Black Belt online:
http://www.blackbeltmag.com/document_display.cfm?document_id=412
Kamon was born in the Japanese tradition and cultural climate and is the symbol of a family or a group. In addition, a symbol similar to the family crest is an emblem of national as well as local government bodies including prefecture, city, town and so forth, uniquely designed in consideration of the tradition and cultural background specific to the respective region. Also, religious facilities like shrines, Buddhist temples, various enterprises, educational organizations like universities, colleges, high schools etc. have got their own emblems designed to represent their own tradition and background, and they are regarded as important properties of their own.
| Gable
of a temple |
Flags
of a temple |
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According to an authority, in Japan, there are as many as 30,000 different family crests. Most of them are images of plants followed by images of animals. This could explain that the traditional Japanese way of life had been closely associated with the natural surroundings.
It appears that by drawing various images of nature that were seen or used in people's everyday life for usage as decorative articles for clothes, furniture etc. and with the repeated use of such images, gradually it became the family symbol or crest. This is probably how the Japanese family crest was born.
The first Kamon you find in the Japanese written history is the one used on an ox carriage used by a nobleman in Heian period. While the number of Kamon steadily increased as time went on in Edo era (1,603 AD - 1,867 AD) that was the most peaceful and quiet period on the whole, they became much more elegant and artistic through sophisticated modifications. They were used on various items in those days - on Samurai swords, armours, costumes, furniture etc. - to demonstrate the family status and the social standing, and it is this era when Kamon became to be used not only by the aristocratic class, but also among rich public who invented various funny designs, this phenomenon resulting in a rapid increase of the number of Kamon.
| Pavement
of Tokugawa museum |
Flags
of a temple |
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After
the Meiji Restoration (1868 ), Kamon became popular among every social
class and started being widely used. But there was an abuse of the system
and eventually, Kamon had become neither a trustworthy family crest
nor a convincing historical witness.
After the 2nd World War ( 1945 - ), along with a fast change of the
"nuclear family" system, which is the decentralization of
family members according to the new democrat social system enforced
after the war, people's strong emotional attachment to "family"
had been lost and eventually, recognition of Kamon as family symbol
has also lost much ground.
However, in today's Japan, the beauty of Kamon as a design is still
people's attraction so that Kamon is a part of the total design of Japanese
traditional as well as artistic items like Kimono wears, banners, historical
publications, magazines, computer game titles etc. as a by player to
give more fragrance to these artistic flavour. It is a proof for why
the Kamon could survive hundreds of years of Japanese history and still
be alive in Japan.
| Wall
of Tokugawa museum |
Offertory
box at Katayamahachiman Shinto shrine |
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A
guardian dog at Katayamahachiman Shinto shrine |
The
entrance of Seijoji temple |
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| The
front door of Seijoji temple
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