Update on some Irish and Japanese questions
Edward Doyle
were!) to this forum involved two questions:
1. The impact of equality legislation on Irish arms, and
2. Any information on the legal status/enheritance of Japanese "mon".
I now have some new information on both of these questions:
1. Irish Arms
The journal/magazie "Irish Roots" for 1995, No. 1, contains an article
on "The Genealogical Office Revisited", written with the help of the
then Chief Herald. The article states:
"Heraldry is grounded in male dominated medieval law. however,
procedured at the Genealogical Office have developed in line with
present-day laws on gender equality. Female ancestors may be used to
establish Irish descent and women as well as men may apply for coats of
arms."
This supports a comment made by Dolminex at the time of my original
query.
2. Japanese "mon"
My original query related to the fact that while there are many "art"
style books discussing mon, or even cataloging them, I was not able to
find any discussion of the legal aspects relating to the inheritance and
origin of "mon". I recently found an interesting article on Japanese
heraldy which goes a long way to aswering this question in The Coat of
Arms Vol. IX No. 68, 1966 - the article is in three parts, extending
into No's 69 and 70 of 1967.
E. Doyle
Anthony J. Bryant
Edward Doyle wrote:
> 2. Japanese "mon"
> My original query related to the fact that while there are many "art"
> style books discussing mon, or even cataloging them, I was not able to
> find any discussion of the legal aspects relating to the inheritance and
> origin of "mon". I recently found an interesting article on Japanese
> heraldy which goes a long way to aswering this question in The Coat of
> Arms Vol. IX No. 68, 1966 - the article is in three parts, extending
> into No's 69 and 70 of 1967.
There is no governing body in Japan on heraldry. Anyone can adopt and use
whatever they want, although families that traditionally have borne mon use
them without change. Ever since the shogunate fell, the office that oversaw
the use of mon (mainly to avoid encroachment) has been >poof<.
When the Emperor's second son requested permission to form his own branch
of the family and split off, his new family mon was designed by an art
history professor at the request of the Imperial Household Agency.
I have several books on monshogaku, it's an interest of mine. (Although my
primary field is medieval Japanese history.)
Tony
E.J. Doyle
Anthony J. Bryant wrote in message <35C4AACE...@indiana.edu>...
>
>
>Edward Doyle wrote:
>
>> 2. Japanese "mon"
>> My original query related to the fact that while there are many "art"
>> style books discussing mon, or even cataloging them, I was not able to
>> find any discussion of the legal aspects relating to the inheritance and
>> origin of "mon". I recently found an interesting article on Japanese
>> heraldy which goes a long way to aswering this question in The Coat of
>> Arms Vol. IX No. 68, 1966 - the article is in three parts, extending
>> into No's 69 and 70 of 1967.
>
>There is no governing body in Japan on heraldry. Anyone can adopt and use
>whatever they want, although families that traditionally have borne mon use
>them without change. Ever since the shogunate fell, the office that oversaw
>the use of mon (mainly to avoid encroachment) has been >poof<.
What you say agrees with what is in the article referenced above. However,
the use of mon was apparently quite strictly regulated in the past - far
more stringently than by Lord Lyon. The C of A article given an example of
a man, his wife and his children all being executed for improper use of his
lord's mon!
Anthony J. Bryant
> What you say agrees with what is in the article referenced above. However,
> the use of mon was apparently quite strictly regulated in the past - far
> more stringently than by Lord Lyon. The C of A article given an example of
> a man, his wife and his children all being executed for improper use of his
> lord's mon!
Yes, but that was during the shogunate. Still, each family policed its own, and
there was no governmental body. A family could adopt anything they wanted. The
bakufu offical in charge of mon registry only did so to identify which families
used what; it did not assign crests, nor did it verify conflict. OTOH, you can
bet that if they saw a misuse of the Tokugawa or any of the imperial crests,
they would have registered their concerns with the bakufu... which would take
swift action.
Tony
Michael F McCartney
sexual equality on Irish granting practice; was there more? (i.e.
any degree of detail on just how they handle it) or was there just
the brief passage you quoted?
Thanks!
McCartney m...@sns.com
--
Michael F McCartney, Fremont Calif USA
REPLY TO: m...@sns.com