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Menuki Identification

Ukigumo

Sempai
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I wonder if anyone can make out what these menuki are? Could they be ears of rice/wheat/corn?



 
Heads of millet. In Japanese: 粟穂 (awaho, or awabo).

A super fine example

ARAKI TOMEI MILLET MENUKI

Signature work by Araki Tomei, solid gold millet menuki. Signed on gold plaques on the back. Excellent workmanship, condition, and kin sabi. It is very rare to find any other subjest used in his fittings, for which he developed his own metal punch to cut the millet heads. 3.93 cm x 1.13 cm...
www.nihonto.us
 
Oh fantastic. I'd've never have come to that conclusion! Why? I'll see if I can find out…

'Millet, with its heavy stalks of grain, is associated with wealth and a bountiful harvest.' I thought millet was considered the 'grain of desperation' (great title for a film about suffering samurai farmers), the grain you only eat if you have to. I feed the birds in my garden and they differentially leave the millet behind requiring me to sweep it up.

'The motif [millet] is strongly linked to autumn, a time of harvest and the end of the growing season.' The very best season!
 
Last edited:
My first thought was fish eggs & roe.
 
I never came across millet much in Japan, but it's a staple in Indian and Chinese food. My wife makes it for breakfast on a semi-regular basis. They call it 小米 (xiaomi) in Chinese. Literally "little rice".
 
How about these two menuki? One looks a bit like a jingasa but the other…I have no idea! It could be upside down in my photos!


 
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