Sorry, looks like we don't have enough of this product.
Tokyo-inspired, in your wardrobe.
Japanese fans cut in three traditions — folding sensu in paper and bamboo, flat uchiwa hand fans for summer humidity, rigid tessen war fans carried by Edo samurai. Thirty-five pieces, every silhouette of the Japanese fan canon, with prints drawn from Hokusai, Hiroshige and the wider ukiyo-e tradition.
The catalog runs across thirty-five Japanese fans, organized around the three traditions that have shaped Japanese fan craft since the Heian period — folding sensu in paper and bamboo, flat uchiwa hand fans, and rigid tessen war fans. Each piece works as a daily-use object, a wardrobe accessory, or a display piece, depending on how you choose to wear it. Prices run from $15 for the printed paper hand fans up to $80 for the higher-end folding sensu in silk and lacquered bamboo.
What separates these Japanese fans from mass-market replicas is the construction. Bamboo ribs cut and sanded to traditional thickness rather than stamped from machine wood. Washi paper or silk where the standard is paper or silk, not synthetic alternatives. Multi-pass color printing on the higher-end pieces that approaches the depth of true ukiyo-e woodblock work. Each fan is named after a Japanese region, season, or motif from the Edo and Meiji canon — the same naming logic that runs across the wider Japan Clothing accessories edit.
The Japanese folding fan — sensu — is the silhouette most international buyers picture first. The catalog includes both formal and casual sensu, with the formal pieces using washi paper and silk on lacquered bamboo ribs at the higher end of the price range. Pair a folding sensu with formal kimono or yukata for tea ceremony, summer festivals or weddings. Pair the more graphic sensu with contemporary clothing — a slip dress, a kimono jacket, even cargo pants and a tee — for the layered Japanese street style that has come out of Tokyo since the 2010s.
The folding mechanism opens with a flick of the wrist and closes with a soft click when the ribs settle into alignment. A quality sensu lasts decades with normal use. The cheaper fans use thinner bamboo and lower-grade paper that wear faster but cost less, which works for occasional festival wear or as an introduction to the form. The pieces toward the top of the catalog use the same construction logic as the traditional Kyoto sensu makers, at a fraction of the artisan workshop price.
The uchiwa is the casual everyday fan — flat, fixed, oval or rounded rectangular, with a single bamboo or wooden handle. It moves more air per stroke than a folding sensu, which is why it has been the working fan of Japanese summer for over a thousand years. Carried to summer matsuri festivals. Handed out by shops in Tokyo during August. Kept on the table during the rainy season to push humidity around when air conditioning isn't enough.
Our uchiwa hand fans run at the lower end of the catalog price-wise but use traditional bamboo construction with washi paper or thin silk stretched across the frame. The prints draw from the ukiyo-e tradition — Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanagawa, Hiroshige's Tōkaidō landscapes, the floral motifs that have anchored Japanese textile design since the Edo period. They pair with yukata and jinbei for the casual Japanese summer wardrobe and work as decorative pieces for the home when not in active use.
The third type in the catalog is the tessen — the war fan carried by samurai from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration. Built from solid lacquered wood or metal rather than bamboo and paper, the tessen carries the visual gravity of the samurai class. Our tessen are reproductions calibrated for display and costume use rather than functional combat — they hold the form and balance of historical war fans without the iron-weighted hardness of authentic gunsen command fans. Tessen pair best with display rather than daily wear. Mounted in a fan frame, hung on a wall, or laid in a glass case, they anchor a Japanese-themed interior the way a samurai sword would. They also work as costume accessories for kendo demonstration, martial arts training, traditional theater performance, or cultural events. Each tessen in the catalog is named after a samurai-era Japanese province or military symbol drawn from the gunki monogatari war chronicle tradition.
The choice comes down to use case. For active cooling during summer, the uchiwa hand fan moves the most air with the least effort — that's why it's been the working fan of Japan for a thousand years. For formal wear, ceremonial use, kimono and yukata pairing, the folding sensu carries the right register. For display, costume, martial arts and Japanese-themed interior decoration, the tessen war fan brings the visual weight that the lighter fans can't. Most buyers in the catalog start with one and add a second or third over time. A folding sensu for formal occasions and a uchiwa for daily summer use is the most common pairing. Adding a tessen for display rounds out the collection. Each piece sits in the same Japan Clothing construction logic — built to age well, hold its shape, and work both as wearable accessory and as cultural object that holds meaning beyond decoration.
