Symbols

Wrinkled by this gravel, skinless trace of time.

Tomoe is one of the most important characters in the series, even if she doesn't have much screen time - she represents the core meaning of Rurouni Kenshin. It's not just the great impact she had on Kenshin and therefore the whole storyline. There are also little details about Tomoe, symbols that give her a special accent and help make Tsuioku Hen what it is.

WHITE PLUMS

Plums belong to the family of cherries. So ume, white plum blossoms, are also cherry blossoms, sakura. They stand for hope, new beginnings, and endings.

Tomoe is well-known for her white plum perfume. But the only people who actually talk of white plums are killers.
First, Hiko Seijurou, Kenshin's master, who thinks that the smell of blood is as common as the smell of white plums. He is a swordsman, he knows the smell of blood and always knew the smell of something as delicate as white plums.
Then, Kenshin. When Iizuka talks about something smelling sweet here, Kenshin automatically knows that it's white plums, prompting Iizuka to tell him that he wouldn't have thought Kenshin could sense such a fine smell.
Next, Saitou Hajime. After the Shinsengumi had attacked the patriots, Kenshin and Tomoe fled the place together. There was a lot of space between them and Saitou, but as they ran across one of the streets, Saitou looked alarmed. When asked what was wrong, he said he had just thought that he had smelled white plums.
Why are all those extraordinary swordsmen so sensible to the smell of white plums?

The smell of blood = the smell of white plums. Not that these two scents are actually identical, but symbolic substitutes for each other. Tomoe smells like white plums = Tomoe represents death and rebirth. Tomoe is the power that can refresh things, and challenge them to a new beginning, just like she gave Kenshin hope and the power to go on. Tomoe had power over Kenshin's fate; she had the power to save him, but she could have let him be killed as well. It was her choice, she was the "judge". She is like the sakura; she could have ended Kenshin's life, but with sacrificing herself and accepting another end, she created a new beginning, the beginning of Kenshin how we came to know him.

OTHER FLOWERS, IRIS, RAIN, BLOOD

When we see Tomoe the first time, Kiyosato thinks of her while dying. You only see half of her face, the rest is hidden behind flowers. If her fiancé thinks of her as somebody with flowers in her hands, flowers most probably mean much to her. The flowers Kiyosato is seeing Tomoe holding are the same kind Kenshin lays on Kiyosato's back after his demise. This may express how his death will affect Tomoe, and that something ties him to earth, as seen when Tomoe sees his ghost, smiling.

At the inn Tomoe works at she's also practising ikebana, one of the flowers used is the iris. It starts raining, and the okami tells Tomoe she's like the iris, conspicious in rain. Before Kenshin and Tomoe leave for Otsu, the okami tells Tomoe that she shouldn't forget how she's conspicious in rain, even in the rain of blood. When Kenshin and Tomoe met it was raining, and he had just killed. Tomoe told him that he had made it rain, the rain of blood.

STOLE

After Tomoe had died, Kenshin burned down their house. The only things he took with him were his sword and Tomoe's purple stole. He carried it with him until the revolution was over, and it was his only connection to Tomoe, except the second part of his scar. Kenshin later abandoned his sword at a battle field.

He hung Tomoe's stole over one of the crosses he had made for his "sisters". When he was small, he had failed to protect them. But he had also failed to protect Tomoe, even though he had told her he would do so. He wanted to make a final cut to his past and give away everything that had to do with his hitokiri times, so he had to part from the stole.

SHEATH

Katsura told Tomoe to act as Kenshin's "sheath" - and that's exactly what she did. She is the person who woke up Kenshin, she is the one who "tamed" his deadly sword. She was his sheath because she made him realize he didn't - and had never wanted - to kill. She is what made Kenshin's other half reign over Battousai, she is one of the reasons that made him able to become Shinta again.

SPINNING TOY

Tomoe realizes that Kenshin is just a child, and that's what makes her begin to understand him. Battousai is a split personality. The split personality of a child. The grown-up Kenshin is not Battousai anymore because he's not a child. Tomoe made him grow up, realize what was wrong with his life. The spinning toy represents Kenshin's childhood. It is what he has owned since he can remember, what he is still playing with while being a hitokiri. After Tomoe's death, however, when he burns down the house, we see that he left the spinning toy there, which also makes a cut to his past. Battousai, who clings to his memories and thinks others can be spared from what happened to him as a child can be achieved through a violent revolution, is dead, and so the child's toy is no more as well.