Last August my family and I went to Hokuriku, the hometown of my parents for an Obon event. My father and I visited the cemetery to clean the family grave. The cemetery is located within the temples, and therefore we had to visit two of them for each my mother’s family and father’s family graves. We brought with us buckets of waters and wiped the graves tiresomely with mops and brushes. It took an entire morning under the mid summer humidity of August. I got sunburns all over my arms and face.

先月8月に家族と両親の田舎へお盆のため訪れた。田舎は北陸地方である。父と私はお墓の掃除をするためにお墓へ行った。お墓はお寺社内にあり父の家族と母の家族それぞれの墓を訪れた。父と私でバケツを数回変えてモップで拭いた。夏の８月の朝の時間全てを費やし、顔や腕が日に焼けた。

A couple of days after finishing cleaning up and around the family graves, we prayed with other family members in front of the graves. I felt that that was truly impressive moment for myself, because I could feel the powers of my ancestors who I had never known, ebbing from the graves.

その数日後お墓の前で家族とお参りをしたのだった。それはとても印象的はひとときだった。私の知らない先祖を感じ、お墓のパワーを感じた。

After praying I found a family crest (Kamon in Japanese) carved on the front of the grave. Each family crest has a name such as Urimokkoh, Dakimyoga, Mitsugashiwa etc., and is categorised by each ancestry. Therefore, if your family crest is called Urimokkoh, then you ultimately belong to a certain ancestry, which is possible to be dated back many centuries.

お参りが済むと、家紋がお墓に刻まれているのに気がついた。どこの家紋も瓜木工、抱茗荷、三柏などといった名前が付いており、それぞれの祖先により分類されている。従ってもし家紋が瓜木工だとすると、それは何世紀も遡る事の出来る、祖先に行き着くことが出来るのである。つまり、家紋は祖先がどこの家系に属していたかを何世紀にも遡ってたどることが出来るのである。

There are currently more than 1,000 kinds of Kamon and nearly 140,000 different surnames in Japan. However, only the roots of well-known families like feudal warlords and warring lords, emperor’s family, their relatives, and related families can be traced back. However, because people sometimes changed their surnames, and/or were given a new surname by a lord - a family crest may prove difficult to trace the actual roots of ones ancestors. This is indeed a very tough job. In addition, a family crest was likely to change from time-to-time when a family member newly established their own family branch. Therefore, the key to finding a family’s roots is via the ancient texts, which are unique documents and folklores that the family had passed down from generation to generation.

現在日本には1,000以上もの家紋があり、140,000近くの氏姓がある。しかし、家紋のルーツをたどれるのはよく知られた大名や武家、または天皇家とその親類、または関係のある家族に限られている。そして家紋だけでなく、氏姓と家紋について照合し確認することで、出身が解るのである。しかし、これは容易ではない。時に分家をすると新たに氏姓や家紋の変更や新たに作成される事があるからである。従い、決め手となるのは古文書や、古書、家に伝わる言い伝えなのである。

Tracing back these names with the use of family crests, I found some pretty interesting facts. At present almost all of the surnames in Japan can be traced back over medieval times, and each name has been attributed to the four biggest families. These are Fujiwara, Genji, Tiara and Tachibana. The ancestors of these names had dominated Japanese Buke (武家) society from 600 to Edo-era, and had many subordinate warriors and offspring that created and took over each others’ names and family crests from generation to generation until present day.

家紋と氏姓をたどっていると、大変興味深い事実を発見した。現在の殆どの日本にある氏姓は中世以前に遡ることができ、各々の氏姓は三大氏姓に帰属しているのである。四大氏姓とは、藤原氏、源氏、平氏、橘氏である。これらの氏姓は600年から江戸時代に至まで日本の武家社会を支配していたのである。そして家臣や子孫がそれぞれ氏姓、家紋を作り、また受け継いで行った。

Each family established branches, and family crests and the surnames were increased along with the number of Bushi (warrior) families. For example, the popular Japanese name “Sato (佐藤)" originally stemmed from Hidesato Fujiwara. The offspring of Hidesato Fujiwara had scattered around the entire Kanto area so that there are now many Satos in and around Kanto. Another example, is the name “Takeda (武田)". The family crest of Takeda is a rhombus shape. Around 130,000 have the surname Takeda in Japan now. Takeda was originally belonging to the Genji family and his family died in the middle ages, but his offspring scattered within the Kofu area. Nowadays, they can identify their bloodroots by only showing their family crest, and without giving out other information. There are more than 100 Takeda families in living in the Kofu area at present.

各々の家紋と氏姓は武家の数に伴い増えていった。例えは、日本でも多い氏姓である「佐藤」姓であるが、「藤原秀郷」を元にしている。藤原秀郷の子孫は関東一体に散らばっていったので、関東には多くの「佐藤」姓があるというわけである。他の例では「武田」姓がある。武田家の家紋は菱形である。現在武田姓は130,000近くあり、元は源氏に属していた。武田家は中世時代に没してしまうが、子孫は甲府に散らばり、今日では名乗らずとも家紋だけでその血統を証する事が出来るとしている。甲府には100家族以上の武田家が存在する。

Obon takes place every year, and only during this time when all these histories and family symbols are speculated, suddenly the people around us are not seen just as anybody. They all have their own fame, and significant and great ancient histories. The Obon event can evoke all these memories of history in each and every one of us, and our families. In the middle ages my ancestors might have happened to be a subordinate warrior of the person sitting the next to me on the train… or I might well be sharing the same bloodline with the person next door.

お盆は毎年の祭事であるが、これらの歴史や家紋を考えると、突然周囲の人々が単なる人には思えなくなってくる。皆それぞれの名だたる素晴らしく偉大な祖先の歴史があるのである。お盆はこれらの歴史を人々にそしてその家族に思い起こしてくれるのである。中世の頃もしかすると私の祖先は隣に座る人の家来だったかも知れない。あるいは、私は隣に住む人と血がつながっているのかも知れない。



<Fujiware’s Family Tree>
http://www.harimaya.com/o_kamon1/seisi/bukehuzi.html

<Kamon Varieties>
http://www.harimaya.com/o_kamon1/yurai/a_yurai/yurai.html
http://www.harimaya.com/kamon/index.html

<Takeda>
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/武田信玄
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeda_Shingen

 

 

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Did You Know?

“Roast hedgehog, nettle pudding and smokey stew, which can be traced back more than 8,000 years, are among the oldest British recipes, researchers have revealed. Records show nettle pudding to be the oldest recipe, closely followed in chronological order by smokey stew, meat pudding, barley bread and roast hedgehog.”

                                                                        Sky News, Wellcome Trust, UK

            

 

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