Kamon: The Crests of Japanese Clans

Kamon refers to a crest used in Japan to indicate someone's origins: the lineage of a family, its ancestry, and its status since ancient times. It is also simply called mondokoro [紋所], monshō [紋章] or mon [紋].

There are thought to be between 20,000 and 25,000 kamon in use in Japan. In English they are usually called family crests.

What does Kamon mean?

The word kamon [家紋] means house [家] and emblem [紋]. The kamon are the emblems of Japanese clans and families. The mon serves a similar function to the coats of arms in European heraldry.

The patterns are generally circular, built from plants, flowers, trees, animals and objects, and also from the moon, stars or a religious sign such as the Buddhist swastika. Through the kamon, it was possible to distinguish a family's origin and social status.

Origin and history of Kamon in Japan

The crests came into use among the aristocracy in the Heian period, around the tenth century. Nobles put their own mark on the ox-drawn carriages they rode through the streets. When two carriages met, the person of lower rank had to give way, and the crest on the cart showed that rank.

Samurai crests came later than those of the nobility, at the end of the Heian period, when the fighting between the Minamoto (Genji) and the Taira (Heike) became more violent. The crests were soon used to identify enemies and allies.

The emblems were displayed on flags called sashimono [指物], carried on the backs of soldiers. The umajirushi [馬印] was the commander's standard, a large mark that showed where that general stood.

As the ages passed, the kamon became even more prominent on traditional clothing. On a ceremonial kimono, one crest sits at the center of the upper back, a set of three adds one on each sleeve, and a set of five, the most formal, adds one on each side of the chest.

The use of Kamon among samurai and nobility

A kamon was created to represent a family's identity, usually as a flower, a bird, a tool or another plain motif. A house usually kept one main crest, while branches changed a leaf, a line or the ring around it. Eventually the crests spread to tombs, furniture and ships.

It was natural for the crests to be placed on weapons such as the katana and on armor, katchū [甲冑]. Using the crest of another family, above all that of a daimyo or of the shogun, caused friction. From the Edo period, commoners could choose a family crest, while the imperial chrysanthemum, kikumon, and the Tokugawa hollyhock, aoimon, stayed with those houses.

Curiosities about Kamon in Japan

The Mitsubishi emblem draws on two family crests: the three stacked diamonds of the Iwasaki family and the three-leaf crest of the Tosa clan, Yataro Iwasaki's first employer. Yamaha's three tuning forks come from the instrument trade. In 1898, a year after Nippon Gakki was founded, the company took a tuning fork as its mark.

Some crests stay with one house, while one crest is also used by different families that share a surname. You can find a family crest by surname, and often by region, on a directory such as myoji-yurai.net.