, and we perceive that the Japanese may claim to be among the greatest symbolists in the world. A continuance of such study might turn the most hardened European into a Japonophile.

Mrs. Salwey carries us lightly over the surface of all this curious national symbolism and these varied mysteries of etiquette. Quite equally interesting to many people will be the chapters in which she describes the manufacture of the different kinds of fans, the work in wood, ivory, lacquer, paper, silk, the various pigments and dyes, the making of enamel, the carving, engraving, and inlaying,—all the fine materials and delicate work of Japanese art.

The plates and other illustrations are beautiful and instruc- tive, and the author's work is worthy of them as far as research goes, with careful detail and much interesting infor- mation that will be new to most people. The only thing to be regretted is that the author's English style is not quite equal to her enthusiasm for her subject, and that her sentences are sometimes a little confused. Japanese art should be treated in Japanese style,—that is, with the utmost care, delicacy, and distinction of language. Mrs. Salwey writes as if she had no time to think of anything but fans. Full of interest as her work must be, it thus loses in beauty. An art critic, like every other critic, should always remember to criticise his own work first. Then he may do something really worthy of the object he studies.