Family crest "五三桐 ( Go San Kiri ) "

Family crest "五三桐 ( Go San Kiri ) " - KUDEN by TAKAHIRO SATO
Hello! I am Asami, a KUDEN staff member.
I am often in charge of listing vintage haori, and I often wonder about the family crest on the back of the haori... "What kind of family crest is this? “

For Japanese people, the family crest, while familiar...
Actually don't know my family crest...
Remember the shape somewhat, but don't know the name...


Because of my work, I often see haori family crests, but I do not always understand them, so I took the opportunity to look them up!
I hope you will take this column as an opportunity to learn more about traditional Japanese culture!


■About 五三桐 ( Go San Kiri )

After a quick look around, here is some basic information.
To begin with, there is more than one family crest that a family has.

Nobunaga Oda was known by "織田木瓜 ( Oda Mokkou ),"
but I was surprised to know that this Gosankiri also corresponds to his family crest....
It is said that Hideyoshi Toyotomi also had this Gosan-kiri as his family crest!


■Why Paulownia ( Kiri ) Flowers?

BTW, I read that paulownia flowers look like the picture below.
I did not know that either!


I tried to find out why the paulownia flower is used as a motif.
In China, the paulownia tree has been treated as a sacred plant as it is the tree where the legendary bird "Phoenix perches".

In the Kamakura period (1185-1333), emperors began to wear it on their garments, and it was inherited as a prestigious family crest.

How was it?
I will continue to study the family crests deeper and deeper...!


KUDEN staff Asami

Kimono Beginner's Note