Joyous Kamon: Japanese Animal Crests

25 Oct 2007 Category: Features, Illustration, Japan

Joyous Kamon: Japanese Animal Crests

It's cute! And it's actually a Japanese family crest - "Rabbit kamon" features a curve line of a rounded rabbit body like a peach, or more a drop...? Anyway, interesting to have a rabbit as crest for sure. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Guess how many kamon, family crests, exist in Japan! Well, there are about 20,000 with each one of them having a rich historical background. Impressive! So, kamon with a hollyhock, chrysanthemum, star or moon design are just beginning: For today, PingMag introduces you to the genki world of Japanese kamon with tons of fabulous animal symbols.

Written by Ryoko
Tranlated by Rei Ishimi

Where does it come from?

Originally, kamon were mainly used by nobles in order to show their status, and not as their house’s symbol. Later, the ways to use them changed throughout time. They were used as a symbol of a samurai family’s authority on one occasion and as a kabuki actor’s trade mark on another occasion. Nowadays we don’t find many crests that often, but at least we can see their designs on a crested hakama - the Japanese formal men’s divided skirt - or a happi coat for festivals.


What’s this orange space ship doing in the image? Interesting looking crest on a store curtain. Courtesy of the Japan Ukiyo-e Museum.

What variety on motifs! Several different kamon printed on the cover of Nanso Satomi Hakkenden, which is the tragic romance of a princess and the adventure of eight heroic samurai, written by Kyokutei Bakin. Courtesy of Ohya Shobo.

Ornamental Tomoe kamon drawn in blue on a lantern. Courtesy of Ohshimaya Onda.

Crest Designs

The original models of Japanese crests’ designs were familiar objects like flowers or Chinese patterns. Originally, kamon were created realistically with delicate lines. But later on, they began to take on abstract designs and changed to a symbolic style as they were circled.


The “Gold Kamon of Three Geese” - again, ornaments! Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Amazing silhouette, but a crest! Sparrow kamon with three bamboo leaves in a circle. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Animals? Animals!

Actually, animal kamon are pretty rare, but we collected some of these beautiful ones for you! But why an animal as design in the first place? They have propitious meanings: For example, a crane and a turtle represent long life since we say cranes live for a thousand years and turtles live for ten thousand years. Similarly, a shrimp is considered a symbol of long life as its long barb and bent over figure look like an aged person. Moreover, a clam is used for the crest design because of the fact that when it’s a bivalve, its both sides stick together, which makes it resemble one harmonious married couple… Next time you have shrimp or clams for dinner, think of that!


Wonderful! This “Flying Crane Kamon” reminds us of the old Japan Airlines’ logo… Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Wow, some sky rocketing turtle! “Turtle Kamon” with chimerical ears and a tail. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Flap, flap! The shrimp’s barb of this “Shrimp Kamon” is beautifully flapping in the wind. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Not another space ship - but a clam: The “Clam Kamon” is a symbol of hope that the married couple gets along happily ever after, sticking tight together like a bivalve… Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

“Hawk’s Wing” was a very popular crest among warriors at the age of provincial wars. 120 families of the feudal lords and the direct retainers of the shogun used it. For some reason, only feathers are shown in the crest, and a hawk itself is not shown in it. And for the other, a goose was used in some samurai families’ crests as its unique gabble is said to bring good luck.


Here, we have a stronger, valiant approach - “Hawk’s Feathers Crest.” Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

A beautiful migrant bird flying in the sky is immortalised in the “Goose Kamon.” Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

An old map of the Kyushu area in southern Japan: As you can see, the “Hawk’s Feathers Kamon” was used by several samurai families in Chinzei. Courtesy of World of KAMON.

Popular Trees

However, the most popular crest’s design in Japan is a plant such as a plum or a gingko. Though animal kamon are not common, one is: A butterfly motif is often used Also, the swallowtail butterfly would be a famous representative kamon for a heike, a specially powerful samurai, and is used as lantern design even today. In earlier times, Japanese women totally loved the beauty of this “Butterfly Kamon” depicting a graceful butterfly in the sky.


Kind of abstract looking, and quite modern - “Butterfly Kamon.” Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

A butterfly crest on a nowadays lantern. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Japanese people love to eat crabs and that’s why there are lots of illustrations of them as well. The image below on the right moreover shows a Chidori, a generic Japanese name for ‘small birds’ living at the waterside. Its small bill and legs protruding of its rounded body look simply adorable! Maybe, the Hiyoko Manjyu, a chick-shaped bun with bean-jam filling and at the same time Tokyo’s signature sweets, is a model for this plover?


A beautiful “Crab Kamon.” Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Oh, cute! The “Chidori Crest” looks so adorable. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

But, apart from cute little birds, Japanese crests feature also wild roaring animals! Some kamon use a lion, the king of beasts, or a Phoenix and dragons, the legendary animals. However, those special crests with delicate lines in lacquers were not generally used that often.


The “Phoenix Kamon” with this mythical bird. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Drawn in every tiny little detail - “Flying Phoenix.” Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Oene humorous looking “Lion Crest.” Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

A dragon (are these feet or horns on his body?) in this “Tenryu Kamon” showing the kanji ‘ten’ for ‘sky.’ Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

Yes, this is also a family crest - kamon featuring a running horse. Courtesy of Kamon Crest Japan.

We thank Kamon Crest Japan for all of their kind help. And you’d have to check out their website to see their other most lovely kamon motifs!

81 Comments

  1. Oooh, the chidori one looks so uber cute.
    Its adorable how the Japanese use and combine such cuteness on their serious crests. Their minimalist flair inspires me to design the patterns i so love!

    Posted by: braclynn on October 25th, 2007 at 11:17 pm

  2. Real awesome! Very inspired from the artwork. I’m loving the line work of Sparrow, Phoenix and Dragon. ;-) ~~”PING!”

    Posted by: nico on October 26th, 2007 at 5:20 am

  3. !

    Posted by: amy on October 26th, 2007 at 11:10 am

  4. [...] are around 20,000 Kamon, family symbol, in Japan. Ryoko from Pingmag introduces some of the kamon design with animal motif. Share [...]

    Posted by: Global Voices Online » Japan: Family Crests on October 26th, 2007 at 12:45 pm

  5. Nice!

    Posted by: Akai on October 26th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

  6. [...] Japan gibt es etwa 20.000 Kamon, Familiensymbole. Ryoko von Pingmag stellt einige der Kamon mit Tiermotiven [...]

    Posted by: Global Voices auf Deutsch » Blog Archive » Japan: Familienwappen [Linktipp] on October 26th, 2007 at 9:59 pm

  7. beautyfull!!

    Posted by: elf on October 29th, 2007 at 6:32 pm

  8. Cuanto uso de la mono linea!, me encantan estos japoneses.

    Posted by: roberto on October 31st, 2007 at 10:31 am

  9. hi wsup!

    Posted by: daniel on December 4th, 2007 at 3:37 am

  10. hi wsup! looking good!

    Posted by: daniel on December 4th, 2007 at 3:38 am

  11. ohayo gozaimasu

    Posted by: daniel on December 4th, 2007 at 3:38 am

  12. mike kezner says hi

    Posted by: daniel on December 4th, 2007 at 3:39 am

  13. [...] festival clothing, lanterns, and historical architecture. Take a look at the variety of designs at pingmag.jp “_blank” Subscribe to comments Comment | Trackback |  Share This Add a [...]

    Posted by: » Japanese Family Crests on January 4th, 2008 at 4:10 am

  14. the flying crane kamona is my familly symbol in hokaido.My familly was samurays.

    Posted by: jonny keito on January 26th, 2008 at 10:48 pm

  15. Usually I love the simple kamon with only black and white colours (maybe with a splash of red). But the details of that Shrimp Kamon & Tenryu Kamon are just wonderful!
    Love Japanese lanterns!

    Posted by: Naomi on January 31st, 2008 at 4:56 pm

  16. [...] 日本历史上的动物形象 [...]

    Posted by: rsiii.瑞升设计 » 本月书签 on February 29th, 2008 at 4:09 am

  17. hi trying to find out more about kamon looking for weeping wisteria kamon, and their origins?? this site was very interesting .thanks

    Posted by: jude on January 6th, 2009 at 1:28 am

  18. I am part of the Ikeda family and our mon is the butterfly… beautiful. thanks.

    Posted by: Lei Cha on May 3rd, 2009 at 9:28 am

  19. I am looking for a Kobashigawa Kamon. Do you have any information on where to find this?

    Posted by: HeatherM on October 21st, 2009 at 12:41 pm

  20. Estimados amigos, estoy buscando el Kamon de la familia SHIGYO, nativa de la ciudad de Fukuoka, me pueden ayudar a encontrarla?
    Se los agradecería mucho!

    Posted by: luis lau shigyo on November 27th, 2010 at 10:54 am

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