Welcome to the Family Crest portion of this site. Once you have had a look, please feel free to send me an email with your comments, or with any reactions. Also please check out the rest of the site - it's not much yet, but it will be growing little by little.
This is the family crest used by Oda Nobunaga. It is known as the "Oda Mokkou".
The Oda Mokkou is a version of the fairly common mokkou class of family crest. There are more than one popular theory as to the origins of both the design itself, and to the name mokkou. It appears to be a fairly old design, probably originating in and imported from China. Variations of the mokkou were used by several clans, including the Asakura clan in the Echizen area (now Fukui Prefecture).
A popular theory is that the mokkou is a sylized depiction of the Japanese or flowering quince, Chaenomeles lagenaria. This connection is assumed because of the flowery appearance of the emblem, as well as the fact that the words for the flower and for the emblem are written with the same Chinese characters (although they are pronounced differently). But this theory appears to be a folk eymology.
Another popular explanation is that the pattern represents the cross-section of a cucumber. This too seems unlikely, and I haven't come across any explanation for that theory, although it is cited in several places. If anyone has information as to the origin of this speculation, please let me know.
The most likely origin is that the pattern was a representation of a bird's nest holding several eggs. The pattern, or rather the earliest version of the pattern, was apparently worn by officials of the T'ang dynasty in China, which lasted from 618-907. The pattern was introduced to Japan at some point, and was later used on a thing called a mokou - note the single 'k'. A mokou is a decorative strip of cloth used on sudare - bamboo screens - in Japanese temples and imperial palaces. Here is a small picture of a normal sudare, that does not have mokou. The mokou therefore had at least two favorable metaphors attached to it. The eggs in the nest represent children and so the emblem was a symbol of healthy and prosperous offspring. Secondly, the use in temples and imperial structures could bring good luck and heavenly protection.
The word mokou (for the decoration) apparently transformed into mokkou (for the family emblem). The Chinese characters for "Japanese quince" were later applied as ateji.
How exactly the Oda clan began to use this particular emblem is slightly unclear. Keep in mind that even looking at Nobunaga himself we are looking back 450 years. Going much further before that brings us into periods when there sometimes are not records of exactly what happened -- or worse, there are conflicting accounts.
The Oda family originally lived in Echizen, and were vassals of the ruling Shiba family. More on the family origins here. Also serving as vassals of the Shiba were the Asakura clan. At some point, the Asakura gave the Oda permission to use the mokkou as a family emblem. The specifics of this arrangement are unclear. Unanswered questions are when did the Oda begin to use this family emblem, who exactly the players were, and why the Oda and Asakura -- who technically were on equal footing in terms of rank -- had such an arrangement, which implies that the Asakura were in a slightly higher social position.
Whereas most of the mokkou emblems -- including the Asakura's -- have 4 "bumps" or leaves around the edge, the Oda Mokkou is distinctive because it has 5 leaves around the edge.
The "Oda Mokkou" is not the only emblem that Nobunaga used. In fact, in the very famous portrait of Nobunaga that can be found on most pages about him (including this one), he is wearing a different emblem. Family emblems were signals about the relationship between and within different families, and so just like the family tree, they were an important status symbol with policial implications and polical uses.
In the portrait shown on the home page of this site, Nobunaga is wearing the "Go-San-no-Kiri". This was an imperial crest, given by the Emperor to the Ashikaga. In 1568, Ashikaga Yoshiaki gave Nobunaga permission to use the "Go-San-no-Kiri" imperial kamon, as well as the Ashikaga family emblem, the "Futa-Hiki-Ryou". This very prestigious gift of two family emblems was given to Nobunaga in thanks for his effectively having Yoshiaki installed as Shogun. At this same time, Yoshiaki famously praised Nobunaga as "my honorable father" -- even though Nobunaga was only 3 years his elder.
Both of these emblems can be found here. The "Go-San-no-Kiri" is on top; the "Futa-Hiki-Ryou" is on bottom.
Yet another kamon (apparently) used by Nobunaga is the Age-ha-no-Chou, or "butterfly with raised wings". This kamon was understood at the time to be symbolic of the Taira clan. For an understanding of why that is important, see my Family Tree page here. For some reason I am not really able to find good information about this kamon. I find many websites that state with confidence that Nobunaga used this kamon. Some even state further that he allowed some of his vassals to use the emblem. However I cannot find corraboration of that in any of my hardcopy reference materials. I am not convinced yet about the details of Nobunaga's use of this kamon. So, I will leave it at this for now, until I am able to somehow independantly confirm that Nobunaga did in fact use this emblem.
Another emblem used by Nobunaga was the EiRaku TsuuHou. This was not strictly speaking a kamon, but rather what is called a hatamon. A hatamon is an emblem used on a flag - usually a battle banner. Since it's not a kamon in the strictest sense, I decided not to include much about it here on this page. Instead I've put it in my Miscellaneous section. You can find the description of the EiRaku TsuuHou, as well as the background for why Nobunaga used it, here.
I hope you've enjoyed reading about Nobunaga's various kamon. I have begun to develop an overall interest in Japanese family crests, and may expand this section to go into more detail. Please check back from time to time. Also please feel free to check out the rest of the site, or to send me an email with any comments.
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Oda Mokkou image courtesy
of
Other Emblems are linked from the Rekishi Data Kan (Historical Data Tower). I would encourage anyone who can read Japanese to check this site out - it's amazing!