Last name origin & meaning: Japanese: an archaic word used to mean ‘east’, originally applied
to the fifteen northern and eastern provinces of Japan. According to
legend, the hero Prince Yamatotakeru, on his mission to conquer the
eastern barbarians, was badly homesick and cried ‘Azuma wa ya!’ (‘Oh,
my wife!’) when he viewed the Kantō Plain from a high pass, and
this incident gave the name to the region. The family name is most
commonly written with the character for ‘east’ (higashi), but
some families write it using different characters phonetically. The
name Azuma is found mostly in western Japan and the
Ryūkyū Islands, while the name Higashi is more common
along the southeastern seaboard.
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