What does a tomoe tattoo mean?

Answer 1

"Says JAANUS about the tomoe: The character tomoe 巴 means eddy or whirlpool; however, it is not clear if this was the original idea of the design. Some scholars are convinced that it stems from the design on leather clothing worn by ancient archers (tomo 鞆 thus tomo-e 鞆絵), a tomo picture. Others say it was originally a representation of a coiled snake. It may be the oldest design in Japan, because it is similar in shape to the magatama 勾玉 jewelry beads of the Yayoi period. It appears as a design on the wall paintings of the Byoudouin Hououdou 平等院鳳凰堂 (1053; Kyoto) and in the Illustrated scroll of the Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari emaki 源氏物語絵巻) of the early 12c. It was widely used from the Kamakura period onward and is often found on utensils, rooftiles and family and shrine heraldry. Its frequent appearance in connection with Shinto shrines indicates that it was thought to express the spirit of the gods. Patterns of one, two and three tomoe exist, some facing left, others right."

ive been looking for a solid answer myself and this is really all i could find. there are 3 tomoe patterns, not sure what the difference between them is

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/HTML/magatama.HTML

research the magatama and Taoism