We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
A comma-shaped swirl, often in a group of three.
Also known as: Mitsudomoe, Futatsudomoe, Comma swirl, Japanese triple swirl
The tomoe is a comma-shaped swirl, and its commonest form is the mitsudomoe of three arranged in a circle. It appears on Shinto shrine fittings and on taiko drums, and what it originally depicted is not settled — a magatama bead and an archer's wrist guard are both proposed.
Denotes a comma-shaped swirl used in Japanese heraldry and shrine decoration, most often in the three-fold mitsudomoe arrangement.
Contexts: History
Has no settled origin: derivations from the magatama bead and from an archer's leather wrist guard are both proposed and neither is established.
Contexts: History
Appears widely on Shinto shrine fittings and on taiko drum heads, and is the crest of the Hachiman shrines.
Contexts: History
One to three comma-shaped forms, each with a rounded head and a tapering tail, arranged in a circle chasing one another.