Traditional design motifs, used either in single units or repeated to create patterns, based on designs from Heian courtly decoration. Originally the repertoire of motifs came from the continent in the waves of Tang Chinese influence around the 8th-9th century. Gradually motifs were transformed and Japanized into designs which were used to decorate imperial or state clothing utensils or furniture according to family status or court rank. The characters for yūsoku relate to the term yūshiki 有識 which meant wide learning and knowledge, but which by the 12th century had come to refer specifically to knowledge of imperial court rules, ceremonies, and decorum. Today, the term, yūsoku mon'yō is used to distinguish all the motifs and patterns traditionally used by the imperial family on objects of both public and private function in a myriad of materials from textiles such as woven twill, silk brocades, or dyed fabrics, to wood, lacquer, gold, paper, or leather. A large number of yūsoku mon'yō exist, categorized broadly by geometric shape or design, as in circular motifs *marumon 丸文, diamond or lozenge shaped motifs *hishimon 菱文, motifs of crossed diagonals *tasukimon 襷文, a checkerboard motif *ishidatamimon 石畳文, or a motif using vertical curvilinear lines *tatewaku 立涌, and by abstract, often geometricized images from nature, as in tortoise shell motif *kikkōmon 亀甲文, hailstone motif araremon 霰文, a floral arabesque motif *karakusamon 唐草文 (Chinese grass motif), etc.