Help with mon on tsuba

[Dan tsuba]

Hello all,

I think the mon on this tsuba could be that of the "Asano clan".  However, I am not certain.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

With respect,

Dan

 

[uwe]

The mon is called “Maru ni chigai-taka no ha” and is most likely the kamon of the “安部” (Abe) family.

 

....but easy to confuse with “Asano” (feathers crossed the other way round) or “Takagi” (pattern slightly different)!

[Bruce Pennington]

6 hours ago, uwe said:

 (Abe) family.

Uwe,

I would have said Asano, too.  Is this Samurai Mon site incorrect?

Samurai Family Crests

[uwe]

Not incorrect Bruce!

The thing is, that they only listed one mon for this family, "Maru ni Hirado-kaji", in this case. In fact, Japanese families used more than one mon....

Hence the "Samurai Family Crests" site is simply incomplete 😉

I found 4 diffrent mon for the "Abe" clan in my few references. Maybe there were more over the centuries?!

 

 

An excerpt from Hawley!

[SteveM]

Yes its important to remember that kamon are used by multiple families, and unless you have the provenance of the item its quite difficult (impossible in most cases) to state definitively which family this came from. Crossed eagle feathers is one of the most common family crests. I think most reference books and websites list the most prominent or representative name, but those references are not exhaustive. 

 

There are about 300,000 different Japanese last names, yet only about 20,000 different variations of kamon.  

[Bruce Pennington]

14 hours ago, uwe said:

In fact, Japanese families used more than one mon..

Ha!  Should have known!  Thanks Steve!