Featured Handheld Asian Paddle Fan

No finds today so I had to buy something, whatever it is.
Japanese or Chinese? Are the stitches hans or machine made?

 

Wonder if that would leave a cross hatch mark - as a fanny smacker?

 

All cross hatches are pretty tight and the printing on it looks newer! Looks machine made = newer item.

Maybe hand woven wet - then dried tight, still say newer!!

 

I would say painted rather than printed but as you say, it could be NEWER

 

definitely machine stitched.

 

Is the other side blank?
After looking around, the only fans of similar shape I've been able to find are Japanese general's war fans used for signalling his troops. Sumo wrestler referees still use a similar fan. Those are all made of wood, bronze or iron. I can't find any basket weave fans like yours. So, this could turn out to mean nothing. Maybe your find is for the leader of a bird watchers group, .

Uesugi Kenshin (R) and Takeda Shingen (L) at the Battle of Kawanakajima
Japanese Edo period Artist Torii Kiyomasu I (Japanese, active about 1696–1716), Publisher Igaya Kan'emon (Bunkidô) (Japanese)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.


Military Leader's Fan
[...]In Japan military leaders used various implements, including flags, banners, and fans, to direct the movement of their troops. The object shown here is a signal fan (gunbai) whose shape suggests the cross-section of a gourd.
Military leader's fan. Japan. Edo period (1615–1868). Bronze. The Avery Brundage Collection, B62M37.