Recreational research into Feudal Japan
Two Mysterious Mon
Finishing off the provincial samurai mon, I have two flower designs that I haven’t been able to find elsewhere and haven’t figured a convincing explanation for viagra pharmacie en ligne.(KJ:7) Flower variations are probably the most common type of mon, so it’d make sense that there were variations that didn’t catch on, but the specific flowers these are supposed to be remains a mystery to me. The first perhaps is on a melon, and the second has an intricate angled square design. Maybe one of you will have some insight?
Tags: flowers, provincial
This entry was posted by Kihō on December 13, 2010 (a Shakkō (赤口)) at 12:34 am, and is filled under Mon. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
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Primary Source: Kenmon Shokamon
June 5, 2014 - 12:29 am
Tags: Azuchi-Momoyama period, Edo period, Kenmon Shokamon, Muromachi period, Sengoku period, plover, provincial
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O-umajirushi is great for an idea of what mon were like in the Momoyama period, but what were they like before that? There are few earlier sources for mon other than depictions of battle scenes and similar. One that I have found, however, is Kenmon Shokamon (見聞諸家紋), which translates to “Various Observed Family Crests”. It’ss […]
Mon of the Week: Bowl with Chopsticks
December 5, 2010 - 10:49 pm
Tags: Narita, provincial, rice
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The basic bowl-with-chopsticks design, simply a circle above two horizontal lines, was first used as a seal in ancient times. It is associated with a tale about the founder of the Narita family: faced with a battle after running out of provisions, he visited a shrine, ate the offering of rice left there, and proceeded […]
Mon of the Week: Knot
November 28, 2010 - 7:13 pm
Tags: agemaki, knot, provincial, samurai
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Continuing with the provincial samurai mon, we have this simple depiction of a knot.(KJ:7) This is not just any knot, however. This knot is called “agemaki” (総角) and auspiciously symbolizes the four directions. It is hung above sumo rings, and was used on samurai armor both for decoration and as a structural component.(Samurai Weapons) For […]
Mon of the Week: Enclosed Goose
October 25, 2010 - 1:13 am
Tags: bird, plover, provincial, samurai
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At the other end of the spectrum in terms of realism from the Perching Hawk is this mon below, from the same collection of provincial samurai mon.(KJ:7) The highly stylized bird in the middle is a wild goose, and this depiction of geese is still common through the present day. Geese are associated with good […]
Element of the Week: Feathers
September 27, 2010 - 1:13 am
Tags: Heian period, Muromachi period, falconry, feathers, hawks, provincial, samurai
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Today we look at a straightforward motif in mon: feathers. Generally described as hawk’s feathers (or, depending on translation, falcon’s feathers), they are graphically simple and have flexibility in number and arrangement. They have a military connotation, both from hawks being hunting birds and from the tradition of fletching arrows with feathers from birds of […]
Mon of the Week: Pine-bark Gourds
September 6, 2010 - 4:28 pm
Tags: diamond, gourd, pine, provincial, samurai
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Here we have another mon incorporating the chestnut/diamond motif discussed earlier, this one from the 15th century colection of provincial samurai mon.(KJ:7) This mon uses a variation of the three chestnut design with the bottom diamond small to match the top one. This variant is called the “pine-bark diamonds” (松皮菱/matsukawa hishi),(IEJFC:352.2) for reasons that are […]
Mon of the Week: Three Bamboo Poles
September 6, 2010 - 1:55 am
Tags: bamboo, provincial, samurai
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Bamboo groves are commonplace in Japan, and bamboo has long been used as a construction material and for uses such as piping (due to its hollowness) and can easily be sharpened into a spear. Here we have a different take on bamboo found in the collection of provincial mon.(KJ:7) Unlike the more popular depiction of […]
Mon of the Week: Bell
August 24, 2010 - 2:11 am
Tags: Edo period, bell, longevity, provincial, Ōsaka
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Today we look at another mon from the same collection of provincial samurai mon from the 15th century.(KJ:7) Today’s mon uses an enclosure that didn’t become a common element in Japanese mon despite its simplicity and elegance. The enclosing shape appears to be a bell. Bells were associated with Buddhist temples, which used large bells […]
Motif of the Week: Folding Fans
June 14, 2010 - 12:00 am
Tags: Edo period, Heian period, fans, provincial, samurai, tengu
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A while back we talked about one type of fan used in mon, but the type of fan everyone associates with Japan is the standard folding fan. This was a very popular motif in mon through the centuries. Its origins as a design motif date to the Heian period (794–1185).(Dower:110) Here are two folding fans […]
Mon of the Week: Hollyhock
May 31, 2010 - 1:31 am
Tags: Tokugawa, hollyhock, provincial, samurai
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Continuing our pass through 15th century rural samurai mon,(KJ:7) this week we have a straightforward one. It shows two hollyhock leaves with a bud, arranged representationally. Unlike the previous few weeks’ mon, this design has been preserved almost unmodified through the centuries; compare this similar modern mon.(IEJFC:8) One interesting thing about the Japanese used to […]
