Yasuto Yonehara | Kyoto Folding Fan

Brand

Unique Japanese Aesthetic Expressed Through Gold Leaf

Yonehara Eigyosho, Higashiyama Joint Enterprise Cooperative

• Established in 2016
• Kyo-Sensu Fans
  
• Yasuto Yonehara, Gold Leaf Fan Artisan

History

Keeping Tradition Alive and Bringing It Into the Future

In 2009, Yasuto Yonehara started training to become a gilded Kyo-Sensu fan maker under the guidance of a traditional craftsman named Nobuharu Yonehara.

He primarily produced fans for traditional Japanese arts like Noh theater or the sado tea ceremony. Through the apprenticeship, Yonehara developed an appreciation for all traditional Japanese crafts, not just Kyo-Sensu fan making. He felt the need to preserve traditional Japanese virtues and prayers hidden within Japan’s traditional performing arts, Shinto and Buddhist rituals, and festival rites.

This is how Yonehara’s desire to give folding fans and gold leaf a modern makeover to keep them relevant started to bloom.

He looked at everything he had learned and wondered how he could apply it to create something worthwhile in the modern world. Finally, in 2016 he decided to make Kyo-Sensu fans that would be a reflection of Japanese identity and immediately started researching ways on how to bring this unique vision to life.

Characteristics

A Design That Feels Both Traditional and New

In order to convince people to use fans in this day and age, you need an item that mixes traditional gold leaf with modern fashion sensibilities.

A characteristic of Kyo-Sensu fans is that they are made by a team of artisans, each one specializing in a different step of the crafting process.

Making the fan ribs and leaves, fan painting, gilding, pleating, attaching the leaf to the ribs. Each of those specialized tasks is handled by a different experienced craftsperson. This ensures that the fan is constantly checked for quality and that no two are ever identical, resulting in a high-quality traditional Japanese product.

In the Ibushi (smoked) series, “yakihaku” burned leaf produced by smoking silver with sulfur is used, producing a distinct color that changes depending on the length of the fumigation.

Metal leaf smoked with sulfur develops a thin, transparent layer that changes how light reflects off it. By controlling the thickness of that layer, different color effects can be created within the final product.

It’s a delicate, time-consuming process that can’t be achieved quickly or by mass production.

The end products are the epitome of style and luxury.

Message to Customers

Enjoy Japan’s Unique Sense of Beauty

Japanese people have their own unique ideas of beauty found in such cultural concepts as “Mono no aware” (an awareness and appreciation of impermanence), “Yugen” (subtle and profound beauty), or “Wabi-sabi” (acceptance and appreciation of transience and imperfections).

These concepts are the source of my creativity. They make me want to preserve traditional Japanese crafts for future generations.

I hope that customers can experience this bedrock of Japanese culture through the intangible charm of gold leaf and the material beauty of fans.

Make these fans part of your everyday look or use them as fashionable accessories that also help you stay cool.

Some models are made especially to fit people’s modern lifestyles, so they would be great gifts. Please help me create a world where everyone carries a fan around with them.

Awards

Traditional Craftsman

Recognized as a traditional Kyoto craftsman

Recipient of the International Fine Arts Association Newcomer Award

Work showcased at the Japanese Traditional Crafts Exhibition