The description which Pierre Loti has given us of these fans is so charming that we cannot refrain from quoting it. ‘They wave with constant motion, or carry shut, their court-fans, on the pleated silk (?) of which are delicately painted dreamy fancies, of inexpressible charm, picturing the reflection in the water of cloud forms, of moons wintry pale, the flight of birds, or showers of peach blossom wafted by the wind in April mists. At each angle of the mount is tied an enormous tassel with shades of chenille, the ends of which trail along the ground, brushing the fine sand at each movement of the fan.’ The Hi-ogi court-fans are made of the Hi wood (_Chamæcyparis obtusa_), this being a soft light velvety wood of a beautiful golden brown, having the additional advantage of immunity from the attacks of wood-eating insects. The brins are twenty-five in number, fastened with a metal rivet, and threaded through with silk strings having very long ends, looped at the top corner of the outer ribs to form a rosette or other floral device. These fans were first introduced with the simple ornament of the owner’s crest; afterwards they were painted with great elaboration and delicacy. At court ceremonial the Emperor and nobles often bear the Hi-ogi instead of the Shaku, which is a short staff or sceptre made of wood (yew) or ivory, generally held vertical in the right hand against the lower part of the chest, to give the body a more dignified bearing; when the fan is borne, it is generally carried closed, and held in the same manner as the Shaku.[49] Before the age of fifteen a fan of common wood is carried, painted on the outside, and ornamented with silk threads or strings in five colours; on his sixteenth birthday the Japanese youth attains his majority and receives a present of a fan. [Illustration: Court Lady’s Fan. ‘Akomé Ogi’. Mr. Wilson Crewdson.] [Illustration: War Fan. ‘Gun Sen.’ Mr W. Harding Smith.] The code regulating all the details of court ceremonial is absolute, and always observed; the use of ivory for the Shaku is confined to the highest ranks, or the most important ceremonial; no noble could use an ivory Shaku on any occasion. The various usages connected with the fan are subjected to similar restrictions. Ladies carried in place of the Shaku the Hi-ogi. A fan of special make and design is used by the Empress, and its use is forbidden to any subject. The blades are twenty-three in number, connected with a white silk ribbon. The decoration is confined to the chrysanthemum, pine, orange blossom, plum, or Camellia Japonica. The ribbon rosettes or loops, affixed to the top of the outer blades, are arranged in keeping with the particular flower which is represented on the fan; these have seven long streamers, four feet long, of different colours. The rivet also is of a particular kind—_paper string_.[50]