Reference materials on sashimono, mon, Japanese heraldry?

[Randy McCall]

Having my interest in sashimono and related Japanese heraldry piqued by my acquistion of an Edo Period manual (discussed in viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19940 ), I'd like to become better acquinted with matter. A quick scan for good books related to the subject only pulled up two recognized as being useful from a historical perspective: The Elements of Japanese Design: A Handbook of Family Crests, Heraldry, and Symbolism, and McClatchie's Japanese Heraldry.

 

I'm looking for suggestions for other books or reference materials which might be useful in this study. I'm also curious as to the collectablity of period sashimono, items marked with family mon, or other heraldry-related materials.

 

Thanks!

[Barrie B]

Randy,

 

You could try 'The World of Family Crests in Japan' ISBN978-4-7816-0052-9 C0039 (if you can get a copy). Printed by Eastpress.co.jp in 2008.

 

Barrie.

[John A Stuart]

Don't forget my drawings by Emmanuel of banners. http://www.johnstuart.biz/historical_ar ... rai_ba.htm John

[BIG]

Randy,

 

comprehensive book:

 

Japanische Wappen

Prof. Dr. Phil. Rudolf Lange, Berlin 1903

 

Here is a Stefan Unterstein Link, BTW You have to learn a New Language, isn't That Fun:

 

http://www.unterstein.net/Toyoashihara- ... i/mon.html

 

Best Regards

[IanB]

Randy, I wish you the best of luck on your quest. There are no end of books on kamon, almost all of which list hundreds of designs, carefully arranged by subject, but with no mention of who used them. Since there was no official body responsible for registering kamon, equivalent to the Colleges of Heralds in Europe, there is little hope of identifying the owners of most designs. Unless a kamon belongs to an existing family, or had belonged to an important family in the past, I'm afraid it is virtually impossible to identify it. There is also the problem that kamon were awarded to vassals for services rendered which leads to well known designs being propagated around the country and being used by families with no blood relationship with the original owner.

A good source of information for the Sengoku Jidai is No 118 in the Gakken Series which deals with Samurai Warlords, another is 'Kamon no Jiten' (my copy is out on loan so I cannot give you the author or ISBN at the moment).

Sorry to be so negative .

Ian Bottomley

[Barrie B]

Randy,

I have been doing some research recently into Hyotan (Gourd) Mon with little luck, (and the pairing of Mons as well) ..so if you do manage to research this field (Mon or Kamon) extensively, then we will probably all benefit. Some photos attached as to why I was trying to research the Hyotan Mon.

Barrie.

 

P.S. The book: Mon - The Japanese family Crest by Hawley and Chappelear, is an excellent resourse for who used what Mon, although it does not mention the Hyotan Mon..

[Bazza]

There are a number of armours in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/ One of the armours is a near complete assembly of a mid-Edo armour and accessories acquired in 1948. I remember being told it was accompanied by a very long banner detailing the history of the armour. The "banner may have been a sashimono of sorts. The armour is described here

 

http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collect ... irn=241380

 

And this is a portion of the text. I have highlighted a few words:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

This suit of armour with accessories and related horse tack was purchased by the museum in 1948. Unverified acquisition records state that the equipment dates from 1775 and belonged to Komu Kaemon, a samurai of the officer rank from the Bizen clan. It is certain, however, that this collection is a remarkably complete example of samurai equipment from the middle Edo period. The armour is of superior quality and features all the elements outlined above. It has purple and white silk laced lames with primary and secondary heraldic symbols or mons. The helmet is a sofukurin type featuring gilt edged ribbed plates. This was a revival of earlier helmet styles as was typical during the Edo period.

 

Accompanying the armour is a very rare sleeveless felt coat or jin-baori with matching mon. These coats were worn over armour at camp and occasionally into battle. Underclothes comprised of breeches and robe are also included. There are two armour boxes again with matching mon. These were used to store the armour. There are paper storage bags and several banners and lengths of cloths. There are no shoes.

 

Read more: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collect ... z3CRH86OOz

Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial

---------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Good luck with the research.

 

Bestests,

BaZZa.

[Randy McCall]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I can see I have my work cut out for me in exploring this area. Years back I was a student of UK and European heraldry, so this seemed like a natural extension, spurred on by the serendipitous winning of the sashimono manual.

 

To respond to specific posters:

 

Barrie: I'll keep my eyes open for a reasonably priced copy... I checked Amazon, which has far to many people trying to make a killing on the sale.

 

John: Excellent resource, thanks!

 

Peter: I ran the link you sent me through Google Translate, which did a surprising good job of rendering the page into English. Much appreciated!

 

Ian: Heh, never apologize for reality (that's my motto, anyway). I'll continue exploring options, handicapped as I am with a very slight knowledge of the Japanese language; our dojo has extensive contacts in Japan, so perhaps I can gain some assistance. BTW, I've found and ordered a very inexpensive copy of Kamon no Jiten (Miru shiru tanoshimu "kamon" no jiten), printed in Japanese, so I expect to be doing a lot of studying over the next few months.

 

Shinto23: Thanks for the Hawly suggestion; there are several books I've been thinking about ordering from the http://www.wmhawley.com/ site, but their policy of only accepting orders by surface mail has kept me procrastinating. Perhaps this will give me the impetus I need.

[LakeBum]

Peter, Google chrome translated it for me in a minute or two :D. Thank you for the topic to study! I didn't even know I wanted to study this but it has been very interesting.

[BIG]

Yes, indeed

 

 

And I was Wrong that everyone is learning a little Bit German now

 

Best Regards

[Barrie B]

Randy,

Don't forget Grey Doffin. I buy a lot of my reference books from Grey (http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/Books). If you want something out of print, he will add you to the waiting list, and when one is available, he contacts you..

Barrie.

[falconj]

I have another 220 page book, showing 4260 illustrations of Japanese crests or mons called 'Japanese Design Motifs' compiled by 'The Matsuya Piece-Goods Store' written in 1972, although it does have English introduction and index in Japanese and English, and you can find the mon very easily, it also does not reference to whose family the mon belonged to, but a good quick reference to find a mon

ps: Barrie I found your two mons and you can borrow the book next time your down this way.

regards

John

[Barrie B]

John,

Much appreciated mate.. Looking forward to the catch up.

Baz.

[Randy McCall]

Barrie, re: the tip on Grey Doffin, thanks! I'll drop him a note.

 

John, re: Japanese Design Motifs; I've seen that book, but at the time wasn't certain if it a historical or simply a design resource. I'll give that a closer look.

[Randy McCall]

On the recommendations of several contacts and academics, I have a couple of books on kamon order. Rather than list them now -- when I don't know their actual usefulness, I'll wait till they come in and then post a review. One should be here within a week... another is being shipped surface mail from Japan, so may take some time.

[Toryu2020]

Randy -

According to the Kamon Nyumon, a beginners guide, the Hyotan is associated with drunkeness (good fortune). A very famous example is Hideyoshi's sashimono of a gourd, he added to the number of gourds with each victory in battle until there were seemingly a thousand!

 

There are a number of versions including the yatsu-hyotan mon (8 gourds) seen on your koshirae. Interestingly the book says that it was used by commoners but not by Buke families. Yet we see here the Genji-guruma mon alongside the hyotan and it is not just in the lacquer but is seen in the fittings. A most interesting case. Late-Edo marriage between persons of different castes? Impossible to say but trying to find out is going to be an interesting trip...

-t

[John A Stuart]

Treking up the path to Gifu castle was this signpost detailing a gourd story. John

[IanB]

Randy, I hope you are making some progress. It failed to register with me that the kamon on the saya of your sword is accompanied by another in the form of a wheel. That second kamon was used by the Sakakibara family (and no doubt others). Sakakibara Yasumasa was of course one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's Shi Tenno. There is a famous portrait of him sat in front of his hata sashimono with the wheel kamon. He is wearing an armour with dragon and waves decoration done in lacquer. There is a similar cuirass in the Stibbert Museum with the same decoration but in russet iron which might be an alternative dou for the armour. The Royal Armouries owns an armour with a kirritsuke kozane dou and an akodanari kabuto of about the same era that has the same kamon but with the stub of the axle and a lynch pin depicted. I suspect this was a cadet branch of the family.

Ian Bottomley

[kusunokimasahige]

Was it not so that different Kamon would be put together on items signifying an alliance, marriage or close bond ?

 

KM