wonder
that almost every family in Japan has at least one kamon for their family.Our topic is one we have covered in our hardcopy
newsletter some years ago, but we thought it was worth listing on the web
site. The topic is kamon, family crests. Arguably kamon represent
some of the most creative graphic arts and design in the world. These crests
are the equivalent of the West's coat of arms crests. These designs cleverly
worked into the confines of a circle or square clearly demonstrate the genius
of these early graphic artists. It is little wonder
that almost every family in Japan has at least one kamon for their family.
Earliest Designs
Crest designs began in the Nara and
Heian periods. The first designs were ancient symbols from China. These
designs were used as textile patterns called yusoku mon'yo and were
adopted by the court nobility. Their first application not on textile designs
was on objects, such as wheeled carts. These symbols expanded to other household
objects.
Two if the most famous crests are the those of
the Imperial House which are the kiku-mon, the sixteen petal chrysanthemum
and the kiri-mon, paulownia leaves. Both of these mon were being
used by the end of the Kamakura period. Many believe that the ki
ku-mon was the proprietery mon of the Imperial family, however that
was not decreed by law until 1869. As a matter of fact, the Imperial court
bestowed the kiri-mon on a number of generals and shogun, including Ashikaga
Takauji, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who incidentally decided
to politely decline it.
Much like the heraldry of the European
knights, it was the warrior class that provided the environment for crests
to flourish. It was essential for armies to differentiate themselves on
the battlefield. In the late Heian period, the Minamoto family of samurai
used a white banner, the Taira samurai used red banners. As branch families
developed they differentiated themselves by putting some object on the banner
poles. This convention evolved into painting the object on the banner, thereby
replacing the physical object. It was through this practice that the family
crest was born. Warfare and the necessity to know the good guys from the
bad guys in the heat of battle was the impetus for mon development. Banners
and encampment tent walls proudly displayed the warriors clan's crest. By
the time of the Mongol invasions in the late 13th century,
the use of mon by warrior families was fairly common.
The Onin Wars (1467-1477) and the following Sengoku
Jidai, the Age of Civil War, provided the fertile environment for the
proliferation of mon. The nearly constant internal fighting of this age
promoted clan identification even further. Families would branch out and
form other families, or become consolidated into other families or form
new vassal alliances either through war or marriage. By the end of the Muromachi
period ( mid 16 th c.), there was already a catalog of several 
hundred mon. Sometimes branch families would use a variation of their
daimyo lord's family crest to show their affiliation. Often the liege lord
would also bestow a variation of his own crest to the vassal. However not
all lords were as benevolent when it came to crests usage. There is a story
that Date Masamune, the daimyo lord of what is now Sendai, had one of his
vassals executed because he used a crest that was too similar to Date's
own. By the end of the Momoyama Period ( late 16th c.), the practice of
wearing small versions of the family crest on three or five areas of the
kimono was widespread among the samurai. Mon-tsuki as they are called
are still used on formal kimono.
Prior to the Edo Period, the selection of a family crest was dependent on a number of factors. The first factor would be a mon design from a famous ancestor, or the design might be based on a particular event to which the motif would allude. Each family had one mon, but there are several ways a family could acquire more. Families could be bestowed a mon from their daimyo, the Shogunate, or the Imperial Court. If the award was one for gallantry, the family would abandon their prior mon and use the awarded one. Mon were sometimes spoils of war in which the conquering clan would assume the crest of the conquered. Some of the great families houses have up to ten mon through these means.
During the Edo Period the use of crests exploded.
The sankin tokai, the requirement of the daimyo to have alternate
residents in Edo and their home province, expanded crest use and their display.
The great processions from the home province into Edo and back again, required
that crests be placed on everything that was carried. Each family was to
have 
one primary mon which was the one to be displayed on formal
occassions such as 
processions, or special audiences with
the shogun. The mon would dictate the proper courtesy relative to their
specific ranking. Families could use other mon for less formal occasions.
The Pax Tokugawa, allowed for the stabilization of mon and allowed for their
cataloging which was called bukan. Crests could be regulated within
the samurai and nobility class, but they were not prohibited to the non-samurai
classes. Merchants, farmers, actors, courtesans all began to adopt crests
for their families or groups. These crests were either newly created or
they borrowed the from others. Some of these new crest creations can be
rather bizarre and humorous especially when they are related to their occupations.
Mon became more stylized and symmetrical, It was
at this time that the circular convention was used. Crest sizes on mon-tsuki
became standardized with approximately 2 cm. used on women's kimono, approximately
4cm. for men. Sumo men were allowed mon of over 5 cm. Generally mon depicted
one motif, but the proliferation of crests required that standard conventions
had to be combined to meet the demand. By the mid 1700's, books of mon designs
were available for pe
ople to select from. Crests were chosen
more for aesthetic purposes rather than have any family significance. Crests
now range in number between 4000 to 5000 which are composed from about 250
different types of subject matter. Mon can be classified into the following
broad categories: plants, trees, flowers; natural phenomenon such as stars
moon, etc; animals and insects; manmade objects; abstract and geometric
shapes; and auspicious character and signs. By far, the most plentiful are
plant flower and tree design motifs.
Crests have made the transition into modern society
as corporate logos. Many Japanese and some western companies used mon in
their company logos, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo Bank, JAL, just to name a few.
Our own logo is a combination of a cherry blossom surrounded by handles.
The sakura, cherry
blossom, alludes to the Yoshino hills which are covered with cherry trees.
The surrounding handles, kan, are considered good luck symbols in
that you should pull good luck to yourself.