Uchiwa (団 扇) is a traditional handed japanese fan, that despite their lightness and beauty were supplanted in daily use, from folded-ones (always invented in Japan) because of their small size in the West. Used during summer festivities or normally just to cool down.

The fan drive was born in China and was introduced to the Japanese court in the sixth century, and soon became one of the most popular accessories for ladies and noble, a further sign of distinction as well as the sophistication of the clothes.

  

The uchiwa still show the same flat body and long, and owe their virtues to the materials with which they are traditionally manufactured: bamboo and paper.

Bamboo strips are in fact linked together radially to form the frame of the same range, generally round or square. Will then glued to it a sheet of printed paper; will proceed finally to decorate the handle, painting or hacking it with the most various reasons.
In Japan, if they can find for sale of all types and often reproduce some traditional decorative motifs, famous ukiyo-e, portraits of famous people and hanami (fireworks).

There are various type of uchiwa:  Boshu Uchiwa is one of the big three uchiwa, a non-folding traditional Japanese fan, together with Kyo Uchiwa (from Kyoto) and Marugame Uchiwa (from Marugame, Kagawa), and a lot others.

Uchiwa are even give for free, usually for advertising, that will have the logo of the company printed on it. Or you can buy whatever you want for a very cheap and reasonable price (of course there are the expensive ones too).

That's not all, in Japan (and now in all the online stores too) you can find anime-related uchiwas! Here are the ones from K-ON:

But the most famous form of non-traditional uchiwa are the idol uchiwa. Usually those are sold during events or concerts, but are super easily to find. They come in a lot of shapes and pictures, that is you have a wide range of choice.