Antique Japanese (samurai) Edo period gunsen war fan, made of iron, bamboo and lacquer depicting the sun (1800-50) on display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California.

A war fan is a fan designed for use in warfare. Several types of war fans were used by the samurai class of feudal Japan.

Description[link]

War fans varied in size, materials, shape and use. One of the most significant uses was as a signalling device.^[1] Signalling fans came in two varieties:

• a real fan that has wood or metal ribs with lacquered paper attached to the ribs and a metal outer cover
• a solid open fan made from metal and or wood, very similar to the gunbai used today by sumo referees.^[2]

The commander would raise or lower his fan and point in different ways to issue commands to the soldiers, which would then be passed on by other forms of visible and audible signalling.^[3]

War fans could also be used as weapons, The art of fighting with war fans is tessenjutsu.^[1]

Types of Japanese war fans[link]

A tessen (iron fan) on display in Iwakuni Castle, Japan

• Gunsen (軍扇^?) were folding fans used by the average warriors to cool themselves off. They were made of wood, bronze, brass or a similar metal for the inner spokes, and often used thin iron or other metals for the outer spokes or cover, making them lightweight but strong.^[1] Warriors would hang their fans from a variety of places, most typically from the belt or the breastplate, though the latter often impeded the use of a sword or a bow.^{[citation needed]}
• Tessen (鉄扇^?) were folding fans with outer spokes made of heavy plates of iron which were designed to look like normal, harmless folding fans or solid clubs shaped to look like a closed fan. Samurai could take these to places where swords or other overt weapons were not allowed, and some swordsmanship schools included training in the use of the tessen as a weapon. The tessen was also used for fending off arrows and darts, as a throwing weapon, and as an aid in swimming.^[3]
• Gunbai (Gumbai), Gunpai (Gumpai) or dansen uchiwa (軍配^?) were large solid open fans that could be solid iron, metal with wooden core, or solid wood, which were carried by high-ranking officers.^[4] They were used to ward off arrows, as a sunshade, and to signal to troops.^[5][6]

War fans in history and folklore[link]

Japanese war fans

One particularly famous legend involving war fans concerns a direct confrontation between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin at the fourth battle of Kawanakajima. Kenshin burst into Shingen's command tent on horseback, having broken through his entire army, and attacked; his sword was deflected by Shingen's war fan. It is not clear whether Shingen parried with a tessen, a dansen uchiwa, or some other form of fan. Nevertheless, it was quite rare for commanders to fight directly, and especially for a general to defend himself so effectively when taken so off-guard.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune is said to have defeated the great warrior monk Saitō Musashibō Benkei with a tessen.

Araki Murashige is said to have used a tessen to save his life when the great warlord Oda Nobunaga sought to assassinate him. Araki was invited before Nobunaga, and was stripped of his swords at the entrance to the mansion, as was customary. When he performed the customary bowing at the threshold, Nobunaga intended to have the room's sliding doors slammed shut onto Araki's neck, killing him. However, Araki supposedly placed his tessen in the grooves in the floor, blocking the doors from closing.^[3]

The Yagyū clan, sword instructors to the Tokugawa shoguns, included tessenjutsu in their martial arts school, the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.

War fans outside Japan[link]

Fans are also used for offensive and defensive purposes in the Chinese and Korean martial arts. They are called "铁扇" (tiě shàn, literally "steel fan") in Chinese, and "부채" (buchae) in Korean – see Korean fighting fan.

In popular culture[link]

• Video games, in the series Samurai Warriors, Takeda Shingen wields a dansen uchiwa in the first game^[7] in SW2, Ishida Mitsunari also wields a tessen.^[8] War fans are used by the popular video game female ninja characters Mai Shiranui (wooden-paper fans in the Fatal Fury and King of Fighters series^[9]) and Kitana (a pair of sharp metal fans in the Mortal Kombat series and films^[10]).
• Movies, in the French martial arts action film Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf) Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) uses a War Fan in the climax of the film.
• Manga, Cartoon and anime, in series such as InuYasha by Kagura^[11], Naruto by Temari^[12], Madara Uchiha^[13], Code Lyoko by Yumi Ishiyama and Saiyuki by Genjyo Sanzo.
• Animated television series, in series such as Avatar: The Last Airbender by Kyoshi Warriors^[14], and Code Lyoko by Yumi Ishiyama^[15].

Gallery[link]

• 

  Antique Edo period Japanese (samurai) solid iron tessen fan.

• 

  An iron Japanese tessen fan with wood ribs.

• 

  Antique Edo period Japanese (samurai) gunsen fan with wood ribs and an iron outer cover.

• 

  Antique Japanese (samurai) gunbai war fan. Wood and lacquer with shell inlay.

See also[link]

• Tessenjutsu

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Oscar Ratti and Adele Westbrook, Secrets of the Samurai, Edison, NJ: Castle Books (1973).

"Star Wars Kid" is an viral video^[1] involving a video of a high school student from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, wielding a golf ball retriever in imitation of Darth Maul's lightsaber moves from the Star Wars films.^[2]

Video origins and publication[link]

On November 3, 2002 a Canadian student made a video of himself swinging a golf ball retriever around as a weapon. The video was filmed at his high school studio, and the tape left in a basement. It was taped over a portion of a basketball game (as seen extremely briefly at the end of the clip). The video was discovered by a schoolmate, who showed it to his friend who created an electronic file from the video tape. The video was distributed amongst his school's students when it reached a fourth student, who uploaded it to the Internet under the title Jackass_starwars_funny.wmv.^[3] The video eventually became a viral Internet meme through P2P services.^[4] According to court transcripts, the video first appeared on the Internet on the evening of April 14, 2003.^[5]

An edited version of the video was created, adding Star Wars music, texts, and lightsaber special effects, such as lights and sounds. As of November 27, 2006 it was estimated by The Viral Factory that the video had been viewed over 900 million times.^[6] As of 2010, the first copy of this video that was posted on YouTube has over 20 million views.^[7]

Harassment lawsuit and settlement[link]

In July 2003, the student's family filed a CA$250,000 lawsuit against the families of four of his schoolmates. The lawsuit stated in part that he "had to endure, and still endures today, harassment and derision from his high-school mates and the public at large" and "will be under psychiatric care for an indefinite amount of time."^[8] Legal proceedings against one family were quickly dropped.^[5] The lawsuit had been scheduled to begin trial on April 10, 2006,^[9] but on April 7, the boy and his parents reached an out-of-court settlement with the defendants.^[5]

Recognition[link]

In 2005, CNET listed the Star Wars Kid as #8 on its Top 10 Web Fads list.^[10] In 2007, the G4 TV show Attack of the Show rated it the number 1 viral video of all time.^[11] It was ranked #2 on VH1's "Top 40 Internet Celebrities", right behind Gary Brolsma (The Numa Numa Guy).^[12] The case raised privacy issues and was extensively reported in mainstream news media worldwide, including The New York Times,^[13] CBS News, GMTV, and BBC News.

In popular culture[link]

The video and its subsequent popularity spawned many spoofs and references on various television programs, including episodes of The Venture Bros.; the American Dad! episode "All About Steve"; multiple episodes of Arrested Development, beginning with "The Immaculate Election"; Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide; Cory in the House; Teen Titans; and South Park. In the episode of Being Ian Blah Blah Blog at the end of the episode, a parody of the Star Wars Kid was shown with Ian in a unicorn outfit doing the same moves as the Star Wars Kid. Popular musician Weird Al Yankovic imitates Star Wars kid in his music video White and Nerdy.

In 2006, comedian Stephen Colbert initiated a contest, Stephen Colbert's Greenscreen Challenge. He presented a video of himself standing in front of a greenscreen, using a toy lightsaber to dramatically fight off imaginary foes in the fashion of the Star Wars Kid. It was then up to viewers to edit and enhance in their own way. Viewers would then send their own videos into the show, on which the best would be featured. The contest eventually culminated with Star Wars creator George Lucas making an appearance, presenting his elaborate version of the video, enhanced by Industrial Light and Magic.^[14]

See also[link]

• List of Internet phenomena
• Viral video

References[link]

External links[link]

	Quebec portal
	Internet portal

• "'Star Wars Kid' becomes unwilling Internet star". USA Today. August 21, 2003
• "La SCAP devient Patrimoine Trois-Rivières". Cyberpresse. February 23, 2010
• Ha, Tu Thanh. "Parents file lawsuit over Star Wars Kid video". Globe and Mail. July 23, 2003
• "The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder - Panopticon or Subversion?". Academic Quarter, Fall 2011