If you were to choose an image to represent your family and turn it into an emblem, what would you choose, plant, abstract symbol, creature?
Japan is said to count some 20.000 of these family crests and our friends at PingMag explore those graced with animals in Joyous Kamon: Japanese Animal Crests.
According to Family Crest here is what KA-MON stands for: KA means "family with own genealogical trees" and MON means "crest" or "emblem".
Over time, what were originally pretty formal emblems become more abstract or symbolic tells us Ryoko (PingMag).
One could display their family ‘coat of arms’ on lampshades for example.
Ryoko outlines the very interesting reasons why she chose the animal designs over the others:
"Why an animal as design in the first place? They have a propitious meaning: For example, a crane and a turtle represent long life since we say cranes live for a thousand years and turtles live for ten thousand years. Similarly, a shrimp is considered a symbol of long life as its long barb and bent over figure look like an aged person. Moreover, a clam is used for the crest design because of the fact that when it’s a bivalve, its both sides stick together, which makes it resemble one harmonious married couple… Next time you have shrimp or clams for dinner, think of that!"
Back in 2005, Watashi to Tokyo wrote about the same topic and reminded us that Kiku is the Japanese Emperor emblem.
The New York Botanical Garden just opened Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum, the show runs until November 18.
Of all the illustrations she offers, I picked the (moody?) Crab Kamon (from the Crest Japan collection) to illustrate this Tokyo Thursday #10…already!
Last Tokyo Thursday: Camembert & Sushi…No Cheesy Music…Paris-Tokyo