The tea bowl and hand-guards in the nearby case together with this contemporary kimono suggest the four seasons. The full moon and flowering branch is an emblem of springtime; the silvery orb-like bowl and inky kimono evoke the summer’s night sky; the Inari fox is the eponymous messenger of Japan’s ancient rice deity who provides a bountiful harvest; and the snowclad top of Mt. Fuji symbolizes winter. While each of these works might have served a practical function as a garment, drinking vessel, or protection for the hand in the forward thrust of a razor-sharp sword, instead they were never used but rather created as objects of beauty or acquired for display.