<p>Following up on some stories I heard of yaoi fans I know from conventions, and a lot of trips on the <a href="http://archive.org/web/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">WayBack machine</a> to find old/deleted posts following the first ban, I came down to this pretty consistent story both online and among the fans.</p>
<p>The original yaoi paddle was made as a prank between 2 friends. The one receiving it was a yaoi manga/doujishin artist, which made quite a bit of his income this way. It is said that this event happened at <a href="http://www.yaoicon.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">yaoi con</a>, hence the interest of other people at the time, and the huge surge of requests for the yaoi paddles.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I originally made the first yaoi paddle, with woodburned letters and a high gloss acrylic finish for the owner of the company &quot;hen da ne&quot;.</p>
<p>It was meant as a joke since he and I are friends and over 33% of his business relies on the sale of yaoi manga and doujinshi, and his business model includes yelling out catch phrases to passerbys in con dealer rooms (such as &quot;geeeeet your red hot yaoi books right here!&quot; and &quot;hot boys in tight pants right here&quot;).</p>
<p>He liked the present so much, that he decided to mass produce them (to my dismay, without my final consent). And thus, has sold them ever since.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><sup>From <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090522201352/http://adf-fuensalida.deviantart.com/journal/15376535" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://adf-fuensalida.deviantart.com/journal/15376535</a></sup></p>
<p>The post also said that the original yaoi paddle was invented in 2002/2003 by <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20090403153105/http://akicafe.deviantart.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">akicafe</a>, and the rights of mass production have since been bought by <a href="http://hendane.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">hendane</a></p>
<p>Shortly after the start of the mass production, bans started to follow fast, due to the high number of &quot;incidents&quot; surrounding the paddles on cons. Several of these stories can be found online. All stating something along the lines of <em>&quot;I felt a intense pain running through my bottoms, as I turn around to see who did it, I see this small girl carrying a huge yaoi paddle melt into a group of people in cosplay with more paddles&quot;</em>. Some of these cases even stated that the paddle broke/splintered, leading to their <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20081201120202/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-06-02/yaoi-paddle-upgrade" rel="nofollow noreferrer">upgrade</a> in 2005, and also the introduction of yuri/uke paddles.</p>
<p>In between 2004 and 2006, the paddles gained their massive media surge in response to the bans and police involvement. Following this media surge, even more bans occurred as a preventive measure on cons world wide.</p>
<p><strong>TL;DR</strong></p>
<p>They originate from a prank between a yaoi artist and his friend around 2002, following up the purchase of mass production rights in between 2002-2003.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-09T23:14:45.400Z
2015-12-23T07:54:01.513Z
2020-06-17T09:17:53.303Z
Dimitri mx
<p>Sometimes on convention pages I see bans on <em>Yaoi Paddles</em>; canoe-like paddles with <em>Yaoi</em> or similar phrases (For example <em>Seme</em>, <em>Uke</em> or <em>Yuri</em>) written on them.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/2jSfI.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/2jSfI.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>I understand that someone who has a Yaoi Paddle goes around smacking people on the butt with it, which presumably is why they are banned (as I've seen a lot of people complaining that they hurt) - but why is this a thing in the first place?</p>

<p>When and where did Yaoi Paddles originate?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-02T11:56:53.187Z
I've seen some claims of origin, but none were very reliable sources
Toshinou Kyouko
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-02T14:24:41.020Z
I know that they came up around '00/'01 and gained more popularity in between '02 and '04 due to the bans. I believe they originally started sales on Yaoi con, shortly after going to ota con. Where a set of people started randomly hitting people with it without consent, which also lead to the ban.
Dimitri mx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-05T19:28:56.080Z
@Dimitrimx is it a purely western thing?
Toshinou Kyouko
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-05T19:49:22.450Z
Seeing that it is banned on several cons through out the United States, Europe and even several in Asia, I don't think it can be limited to a 'western thing'
Dimitri mx
<anime-history><merchandise><conventions>
Where did Yaoi Paddles come from?
# Where did Yaoi Paddles come from?
Posted by: username_0 on 2015-08-02
Sometimes on convention pages I see bans on *Yaoi Paddles*; canoe-like paddles with *Yaoi* or similar phrases (For example *Seme*, *Uke* or *Yuri*) written on them.

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/2jSfI.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/2jSfI.jpg)

I understand that someone who has a Yaoi Paddle goes around smacking people on the butt with it, which presumably is why they are banned (as I've seen a lot of people complaining that they hurt) - but why is this a thing in the first place?

When and where did Yaoi Paddles originate?
**Tags:** anime-history merchandise conventions
> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I've seen some claims of origin, but none were very reliable sources  
> **username_1**: I know that they came up around '00/'01 and gained more popularity in between '02 and '04 due to the bans. I believe they originally started sales on Yaoi con, shortly after going to ota con. Where a set of people started randomly hitting people with it without consent, which also lead to the ban.  
> **username_0**: @Dimitrimx is it a purely western thing?  
> **username_1**: Seeing that it is banned on several cons through out the United States, Europe and even several in Asia, I don't think it can be limited to a 'western thing'  
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2015-08-09. Score: 7 | Accepted answer
Following up on some stories I heard of yaoi fans I know from conventions, and a lot of trips on the [WayBack machine](http://archive.org/web/) to find old/deleted posts following the first ban, I came down to this pretty consistent story both online and among the fans.

The original yaoi paddle was made as a prank between 2 friends. The one receiving it was a yaoi manga/doujishin artist, which made quite a bit of his income this way. It is said that this event happened at [yaoi con](http://www.yaoicon.com), hence the interest of other people at the time, and the huge surge of requests for the yaoi paddles.

> I originally made the first yaoi paddle, with woodburned letters and a high gloss acrylic finish for the owner of the company "hen da ne".
>
> It was meant as a joke since he and I are friends and over 33% of his business relies on the sale of yaoi manga and doujinshi, and his business model includes yelling out catch phrases to passerbys in con dealer rooms (such as "geeeeet your red hot yaoi books right here!" and "hot boys in tight pants right here").
>
> He liked the present so much, that he decided to mass produce them (to my dismay, without my final consent). And thus, has sold them ever since.

From [http://adf-fuensalida.deviantart.com/journal/15376535](http://web.archive.org/web/20090522201352/http://adf-fuensalida.deviantart.com/journal/15376535)

The post also said that the original yaoi paddle was invented in 2002/2003 by [akicafe](http://web.archive.org/web/20090403153105/http://akicafe.deviantart.com/), and the rights of mass production have since been bought by [hendane](http://hendane.com)

Shortly after the start of the mass production, bans started to follow fast, due to the high number of "incidents" surrounding the paddles on cons. Several of these stories can be found online. All stating something along the lines of *"I felt a intense pain running through my bottoms, as I turn around to see who did it, I see this small girl carrying a huge yaoi paddle melt into a group of people in cosplay with more paddles"*. Some of these cases even stated that the paddle broke/splintered, leading to their [upgrade](http://web.archive.org/web/20081201120202/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2005-06-02/yaoi-paddle-upgrade) in 2005, and also the introduction of yuri/uke paddles.

In between 2004 and 2006, the paddles gained their massive media surge in response to the bans and police involvement. Following this media surge, even more bans occurred as a preventive measure on cons world wide.

**TL;DR**

They originate from a prank between a yaoi artist and his friend around 2002, following up the purchase of mass production rights in between 2002-2003.
---
