What is a Chrysanthemum?
The 16 petalled ‘Chrysanthemum’ is considered a symbol or ‘Mon’ of the royal family, and was placed on Military Rifles to indicate ownership by the Emporer. The Chrysanthemum was often removed, (by grinding or otherwise defaced,) to prevent a possession of the Emporer from falling into the hands of the ‘Barbarians’. What is a ‘Mon’ – mon \Mon\, n. [Jap.] (Japan) The badge of a family, esp. of a family of the ancient feudal nobility. The most frequent form of the mon is circular, and it commonly consists of conventionalized forms from nature, flowers, birds, insects, the lightnings, the waves of the sea, or of geometrical symbolic figures; color is only a secondary character. It appears on lacquer and pottery, and embroidered on, or woven in, fabrics. The imperial chrysanthemum, the mon of the reigning family, is used as a national emblem. Formerly the mon of the shoguns of the Tokugawa family was so used. Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
