Over 1,700 compact, graceful designs — a traditional part of many Japanese family histories — are featured in this handsome, versatile collection. Depicting plant, leaf, animal, and fan designs in circular motifs; astronomical images, and more, the authentic, royalty-free crests are ideal for use as spot illustrations in a variety of graphic projects.

Family crests (mon) have been a Japanese tradition since the eleventh century, when they decorated the costumes and carriages of courtiers. Later, they were used to identify warriors on the battlefield, as heraldic decorations on formal costumes, and as ornament on the kimonos of the common people. Small, compact, and graceful, with a strong sense of style, crest designs are ideal for spot illustrations, as logos, or for any graphic purpose requiring the classic simplicity, purity, and strength of Japanese design. This volume presents a total of 540 permission-free motifs, carefully selected for graphic impact and usefulness from several thousand crests known to exist. Featured are a wide variety of stylized designs depicting plants, animals, natural phenomena, geometric shapes, and manufactured objects.Among the subjects included in this selection are such traditional Japanese motifs as bamboo, crane, lightning, cherry blossom, peony, plum blossom, wave, rice, circle, and hollyhock. Immensely useful, this volume of permission-free designs is not only an invaluable source of graphic material for artists, designers, and craftspeople, but a fascinating picture book of Japanese culture.

Definitive catalogue of Japanese heraldic crests featuring almost unlimited variety of plant, animal, bird, and geometric forms, from "wild goose" to "folding fan" to "mountain and mist," each with dozens of variations. 4,260 illustrations.

The Elements of Japanese Design is a library of traditional Japanese design motifs in the form of more than 2,700 family crests ( mon) compiled and drawn by a Kyoto publisher and bookseller early in the twentieth century, and selected and interpreted by John Dower, a leading American scholar of Japan. First used for identification on the battlefield beginning in the twelfth century, mon developed into symbols of family pride and fortune and quintessential expressions of the Japanese design sensibility--especially in their economy of means, exquisite detailing, and boldness of composition. The motifs employed in these family crests are also a fascinating window into the symbolic system of traditional Japan, which drew from a rich palette of natural phenomena, plants, animals, abstract devices, and manmade objects. This book will be a source of pleasure and inspiration to anyone interested in the basic elements of Japanese design, and of valuable information to anyone wishing to know more about the remarkable culture that produced it.

Compact, graceful designs that have endured for ages as an art form depict astronomical images, plant, leaf, and animal motifs, the chrysanthemum crest of the Imperial family, and hundreds of other subjects — all classics of their kind. Ideal for use in a variety of print and craft projects. 920 black-and-white illustrations.

These 212 vector-based images of visually striking Japanese crests from rare source materials include plants, animals, symbols, abstracts, and more. The versatile vector format allows the motifs to be presented as fully realized crests or as stencils. Bonus features include 40 texture fill patterns and color schemes for Adobe software programs.

INTRODUCTION Kamon or family crests are art motifs, which have been adopted as insignia by families and handed down through the ages. The heraldic emblems of Japan are simpler and aesthetically finer than European coats of arms. The clarity and elegance of kamon are now highly valued throughout the world as a new design or motif, and applied widely in various ways in such fields as handicraft, interior and textile designs. In this book, 4,080 traditional crests are collected. The Yin (white on a black background) of each crest is presented on the left page, and the Yang (reversed motif) on the right page. Accordingly, the total number of motifs comes to 8,160. All the designs are free of copyright, so you can use them as they are or as a source of inspiration. -Editor