About Japanese Folding Fans
The Japanese term for "folding fans" is "Kinu Sensu", so named due to the resemblance of the fan to the opening and closing of a birds wings, or leaves in a tree. An asian invention, the folding fan has history in Japan and China and depending who you talk to, you will get a history lesson skewed in the personal perferance of the teller. I'll try NOT to skew the history I have dug up about these works of art, and rather let the reader decide what folding fan history he/she prefers.
 The Many Styles of Japanese Folding Fans
Japanese fans have a long and storied history. They've been used as everything from weapons to convenient love letters.
Formal Court Folding Fan (cypress fan) Fans or royalty. English-Japanese translation for formal folding fan made of hinoki cypress and used by Japanese court ladies. This fan was called Hiougi (cypress) and is made of layers of cypress' board and silk. This board was used as record.
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In the royal court of the Japanese you would observe two types of Cypress Fan: one style for men, another for women. For males the Cypress Fan used white plain cypress board. The number of ribs was different from each position. The woman's fan was much more a work of arts, often decorated with birds, flowers, people, and interesting objects and ornamated with tassles and other accessories to compliment her beauty and station. No doubt the complexity and richness of the design and ornamentation was directly related to the position of the woman in the noble's court.
One can only imagine the uses of a fan in such an environment. As a shield for the eyes - how many hearts skipped a beat when they cought bright eyes peering out? How many gazes vanished quickly behind a fluttering fan? How many noblemen and women saw their futures vanish in an instant when the right fans was closed or opened in court? Aside from come-hither games, they could be used to bear messages in code and not so subtley.
 The Bat Fan
Around 1100 years ago this style fan became common to certain classes and professions. The Kawahori " bat" name came from the shape of this fan when unfolded - it seemed to observers (the ones with the most words in their mouths anyway) to look like a bat. At that time these fans were used only by priests, nobles, and oracles. Use by citizens was forbidden. Some say this type of folding fan was favored for sending love letters, perfumed and folded tightly to contain additional tokens of love for the intended recipient.
Not the minimum number of ribs. Ease of construction and economy of manufacture may be a primary reason this type of fan saw favor with certain classes.
The Creation of the European Version and the Silk Fan
One cannot blame the Europeans for taking the idea of the folding fan and re-inventing it in a Euro-centric manner. As oriental goods made their way to European countries the folding fan became very popular in noble circles and the European court. You can only imagine how many fans were destroyed by inbred royalty and people who had never seen them experimenting with how to open them. Oh, the carnage.
 After the remains of the broken fans were swept into the fireplace, and the nervous titters subsided, European craftsmen discovered they could make these handy little fans and started recreating them using the materials on hand. While they were experimenting with designs, some of their early work made its way back to the Asian craftsmen who quickly went to work beating the Europeans at their own game. Fans that emulated European scenes quickly became a hot trade item and were shipped west by the hundreds of thousands. They moved through the silk road caravan lines, and some were probably made of silk.
Specialized Folding Fans
The iron fan (Tessen) is an unusual design most people only know from martial arts movies, but they were a real item used by high ranking members of the Japanese (and probably other Asian) military. The concept is simple - the shield like quality of the fan as a paper and bamboo item merely got pumped up. The ribs were made of a thin strips of iron or other metal and the paper was replaced with heavier duty material such as cloth or finely hinged lengths of thinner metal, wood, or bone. Silk and light cloth was used as well.
 Fans like this were used to transmit signals in battle, to direct troops, and as a weapon. In a closed state the compacted ribs make a formidable club. In an open state the fan can be used as a shield or, when the rib tips were sharpened or spiked, as a weapon to slice and cut the opponent. They could also be used as a swimming aid, like a fin.
There were many socialogical reasons this kind of fan became popular, one is of course the limitiation of weapons ownership in fuedal Japan. A fan is not recognized immediately as a weapon. This fighting style is called Tessenjutsu.
Dancers fans and those used by others in the Japanese performing arts have a special tradition. Their fans are often unique and indicate a specific actor/actress and are made by highly skilled craftsmen who are expert in the craft.
Wedding fans are yet another traditional use of the folding fan. These are given for a proposal and as gifts along with other traditional items specific to Japanese culture.
These last two categories of foldiing fans - together with the early symbolic fans of the royal and noble court - represent the highest forms of fan craftsmanship. These fans can easily cost hundreds of dollars and take weeks to manufacture.
Some Artistic Examples of Japanese Folding Fans
 
Timeline - Development of Japanese Folding Fan
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