Hasta La Ideas

The Japanese counterpart to the European coat of arms is the mon, also called kamon as relating to specific families. Several design elements distinguish mon from the coat of arms: The former are typically contained within a circle, tend to have axial or rotational symmetry, and rely more on abstract geometric shapes than realistic reproductions of real-world items.

Interestingly, mon are also monochromatic, meaning if you painted a particular family’s symbol in black or red, they were both recognized as the same thing. In Europe, if your lord’s banner was a red cross on a white background, and you showed up with a blue cross on a yellow background, you were pretty much asking for a crossbow bolt in the face.

(more…)