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BESIDES KICKING up a fine summer breeze, the fan performs many other chores for the Japanese. It is used as a bellow for a charcoal fire. It is used to advertise business and merchandise. It is an extra special giveaway when a purchase is made at a fashionable shop. It is a tool of the trade for the wrestling match umpire.

The fans are split bamboo, beautifully dressed in paper. The fans are any color and all colors. The fans are plain and designed with sunrises and flowers and Mt. Fuji. The fans are small and large. The fans are cheap and expensive. The fans are fabulous.

There is the folding type fan, the sensu, and there is the uchiwa, the fan that is always open. In olden times the Japanese were never fully dressed unless they carried a sensu. Even now it is a vital part of the bride's wedding outfit.

Women in Japan aren't the only ones who flutter fans. Men, too, carry them and use them. The wind-whippers get a vigorous workout from July through September, the very hot months in Japan, and part of the workout is rendered by the serviceman, who happily figures that what is good enough for papa-san is good enough for him.

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