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How do I find my family crest 2013/12/8 20:18
My mom is japanese her last name is Irie but she passed away over 30 years ago and I just want to know the history of her last name and if there is a family crest.. Her last name is not at all common..any assistance will do..
by Paul Cepeda (guest)  

Re: How do I find my family crest 2013/12/9 14:40
do you know where in Japan she was born?
by himcia rate this post as useful

Re: How do I find my family crest 2013/12/9 15:33
Guessing that your name is written as “ü] the following website from a very quick internet search explains the name quite thoroughly.

http://www2.harimaya.com/sengoku/html/irie_gen.html

It says that the name first appeared in history in 1331 and that the family owned some property in Suruga which is now Shizuoka City. The family was samurai and who fought for Emperor Godaigo. The word "irie" means "bay," by the way. The family crest is as shown.

But this is just some random information on the net. You never know if it's correct or not, and finding out where a person from modern times was born means little.

Another website says that there are 47800 people named “ü] throughout Japan, while another says there are only 7148. Another website says the family arose during the Heian era (year 794-1185).

But it's nice to wonder about your ancesters, and these kind of information would be great hints once you start doing a thorough investigation.

If you know someone who can read Japanese, you might want to try searching the keyword “ü]© which means "Irie family name" in Japanese.

https://www.google.co.jp/webhp?hl=ja&tab=ww#hl=ja&q=%E5%85%A5%E6%B1%9F...
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: How do I find my family crest 2013/12/9 20:49
I believe she was born 1928 in a place called Sasebo, which i believe is close to a Navy base thats were she met and married my dad and moved back to Guam in around 1954..
by Paul Cepeda (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: How do I find my family crest 2013/12/15 11:42
Here is the family crest of the Irie clan. Itfs not a big clan so there is only one. The pattern of the three circles is very unusually lined up, and the pattern within the top circle symbolizes paving stones so they say.
http://bit.ly/1fuCaU8

The main lineage of the Irie family derived from the Fujiwara clan (southern faction), and as Uco noted, its first appearance in the written record comes from Taiheiki, the 14th century war literature. By the mid-14th century during the Nanboku-cho era, the chief of the family re-established himself to the northern Osaka, and built the original Takatsuki Castle. The familyfs reign didnft last that long though, since they lost the war against Nobunaga Oda as the one of generals under the Daimyo Hosokawa in the mid-16th century. At this point, I suppose that the most of the Irie family became commoners (the gold medalist swimmer, Ryosuke Irie, is from Osaka), but some stayed as samurai and moved to Kumamoto and served for Daimyo Hosowaka from the early 17th century until the end of the samurai era. If your mother was from Kyusyu, she could be the member of this Irie family, who after the end of the samurai era, might moved onto Sasebo to find jobs.

Another possibility: Some of the Irie family under the Daimyo Hosokawa owned the land called Irie Village (doesnft exist anymore) in the modern day Kagawa prefecture. This Irie family moved to Goto Islands in Nagasaki prefecture (same as Sasebo) during the early 17th century and the family lived off as the local police/tax officers in the Fukue City area. Your family could be from here, maybe more so than any other places because even today, itfs typical for Goto islanders to move to Sasebo, Nagasaki, and Fukuoka in order to make livings other than fisheries. There is a direct ferry from Goto to Sasebo.

You have to understand that not all Japanese have family crests, and most farmers or artisans didnft have names until the end of the samurai era, and they simply adopted the name of the local leaders, or the name of places they were born. There is a large possibility that your family didnft have one, but as the history shown above, you could be the member of this Irie family if you can link yourself to Goto Islands, Kumamoto, Osaka, or Shizuoka area.
by jomonstrider (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: How do I find my family crest 2013/12/18 21:36
jomonstrider and Uco thank you for the info it was very useful..my mother was born in Nagasaki Prefecture in 1928... it's interesting history..would like to know more or if you lead me to were I can find out more about the Irie family...
by Paul Cepeda (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: How do I find my family crest 2013/12/19 19:41
would like to know more or if you lead me to were I can find out more about the Irie family...

Well, I thought I wrote every hint on where you can start from. I told you keywords and I told you the region. What else do you want to know?
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

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