wooden pestle
杵 centers on a wooden pestle, a tool used for pounding or grinding in a mortar.
杵 combines 木 (tree/wood) with 午, which likely contributes the sound and may represent a pestle shape. Together they indicate a wooden pestle.
The left side is a tree 木, and the right side 午 looks like a pestle with a handle. Picture a wooden pestle carved from a tree, ready to pound.
For ショ, imagine a show where a chef uses a wooden pestle to pound ingredients: show -> ショ, and the pestle is the star of the show.
mallet; pestle; pounder
mallet handle
skill learned in one's former days; using one's experience from the past
vajra (mystical weapon in Hinduism and Buddhism)
Ninigi no Mikoto (Japanese deity; grandson of Amaterasu, great grandfather of Emperor Jimmu)
vajra (mystical weapon in Hinduism and Buddhism)