Maru ni Daki Myōga Ceramic Tile

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 a bamboo was placed beside it as a form of worship. Myōga represents worldly desires, while bamboo symbolizes emptiness. The idea is that by emptying oneself of all desires like bamboo, one can attain enlightenment. Myōga became a symbol of this deity. The Matara deity is a transformation of the Ōkuninushi no Mikoto worshipped in Jōgyōsanmai-dō hall, associated with the Honji Suijaku belief that emerged in the early Heian period. As this deity was also believed to govern the dead and ancestral spirits, worshippers were said to attain a peaceful death (according to 'Monshō' by Itō Kōsaku).