The moon's invention - Hōzō temple, from the series One hundred aspects of the moon

The head priest of Hōzōin Buddhist temple in Nara was Kakuzenbō Hōin In’ei, who came from a line of 'kuge', lords attached to the imperial court. By the second half of the 16th century he had established a fencing school at the temple. Here, he looks into water at the reflection of the moon. Interestingly, the crescent moon in the sky looks to be a cross piece in the practice fencing spear he is holding in his hand. This could be an allusion to a spear In’ei created called kamayari (sickle-spear; also seen in 258.2012.23) that has a very sharp cross piece, which was a famous development at the time. In’ei eventually came to the realisation his Buddhist beliefs were inconsistent with his martial art practice and gave away his weapons.