Japanese Design Motifs - 4,260 Illustrations of Japanese Crests

Japanese Design Motifs, compiled by the Matsuya Piece-Goods Store, translated by Fumie Adachi / 216-page paperback , 11.5 x 8.25 / ISBN 9780486228747 / part of the Dover Pictorial Archive *** This collection presents more than 4,000 individual designs in the 900-year-old tradition of Japanese family crests. Through constant variation and invention over the centuries, this has become one of the richest graphic art traditions in the world. Most of these motifs are circular, and they can all be fitted into a square. Within those limitations is a seemingly endless range of designs, beginning with the dozens and dozens of root motifs — rice plant, gingko, scallop, lightning, anchor, spool, raft, candle, scissors, fern, saki bottle, lotus blossom, mountain arrow, pine, wisteria, ship, rabbit, and scores of others. Practically every kind of plant, bird, animal, natural phenomenon, and manufactured object of Japanese culture was at one time or another included in a family crest. In addition, e