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Samurai Mon Question


shibeni

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Bojan,  The short answer to your question is no. Firstly two of the mon, the ones on the left and right in particular were used by just about everybody and his brother. Secondly, there was no regulation or recording of mon, other than restrictions on their use, until quite late. The mon used by some of the commanders at Seki ga Hara are unknown despite the fact that they were reasonably important people at the time. There was a practice of granting your mon to a subordinate who had been victorious with the result that the 3 - 5 - 3 kirimon, as on the helmet on the right, became so widely used that it didn't really identify anyone.

Ian Bottomley

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Hi Bojan,

Ian is basically right. Almost no chance for pinning down the families (clans) if there is no further information about the particular armor (-parts) bearing the mon. Not to disappoint you completely, here are some possibilities....

 

The kabuto:

 

post-63-0-02209900-1476618814_thumb.jpg

post-63-0-03614700-1476618461_thumb.jpg

post-63-0-70535100-1476618512_thumb.jpg

 

 

The dou:

 

post-63-0-72177300-1476619625_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

The fugikaeshi (second kabuto):

 

post-63-0-41701800-1476618994_thumb.jpg

 

 

Guess, now you can imagin why Ian not named any specific family  ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sometimes you can pair a mon to a clan. 

For instance the Hosokawa made use of the etchu style which is very distinctive, same applies to the Date with the oshu/sendai style and the Ii with their red Hikone armours. Stepping aside from that its near impossible to marry a mon with a clan.
As the others have said, they were used too widely by so many.

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Yup, sadly I have to agree with the above.

 

I have a beautiful wakizashi koshirae covered in the sideways Mitsu Hikiryo Mon on your Do above. "Miura?" Hopefully wagging my tail, I have shown it to several Japanese sword experts but they all seemed to shy away from naming any one family.

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