Notice Kyo Modern offers many "Gamaguchi" purse.
Gama means "toad" and Guchi mean "mouth". So the theory is, a purse looks like a toad with a mouth opened!
In Japanese, both toads and frogs are described as "Kaeru". They believed to bring good luck.
The reason why frogs are suppose to bring luck is Kaeru can be interpreted as "Return". They are 2 different Kanji but pronunciation is the same.
When you go to Japan, you will see numbers of frog ornament with the titles like "Buji Kaeru" (safe return), "Okane ga Kaeru" (money will return", "Usemono Kaeru" (Lost items will return) and so on.
The original Gamaguchi is a purse for coins only however Kyo Modern's Gamaguch has outside and inside pockets and divider for cards and notes!
I'm getting more of it in Kyoto next week so please check my website early May for informaiton of new Gamaguchi. I will be in Japan for bit over 2 weeks.
(Photo: Nishijin Silk Gamaguchi Purse. Available for sale on Kyo Modern's website)
