Heian Court Fan
The Heian court fan, the hiōgi, is the folding fan of the Japanese court of the 9th to 12th centuries, made of slender strips of cypress wood joined at the base and spread in a fan of pale wood, often painted with seasonal flowers and scenes or inscribed with poems; the folding fan itself is a Japanese invention, and these court fans were among the earliest fans to reach China and Korea. Courtiers of the Heian aristocracy used the fan to conceal the face, to gesture in the dance, to signal discreetly at court, and, in the elaborate etiquette of the age, to express shades of meaning the spoken