KATABAMI MON |
片喰紋 |
家紋
A Kamon is a family emblem used to identify an individual clan or family in Japan. There are 241 kinds and 5000 Kamon exist in Japan.
In Japan, each family has its unique family crest inherited from ancestors.
Kamon has been developed among court nobles in the Heian period; however, after the mid-Kamakura period, each samurai started to have their own Kamon. In the battlefield, they decorated everything from curtains, flags, banners to sword scabbards with their own Kamon, and used it to show off their military achievements or to distinguish friend from foe.
And in the Edo period, Kamon started to be used by the general public as well.
The most popular kamons portray plants, animals, insects, geographic features, abstract designs and others.
Types of Kamon
There are several different types of kamon; Shokubutsu mon (plant crests), Doubutsu mon (animal crests), Chodo mon (furniture crests such as arms, religious tools, life tools), Tennen mon (nature crests such as snow, cloud and moon), Onyo mon (pattern crests),
Moji mon (character crests) and Kenzo mon (architecture crests).
A Kamon is a family emblem used to identify an individual clan or family in Japan. There are 241 kinds and 5000 Kamon exist in Japan.
In Japan, each family has its unique family crest inherited from ancestors.
Kamon has been developed among court nobles in the Heian period; however, after the mid-Kamakura period, each samurai started to have their own Kamon. In the battlefield, they decorated everything from curtains, flags, banners to sword scabbards with their own Kamon, and used it to show off their military achievements or to distinguish friend from foe.
And in the Edo period, Kamon started to be used by the general public as well.
The most popular kamons portray plants, animals, insects, geographic features, abstract designs and others.
Types of Kamon
There are several different types of kamon; Shokubutsu mon (plant crests), Doubutsu mon (animal crests), Chodo mon (furniture crests such as arms, religious tools, life tools), Tennen mon (nature crests such as snow, cloud and moon), Onyo mon (pattern crests),
Moji mon (character crests) and Kenzo mon (architecture crests).
植物紋 PLANT CREST
There is the widest variety of plant crests among all crests, with a flower or a leaf as a motif.
There is the widest variety of plant crests among all crests, with a flower or a leaf as a motif.

片喰紋 KATABAMI MON - A plant crest with oxalis as a motif.
Oxalis ( Wood sorrel ) is prolific and for that, it was loved mainly by the samurai families;
they believed that this plant signified prosperity.
Katabami mon was used by samurai lords, such as Motochika Chosogabe who ruled the Shikoku area
or Shigetada Sakai, the loyal vassal of Ieyasu Tokugawa.
片喰紋 KATABAMI MON - A plant crest with oxalis as a motif.
Oxalis ( Wood sorrel ) is prolific and for that, it was loved mainly by the samurai families;
they believed that this plant signified prosperity.
Katabami mon was used by samurai lords, such as Motochika Chosogabe who ruled the Shikoku area
or Shigetada Sakai, the loyal vassal of Ieyasu Tokugawa.
There are about 120 kinds of KATABAMI kamon with Oxalis, which has heart-shaped leaves, as a motif.