Ivy (Tsuta)
These family crests (In Japanese, KAMON) are called 'Tsuta-Mon' in JAPAN.

Ivy leaf in a circle
(Ken mon
Shoka Mon)		 Korin-style
shadowed ivy		 Ivy in
threadlike ring		 Ivy leaf

Pointed-leaf ivy
in circle		 Ivy leaf in a circle Ivy leaf
in rice cake		 Ivy branch circle Trisected
ivy leaves

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Drawing method of
an ellipse		 Korin-style cranes
in shape of ivy leaf

Drawing method of an ellipse

This Drawing method is written in 'Hayabiki jomon kagami' that was issued in 1833.

A deciduous liana of the grape family, ivy was used in patterns and family crests because of its elegant beauty. In the Edo Period, ivy crests were used by the Matsudaira clan and the shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune, so they came to be associated with power and authority. Incidentally, geisha and prostitutes also loved to use these crests, but for quite a different reason.The way ivy twines around other plants and grows thick was said to symbolize the way these women depended on their regular customers and never left them. (From 'Family Crests of Japan' ICG Muse, Inc.2001)
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