A kamon (家紋) is a Japanese family crest: a small emblem, usually round, that marks which family you belong to. 家 (ka) means house or family and 紋 (mon) means crest. Japan has tens of thousands of them, and you still see them today on formal kimono and on gravestones.
I've just finished our Mon Series, a beanie for each of our five cities with a crest built the traditional way. Here's what kamon are, where they came from, and what each of ours means.
Where kamon came from
Kamon started with the nobility of the Heian period (794 to 1185). Aristocrats decorated their ox-drawn carriages so people on the road could tell who was passing. It mattered: the Japanese government's own English magazine explains that if your carriage passed someone of higher status, you had to get down and give way. Over time a family's pattern became its emblem.
Samurai took them up in the Kamakura period. Their crests were simpler, usually a single motif, because they had to be recognised from a distance on a battlefield. From the Edo period (1603 to 1868), Nippon.com says, ordinary people could choose crests too, with two exceptions: the chrysanthemum of the imperial family and the hollyhock of the Tokugawa shoguns. By the end of the 1600s, family crests were firmly established among the general public.
How many kamon are there?
Nobody knows exactly. Nippon.com puts it at between 20,000 and 25,000 in use today, and the government's magazine says more than 30,000. New ones keep appearing. Branch families made their own by changing the main family's crest, for example by putting a circle around it, and that habit never really stopped.
Where you see them now
The most formal kimono carry five crests. Okamoto Kimono places them on both sides of the chest, the back, and both outer sleeves. Less formal kimono carry three, or one. You'll also find kamon on gravestones, and these days on T-shirts, headphones and even biscuits.
How a kamon is built
Most kamon follow the same few rules. One colour. A motif from nature or everyday life, drawn flat and symmetrical. And very often a frame: a circle, a hexagon, a diamond, or a shape like the snow ring. That's the grammar I used for the Mon Series. Each crest is a single thread colour, the city's kanji sits at the centre, and the frame carries the meaning.
The five Mon Series crests
Sapporo 希: yukiwa 雪輪, the snow ring
A circle with six shallow lobes and a notch at each join, taken from the six-sided shape of a snow crystal. In the Heian period, falling snow was believed to bring a good harvest. For a city that spends half the year under snow, I couldn't think of a better frame for hope. Sapporo Hope yukiwa beanie.
Tokyo 夢: hanabi 花火, fireworks
I'll be straight with you: fireworks aren't a traditional kamon. This one is ours. It follows the rules, though: a heavy ring with 24 sparks bursting inwards around 夢, dream. A summer night in Tokyo, the sky going off above the river. Tokyo Dream hanabi beanie.
Kyoto 和: sakura 桜, the cherry blossom
Five petals, each split at the tip. That split is how you tell a cherry blossom from a plum blossom, whose petals are rounded. Kyoto in spring needs no explaining. Kyoto Harmony sakura beanie.
Osaka 力: kikkō 亀甲, the tortoiseshell
A hexagon from the plates of a tortoise's shell. JAANUS, the dictionary of Japanese art terms, says it came from China, was made Japanese in the Heian period, and was loved for its connotations of longevity. On ours, a heavy hexagon and a thin one wrap 力, strength. A hard shell, built to last. Osaka Strength kikkō beanie.
Yokohama 信: musubi 結び, the rope ring
A ring of twisted rope, like the line that ties a ship to the quay in a port city. Tying is musubi, and a tie only holds if you can trust it. Like the hanabi, this is my own design rather than a historic family crest. Yokohama Trust musubi beanie.
Why the crest sits in the centre
A mon is meant to be read straight on. So on the beanies it sits dead centre on the cuff, 4.4 cm across, stitched solid in one thread colour. On four of them the kanji is cut out of the crest and left as bare knit. Tokyo's 夢 has too many strokes to cut out at this size, so it's stitched in thread inside the open centre of a solid ring.
Questions people ask
What is a kamon?
A kamon (家紋) is a Japanese family crest. It started on the ox-drawn carriages of Heian-period nobles, spread to samurai, and from the Edo period onwards was used by ordinary families too.
How many Japanese family crests are there?
Estimates run from 20,000 to more than 30,000. Nobody has an exact count, because new crests keep being made.
What is the difference between mon and kamon?
Mon (紋) means crest in general. Kamon (家紋) adds 家, house or family, so it means a family crest specifically.
Could anyone choose a kamon?
From the Edo period, ordinary families were free to choose their own crest. The two that were off limits were the imperial chrysanthemum and the Tokugawa hollyhock.
Written by the founder of 5C5V. I design every collection from Copenhagen, built around five Japanese cities and the virtue each one stands for. Questions about a design, sizing or an order? Email matthew@5c5v.co.uk. It comes straight to me. More about 5C5V.
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