Kurikawa Shoten Shomaru Uchiwa Fan - Tan

The Item

Crafted in Kyoto by Kurikawa Shoten, this hand-finished uchiwa fan is both an object of refinement and eminent practicality.

Each fan is made entirely by hand from just four natural materials: Japanese washi paper, bamboo, persimmon tannin, and rice-derived glue.
The persimmon tannin—deeply rooted in traditional craft—acts as a natural preservative and insect repellent, while imparting a warm, amber hue that deepens beautifully with age.

We’ve selected three of Kurikawa’s most beloved everyday models. You may choose to decorate your fan with paint or calligraphy, or leave it in its pure, unadorned state—an ode to the quiet beauty of simplicity.

You can watch a video of their production process here.

The Tradition

Specialized production of uchiwa began around 1600, when a traveling priest from Marugame City—famous for its fans—shared his techniques with artisans in Kutami, a city known for its fine paper, in exchange for a night’s lodging. Over centuries, Kyoto craftsmen further refined the form, transforming a simple cooling tool into an art of proportion, balance, and grace.

Today, Kurikawa Shoten is the only remaining workshop that unites and preserves the traditions of all three major fan-making centers: Marugame, Kutami, and Kyoto.

Japanese uchiwa fans are typically classified into five archetypes:

Bussen – wide and round, used by monks and in temples

Koban – oval, named after the Edo-era gold coin

Shomaru – small, balanced, and perfectly portable

Sensen – refined, formal fans for ceremonial use

Nagadai – elongated, with a graceful vertical silhouette

The fans we've sourced are examples of shomaru.

The Culture

Introduced to Japan from China during the Kofun period (300–710 CE), the fan has evolved over more than a millennium through ritual, adaptation, and artistry.

In Japan, the uchiwa serves many roles: a means of relief in the summer heat, a gesture of modesty in courtly life, a spiritual talisman to repel evil, and a sign of status and refinement in Noh and Kabuki theater.

Among everyday citizens, uchiwa fans remain tools of daily life—used to coax the flames of a charcoal grill (still observable in Shinjuku's Omoide Yokocho), to stir incense smoke, or to drive away insects in the humid countryside.

Even today, they’re gifted at festivals and celebrations as emblems of goodwill and good fortune, a wish for gentle winds in the heat of the season.

The Brand

Founded in Kyoto during the Meiji era, Kurikawa Shoten continues to produce handmade uchiwa in the same way they have for over a century.

As the last workshop bridging the traditions of Marugame, Kutami, and Kyoto, they embody a rare continuity—preserving not only the techniques of fan-making but the spirit of patience, humility, and care that defines Japanese craft.

We’ve chosen three of their most classic, everyday models: durable, graceful, and quietly indispensable.

The Designer

These fans are an archetype of what Italian designer Achille Castiglioni called anonymous design—forms without a single known author, perfected through generations of use and necessity.

Castiglioni believed that anonymous design, born from collective wisdom rather than individual ambition, often surpassed authored design in both function and beauty.
In that sense, the uchiwa is a masterpiece of the vernacular: an object honed not by innovation, but by understanding.