いろは引紋帳 Iroha-biki Monchō
This small but dense compendium of family crests offers insight into the preservation of culture across time. The title, Iroha-biki Monchō, translates to ‘A Complete Book of Crests Arranged in ABC Order’. It was published in Tokyo in 1881 and is an index of Japanese heraldic crests dating back to ancient times. The book pages are made from single-sided sheets of washi paper, folded in fukuro-toji (pouch) style, where the sheet ends are tucked into the binding. The binding follows the tetsuyōsō (‘multi-section’) technique, a format commonly used in Japanese bookmaking of that time.
The story of Japanese crests
Even a casual observer of Japanese culture will notice the ubiquity of crests, particularly family crests. Monchō (crests), and more specifically kamon (family crests), have played an important role throughout Japanese history as emblems of status and power. But that role has changed considerably since they first appeared during the early Heian Period (794-1100s). Iroha-biki Monchō was compiled in the early Meiji Period (1868-1912), when Japan was undergoing rapid modernisation and social restructuring.
A glimpse of Iroha-biki Monchō
The extraordinarily wide range of visual motifs can be seen in the pages of this volume: circular crests range from depicting simple geometric shapes, to more complex motifs such as flowers, insects, celestial bodies and zodiac animals. There are even some quirky, aesthetically-oriented crests that fuse these elements together, such as a crab made of peonies. The book’s crests are organised by motif, and the motifs are arranged alphabetically according to Japan’s traditional Iroha alphabetisation system. Many of the book’s inclusions suggest that it was instructive to craftspeople imprinting crests onto kimono, an art that coincided with the proliferation of crests but has been in decline since Japan’s industrialisation.
While crests are no longer used for official purposes, they are a living presence up and down the Japanese archipelago, and their refined visual sensibility continues to be reflected in logo designs the world over.
Call number: EA 2280.8 1
This is an abridged version of an article written by Bachelor of Arts (Honours) student Jemima Rice for the course JPNS3002 Classical Japanese. Read the full article here.
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