By HIDEO SATO/ Staff Writer
September 9, 2020 at 08:00 JST
Kyoto-style traditional folding fans created by the Kyoto Sensu Uchiwa Shoko Kyodo Kumiai (Kyoto folding and round fan commercial and industrial cooperative association) to contain the novel coronavirus are shown in Kyoto’s Higashiyama Ward. (Hideo Sato)
KYOTO--A geisha with her face covered by a plain surgical face mask hardly fits the traditional dainty image of the practitioners of the centuries-old art form that is largely hidden from the public eye.
Traditional hand-held fans are considered much more suitable for elegant geisha and their "maiko" apprentices in this age of health concerns over the new coronavirus.
This, then, explains recent steps taken by the Kyoto Sensu Uchiwa Shoko Kyodo Kumiai (Kyoto folding and round fan commercial and industrial cooperative association).
Comprising businesses and craftsmen who produce and sell folding and round fans, the organization created and distributed Kyoto-style fans with mortar applied to one surface to five historic entertainment zones in this old city.
As mortar is said to have anti-virus effects, the association expects geisha and their trainees to use the fans to cover their mouths as part of efforts to contain the novel coronavirus.
“I hope the practice of preventing droplets from leaving mouths (with the fan) will become common,” said Satoshi Aiba, chairman of the fan association.
The product was developed by Shimizushouten Ltd., an association member based in Ukyo Ward here. The backs of the fans are coated with mortar to dissolve the protein composition of viruses and bacilli to render them inactive, according to representatives.
In the first round of the campaign, 200 Kyoto-style fans decorated with designs inspired by the “chimaki” amulet and “chinowa” ring believed to ward off evil were sent to the five nightlife districts so each of them could receive 40 of them.
On Aug. 19, Aiba handed his association’s fans to Masano, 20, a geisha apprentice from Kyoto’s Gion-Higashi district, as well as others at the Gion Corner tourism facility in the ancient capital’s Higashiyama Ward.
The special fan is to be released for general sale for 5,500 yen ($51.85), including tax. For shops handling the product, check the association’s website at (http://www.sensu-uchiwa.or.jp).
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