Behind Japanese surnames

Japan has a large number of surnames compared to other countries. There are about 240,000 different surnames in Japan. On September 19th, 1870 (3rd year of the Meiji era) the Meiji government announced the law called (Heimin myouji hisshou gimurei) that required ordinary people to have surnames.

This required people to create their own surnames by themselves. Before this time, the feudal lords had only permitted warriors and a few merchants and farmers to have surnames. Ordinary people only had first names. People called each other by their first name and according to where the person lived, such as "Okiku who is living in a row of five apartments," or "Ohana at the liquor store."

The ten most common Japanese surnames are () Sato, () Suzuki, () Takahashi, () Tanaka, () Watanabe, () Ito, () Yamamoto, () Nakamura, () Kobayashi, and () Kato. Even the most common name of () Sato is only used by 1.6% of the population.

Among the top 10 names, there are three that use kanji () pronounced as "Fuji" or "Tou," like ( ) Katou. It is said that these people are descended from the () Fujiwara family which had a central position in aristocratic society from the Heian period (end of the 8th century) to the Edo period (19th century).

For example, () Sato is created from that kanji () and () the first kanji of (), which is a common place name. () is formed from the first kanji of place names like () Ise, () Izu. () Kato is formed from the place name () Kaga (present-day Ishikawa prefecture) and () tou.

() Takahashi means stairs that connects the earth and the heavens. It reflects the shrine pillars and means a sacred place. () Tanaka means the center of the rice fields. () Watanabe means the river side with a ferry boat. Most Japanese surnames come from topographical features, place names, directions, powerful historical figures, and jobs.

They are created quite simply, but there are many names that are difficult to read, even for Japanese people, so don�ft worry if you find them difficult to read and remember.

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