Uesugi Mon Japanese samurai faux gold on black Key Ring

Uesugi mon from the japanese shogunate. The mon is an emblem to designate a family, clan or even an organisation. The kamon is used specifically to identify a family. The mon is similar to the coat of arms from European heraldic tradition. Although, there is a big difference, the mon stays clean and minimalistic in design. European crests tend to get very complicated by combining other family crests over the generations. Mon and Kamon are usually designed using a roundel containing a abstracted, stylised image of an object. This object can be a plant, an animal, a tool, or anything you fancy. This will lead to a large amount of categories containg many variations of aparticular object. Although we end up with thousends of mon, due to its minimalist and even modern design, mon and kamon are never boring. They look absolutely beautiful on any piece of merchandise.