Tomoe

Tomoe, commonly translated as "comma", is a comma-like swirl symbol used in Japanese (roughly equivalent to a heraldic badge or charge in European heraldry). It closely resembles the usual form of a . The appears in many designs with various uses. The simplest, most common patterns of the device contain from one to four , and are reminiscent of similar designs that have been found in wide distribution around the world. When circumscribed in a circle, it often appears in a set of three, with this design known as the mitsudomoe. The character 巴 (Chinese pronunciation bā) has several meanings, ranging from a Sichuan toponym to a crust formed by dryness, parts of the body such as hands or cheeks, and, as a verb, bearing the sense of "to hope", "expect" or "be anxious over". The Chinese character used to depict, according to Bernhard Karlgren's interpretation of the small seal script graph, a python. The Japanese word itself may be of Mongolic origin, since it bears comparison with Middle Mongol "twisted horse headdress", from the verb (plait, twist), and Ordos Mongolian t'omok ('a little bag hung on a horse's head'). In this latter connection Tang ceramic figures of horses show small sacks tethered to the lower neck, perhaps to stop the horse from throwing its head back. One view is that the word refers to a picture e of a tomo, or drawings on the latter, the in question, in archaic Japanese , being a round leather arm protector, like the bracer or gauntlet tab of European archery. Roy Andrew Miller describes it as "a small hollow sack or bulb of sewn leather with leather tie straps, sometimes embossed with a comma like decorative device () of continental origin". It was worn on the left elbow or wrist of an archer either to prevent chafing from the bowstring (: 弦) twanging back to position on the release of an arrow, or to strike fear into the enemy from the sharp sound caused by the bowstring hitting the wrist guard. The 'tomo picture' () can therefore be interpreted either as a visual pun on the tomo represented, or, otherwise, as taking its name from that object.