Menuki designations

While some menuki designs have special significance; whether for luck, Buddhist or Shinto spiritual motif, or family crests, etc., most are just traditional decorative themes favored my the various schools of craftsman. You might find cherry blossoms, which refer to impermanence and the fleetingness of life, or a bird stalking an insect as a reminder that death stalks each of us, etc. If you read ancient Japanese and Chinese literature, you'll find a reoccurring use of the allegorical nature themes depicted in Japanese sword fittings and other oriental art forms.
 
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