What is this motif on a Japanese kimono?
June 5, 2014 5:21 PM

Can anyone identify what this symbol is supposed mean or represent? It's a pattern on a kimono.
posted by splatta to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
It might be a bunny or a rabbit. I feel like I had a tote with the same symbol from the local Japanese market as a kid.
posted by Hermione Granger at 5:36 PM on June 5, 2014


It looks like an (even more) stylized version of the rabbit in the moon making mochi.

The rabbit here has a similar looking head (the one on the bottom), but is more obviously a rabbit.
posted by sevenless at 5:50 PM on June 5, 2014


I agree that it probably has to do with the rabbit in the moon.
posted by ainsley at 8:09 PM on June 5, 2014


That's a 'mon', probably. It's usually a family symbol.
posted by empath at 10:16 PM on June 5, 2014


Looks like an informal yukata (cotton summer kimono), and as there's visible machine stitching and the patterns don't quite line up, I'm willing to bet it's a cheap yukata given to guests at a hotel/inn/ryokan.

While the bunny (yes it's a bunny :) ) is clearly styled to resemble a mon, it's not – that is a very modern bunny. Given that it's likely to be a yukata linked to a commercial venture, I'm also willing to bet that modern hoppity-hop design is the logo of wherever it came from.

Tsuki no usagi is the main mythological callback, yep!
posted by fraula at 4:28 AM on June 6, 2014


fraula has it.

(also, it looks quite familiar...I think it may actually be a hotel yukata from one of the MANY hot spring hotels around Beppu, though I haven't been there in well over a decade. the clue that it is not, in fact, a mon is the placement. it's hard to tell from the photo, but the mon is usually a singular mark at the upper center of the shoulder blades.)
posted by squasha at 5:58 PM on June 8, 2014


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