In the old local fishing villages, while the fishermen were out to sea, the women looking after their homes took to manual work of fan-making as a source of income. The number of fan-makers grew to about 1000, and Boshu uchiwa soon became a favorite summer gift, selling as many as 8 million fans a year in the early Showa period. However, with changes in people’s lifestyles, uchiwa became less of a necessity, and the production today has decreased to one tenth. In 2003, Boshu uchiwa was officially designated as a Traditional Craft of Japan.