This is a product of a successful crowdfunding project in July 2019, two months after the first issue of "2021".
Since the latter half of the Edo period, we have been displaying fans with the name of the new year on them in our stores to let shopkeepers know the date of the new year and the zodiac sign of the year.
It is a white fan of 9" (about 27cm) in size. It is said that this fan was not for sale, but was made as a tool to inscribe the date of issue on many of our products, including our ukiyo-e prints.
It is said that there was a time lag of about one month before the new year became known to each clan and the townspeople of Edo (present-day Tokyo).
This is the first time in our company's more than 400-year history that we have sold fans for the new year to the general public. Since that time, the new year, the Chinese zodiac, and the date of the new year have been written together, and the writing has been done in accordance with this tradition. However, the date and month were written in the old calendar (lunar calendar) at that time, but this fan is written in the new calendar (solar calendar).
To celebrate the change of the Japanese calendar to "2025," we have asked calligrapher Mr. Hiroharu Masunaga (*1) to write the calligraphy on the folding fan, which will be made in Japan in a limited edition of 300. The fan will be made of "Susudake", a type of sooty bamboo collected in 1989. The fan surface is made of Echizen "Torinoko Washi" and comes in a paulownia wood box.
The bamboo is fumigated with smoke for a long period of time, from 2 to 30 years, and is one of the finest materials among bamboo materials. The parts directly exposed to the smoke are darkly discolored, but the parts not directly exposed to the smoke, such as ropes wrapped around the bamboo, are lightly discolored, thus creating a beautiful expression of shading on a single bamboo piece. Nowadays, the number of sooty bamboo itself tends to be scarce, and it is not unusual for a single piece to cost several hundred thousand yen or more.
(*1), the energy of Masunaga's entire body is captured in the brush as the ink runs across the surface of the brush to create an imaginative work of art. He has received numerous awards, including the Mainichi Calligraphy Exhibition's Fourth Division Excellence Award. He has held solo exhibitions in Dubai, Sydney, Rome, Berlin, and Algeria, as well as in Japan. The beauty of running ink is highly appreciated overseas and contributes to the spread of the endless Japanese culture.
Thus the history and progress of Edo,folding fanIbasen, which has carefully nurtured the culture from the Edo period to the present, is also making efforts to train young craftsmen in order to pass on the culture of fans to the next generation.
In the milestone of the new era of the Japanese government,folding fanBased on our corporate mission to pass on the culture of folding fans to the next generation, we are committed to nurturing young craftsmen who will lead the future through the production of "2021" folding fans made of the finest materials.folding fanWe will promote the development of young craftsmen who will lead the future through the production of "Reiwa" fans made of the finest materials. This time, we will carefully make each fan one by one with our craftsmen's hearts and deliver them to you.
This is a perfect gift for your loved ones to celebrate the new year together and wish for happiness and peace through the folding fan, which is said to bring good luck in the end of the year.
Size: 7.5 sun (22.5 cm)
Fan bone: "Hon soot bamboo" (collected in 1989)
Fan face: Echizen "Torinoko Washi" in a paulownia wood box
Made by Ibasen
This fan is a perfect gift for your loved ones to celebrate the new year together with your wishes for happiness and peace.
It is also a suitable gift for Mother's Day or Father's Day to commemorate the growth of children who will lead the new era of 2025.
IbasenTopics column articleThe fan (folding fanis good luck? Reasons and points to keep in mind when giving it as a gift"Please also see the reasons why fans are considered to be good luck in "Is a fan ( ) good luck?
Click here for the Makuake crowdfunding page
This page is reprinted from the above page of Makuake.
