‘O fair white silk, fresh from the weaver’s loom, Clear as the frost, bright as the winter snow— See, friendship fashions out of thee a fan: Round as the round moon shines in heaven above; At home, abroad, a close companion thou; Stirring at every move the grateful gale, And yet I fear, ah me! that autumn chills Cooling the dying summer’s torrid rage, Will see thee laid neglected on the shelf, All thought of bygone days, bygone like them.’[45] From this period, in China, a deserted wife has been called an autumn fan. FANS OF THE FAR EAST—_Continued_ JAPAN [Illustration] The fan is regarded by the Japanese as an emblem of life, that widens and expands as the sticks radiate from the rivet or starting-point, and for this reason is selected for the new-year’s gift.[46] It enters into almost every affair of the life of the people, from Emperor to peasant; friends greet each other with a wave of the fan; it is one of the gifts which the bride takes with her to her husband’s house; it is presented to the youth on the attainment of his majority;[47] it is used by jugglers in feats of skill, by the umpires of wrestling matches as signal, by singers to modulate their voices; the condemned man marches to the scaffold fan in hand; the executioner does not relinquish his fan during the performance of his duty. [Illustration: Netsuki. The Dai Tengu with feather uchiwa. Mr W. L. Behrens.] [Illustration: Dagger Fan. Mr W. L. Behrens.] [Illustration: Camp Fan of Eagles Feathers, horn handle. Mr L. C. R. Messel.] The early history of the fan in the country of Dai Nippon is substantially the same as in all the countries of the far and nearer East, and presents us with the same order of development, the earliest being formed of the primitive palm leaf, or of feathers. We have, in the story of ‘The Tengus’ a description of the Dai or Master Tengu, who wears a long grey beard down to his girdle, moustaches to his chin, and carries in his left hand as a sign of his rank a fan made of seven wide feathers pointed at the tip: this he waves while singing a song, doubtless for the purpose of modulating his voice. The fan is identical in form with that of Chung-li Ch’uan, one of the eight Taoist immortals, referred to on page 47. [Illustration: FEATHER-FAN (From a Japanese painting. British Museum.)] [Illustration: HAND-SCREEN, BAMBOO HANDLE (From a Japanese painting. British Museum.)]