oh, good question. I heard Sesshomaru's appearance was modeled after a Chinese legend, can't say which one but the research shouldn't be that hard with Google.
या आप could just read through this, i got a kick out of this लेख a while back, but it does have some interesting information that could answer your सवाल :)
I'm not posting the actual link because the last time I tried posting something from this web site my account got banned xD Yeah for a scary three days.
of course I don't agree with everything this person wrote, considering Sesshomaru is not vain, he's just naturally beautiful! Yes the guy has strong opinions about certain things to each his own :p
[colon] : [slash] / [dot] .
On a further not I've always affiliated the crescent moon with nature, change and femininity among other things. Maybe any of these elements had an influence. Can't say anything about the stripes, I just don't know.