This is just a 'flash in the pan idea' .  I have a fairly standard Sakai gun that has the stock embellished with all the usual brass inlays, including an extended pine tree running along the underside. These inlays have no functional purpose and obviously cost money to produce. This set me thinking as to why so many guns are so over-decorated. We know that during the Sengoku era there were a large number of guns that were plainly mounted - essentially utilitarian. Could it be that some of these