Magaring

Last crawled date: 2 years ago

Landstown High School Governor’s STEM & Technology Academy
Advising Instructor - Jennifer Renne
This ring is based on two parts of Japanese culture that has been fused into one piece of jewelry. The first part of the Japanese culture this piece of jewelry is based on is the magatama. A magatama is a curved comma-like bead that was used to draw a kami spirit to a shaman. Kami spirits are deities traditionally from Shinto religion. These spirits can be good or bad, and have very descriptive backstory. They’re like Greek gods, but for the Shinto religion. The shaman would summon these spirits to talk to them in order to benefit from their powers. It has also been used to communicate with the dead, and some magatama are believed to be home to some spirit of the deceased. The other part of Japanese culture that is prominent in this ring is the Akai samurai emblem. However this symbol is also similar to the symbol for the Sibata clan, and that symbol is similar to the family emblem for the Hanabusa family. All family were very prevalent in the history of Japan. This was especially true during the warring states period since they were a samurai family. I designed this ring to give a taste of Japanese culture around the world, and help spirit channelers and other people of the Shinto religion with their traditions.