Hiroko's "Kamon" (Family Crest)

Recently, one of Hiroko's aunts passed away. They cleaned up the belongings, and shared some of the important things. We received the Harada family crest, or "kamon". In Japanese it is called "Maru ni Chigai Ya" and are the feathers of arrows used in Archery. I looked up this crest on the net and found some very interesting (though not 100% accurate) info on the origin of this crest. It turns out that a samurai named Minamoto no Tametomo was the first to get this kamon, and the arrow feathers signify that he was a great archer. He was born in 1139 and committed seppuku (spilling his guts out with a short knife, then falling over on his face) in 1160. He was the youngest son (eighth son) of Minamoto no Tameyoshi in the Heian period.

Here is some information for you:

Minamoto no Tametomo (源 為朝?, 1139 – April 23, 1170) (also known as Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo (鎮西 八郎 為朝?)) was a samurai who fought in the Hōgen Rebellion of 1156 (against his brother Yoshitomo). He was the son of Minamoto no Tameyoshi, and brother to Yukiie and Yoshitomo.

In the Hōgen Rebellion, he fought to defend the Shirakawa-den, alongside his father, against the forces of Taira no Kiyomori and Minamoto no Yoshitomo, his brother. The palace was set aflame, and Tametomo was forced to flee and was banished to the island of Ōshima in the Izu Islands. In Ryūkyū, it has long been believed that he made his way down to Okinawa during his exile, and founded their kingdom by siring the first king of Chūzan, Shunten. This tale was included in Chūzan Seikan by Shō Shōken, the first history of Ryūkyū.However, historians today discount this story as a later invention by Shō Shōken.

Tametomo is known in the epic chronicles as a powerful archer and it is said that he once sunk an entire Taira ship with a single arrow by puncturing its hull below the waterline. It is also added in many legends that his left arm was about 6 in. longer than his right, enabling a longer draw of the arrow, and more powerful shots. It is also said that he was 210cm tall (which would make him a giant among men, and prone to hitting his head on absolutely everything).

In 1170, as the conflict between the Minamoto and Taira continued, Tametomo became surrounded by enemy Taira warriors on a small island. In some legends, it is said that Taira cut the tendons of Tametomo's left arm. Thinking that he wouldn't be able to fight anymore, he killed himself by slicing his abdomen, or committing seppuku. He is quite possibly the first warrior to commit seppuku in the chronicles.

His brother Yoshitomo went on to sire the very first shogun in Japan after arresting the Emperor Shirakawa-go. Here some of the English records are in conflict because the above mentions that Tametomo fought for Shirakawa-go, but in the information on his brother Yoshitomo, it says that HE fought for Shirakawa-go (and then later arrested him, and installed military rule). That's pretty cool, actually.

Anyway, here is the Harada Kamon, and below you can also see a painting of Tametomo, and Tametomo's armour, which is still in a museum in Itsukushima, Hiroshima, Japan.

This shows you that the Haradas are descendants of Minamoto Tametomo (or maybe a retainer who was awarded the kamon for fighting bravely with Tametomo, as an archer? Not sure about this, and neither are Haradas, but I perhaps I know more about their origins now than they do!)

It has been quite a while since I actually wrote a real blog, and this is kind of nice.

If the kamon doesn't show up, I'll add it again separately, as I have to do this via my computer, and not through the iPhone.

Isn't history great?