Maru ni Daki Myōga Tea Towel

Myōga crest. This is the most commonly used design among Myōga crests (according to 'Kamon no Jiten' by Takazawa et al.). During the medieval period, the Matara faith was practiced, in which Myōga was offered to the deity's image and bamboo was placed beside it during worship. Myōga represents worldly desires, while bamboo represents nothingness. In other words, one can attain enlightenment by rendering all worldly desires as empty as bamboo. Myōga became a symbol of this deity. Matara-shin is a transformed deity of Ōkuninushi, associated with the Honji Suijaku theory that emerged in the early Heian period. As Matara-shin was also revered in ancestral worship, managing the dead and spirits, those who worshipped this deity were believed to attain a peaceful death (according to 'Monshō' by Itō Kōsaku).