Uchiwa is one of the things that remind us of the summer. Uchiwa in various colors add some brilliance to the twilight time of the Yukata season. Nara Uchiwa is a traditional handicraft handed down for 1,200 years in Nara Pref. It is designated as a Traditional Handicraft of the prefecture. This round fan is made of Iyo Paper and Tosa Paper dyed in beautiful colors with see-through patterns of items peculiar to Nara or the Pattern of Shosoin (the Imperial Repository), which is then pasted to the bamboo frame. These patterns are carved with “tsukibori (pushed cut)” technique on red, blue, or yellow background, which look very attractive and create the refreshing effect. This traditional handicraft has now been handed down solely at Ikeda Gankodo in Nara City. They have hardly made any changes in the patterns which were first designed in the Nara period (710-794), and have kept employing five background colors of yellow, white, blue, red, and brown. “I’m glad to hear the customers, who visit our shop after an interval of 20 years, happily say, ‘The same thing as I bought 20 years ago!’” says the proprietress with a smile. Ikeda Gankodo has kept the cut paper stencils that were made 120 years ago so that they can make the same products at any time.