A Japanese War Fan or Tessen (”iron fan”) is a weaponized Japanese hand fan designed for use in warfare. Several types of war fans were used by the samurai class of feudal Japan and each had a different look and purpose. One of the most significant uses was as a signalling device. 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.War fans could also be used as weapons. The art of fighting with war fans is tessenjutsu.
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