Table of contents
Family name origins & meanings
- Japanese : usually written with characters meaning ‘forest mountain’ or ‘protecting mountain’. The latter version could be taken from any of three widely scattered place names in Owari (now part of Aichi prefecture), Iwaki (now part of Fukushima prefecture), or Etchū (now Toyama prefecture). The ‘forest mountain’ version could be taken from even more numerous place names. Neither version is common as a surname in Japan; they are found mainly in the Ryūkyū Islands.