Taiko kiri playing cards

The paulownia crest, along with the chrysanthemum crest, has auspicious significance and has been an authoritative crest, so it has been used since ancient times as a pattern for armor, swords, and their accessories. In the era of Hideyoshi, it was further applied to general arts and crafts, so the paulownia crest became an unprecedented fad. From clothing and furnishings to architectural carvings, there was hardly anything that didn't use this pattern. The so-called 'Taiko kiri' formed a grand and unrestrained style, and it's hard to find art works from the Momoyama period that don't feature this pattern ("Japanese Crests")