Hatamoto of the Shimada family

I just joined the group. I'm doing family genealogy research and
will be glad to share any relevant findings. I recently had a 30-
year old family letter translated between my Japanese aunt and her
sister (my deceased mother). I only speak English. My great-great-
grandfather was a Hatamoto Samurai who had a rank/reward/status of
1500 koku. The family name is Shimada. His given name is Sugo.
His other name(perhaps imani?) is Naoaki. I have independently
confirmed all the kanji characters in the name translation
except "Sugo". The first kanji is "su", but the second one ("go")
is the best guess of the translator. Sugo Shimada served in the
early 1800's in the Edo (Tokyo) area, likely in/near Honjo. He had
a son (Nobushi Naoharu Shimada) born in 1858, who served under
General Nogi.

My questions are:
1. What additional resources (beyond this very helpful site) are
recommended for this type of researching? I've done extensive web
browsing and have begun to get some books.
2. Today, Shimada is a relatively common surname in Japan. In the
Samurai days, was there only one Shimada clan, or perhaps one
Shimada clan per city/area? I don't know how unique the name was
during the Samaurai period. I have read that this surname is
contained in ancient Japanese family name records. If there is any
Samurai history about the Shimada family, and if there is some sort
of connection between "those" Shimada's and my family, I would love
to learn about it.
3. Is there a kamon associated with the Shimada family/clan? Where
might I look for a copy of it? I have not found it among the
samurai-archives and other helpful web sites.
4. Can someone confirm what the second names (Naoaki and Naoharu)
typically represent for Samurai, especially in a society where many
had only one or two names at that time? Were their names associated
with the Samurai coming of age ceremony, or perhaps names given to
them after their deaths? I'm just not clear about that.
5. Can a tell anything about the status in society (or other
things) of Sugo Shimada as a Hatamoto in the Edo area with 1500
koku? Whatever they possessed (and it appeared to have been much),
survived the Meiji restoration, but did not survive the US strategic
bombing campaign during WWII. The surviving family members were
back to "ground zero" in 1945.

Any perspectives would be greatly appreciated,

Dave Cain
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

I would realy like to help you so I am doing research on it my self now the only thing I can tell you is what a samurai with 1500 koku is expected to bring into battle, but i am doing my best to help.

decain1 <cain.de@...> wrote: I just joined the group. I'm doing family genealogy research and
will be glad to share any relevant findings. I recently had a 30-
year old family letter translated between my Japanese aunt and her
sister (my deceased mother). I only speak English. My great-great-
grandfather was a Hatamoto Samurai who had a rank/reward/status of
1500 koku. The family name is Shimada. His given name is Sugo.
His other name(perhaps imani?) is Naoaki. I have independently
confirmed all the kanji characters in the name translation
except "Sugo". The first kanji is "su", but the second one ("go")
is the best guess of the translator. Sugo Shimada served in the
early 1800's in the Edo (Tokyo) area, likely in/near Honjo. He had
a son (Nobushi Naoharu Shimada) born in 1858, who served under
General Nogi.

My questions are:
1. What additional resources (beyond this very helpful site) are
recommended for this type of researching? I've done extensive web
browsing and have begun to get some books.
2. Today, Shimada is a relatively common surname in Japan. In the
Samurai days, was there only one Shimada clan, or perhaps one
Shimada clan per city/area? I don't know how unique the name was
during the Samaurai period. I have read that this surname is
contained in ancient Japanese family name records. If there is any
Samurai history about the Shimada family, and if there is some sort
of connection between "those" Shimada's and my family, I would love
to learn about it.
3. Is there a kamon associated with the Shimada family/clan? Where
might I look for a copy of it? I have not found it among the
samurai-archives and other helpful web sites.
4. Can someone confirm what the second names (Naoaki and Naoharu)
typically represent for Samurai, especially in a society where many
had only one or two names at that time? Were their names associated
with the Samurai coming of age ceremony, or perhaps names given to
them after their deaths? I'm just not clear about that.
5. Can a tell anything about the status in society (or other
things) of Sugo Shimada as a Hatamoto in the Edo area with 1500
koku? Whatever they possessed (and it appeared to have been much),
survived the Meiji restoration, but did not survive the US strategic
bombing campaign during WWII. The surviving family members were
back to "ground zero" in 1945.

Any perspectives would be greatly appreciated,

Dave Cain
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA










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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Dave, I'll take a shot at this...

On Jan 11, 2006, at 5:32 AM, decain1 wrote:

> I just joined the group. I'm doing family genealogy research and
> will be glad to share any relevant findings. I recently had a 30-
> year old family letter translated between my Japanese aunt and her
> sister (my deceased mother). I only speak English. My great-great-
> grandfather was a Hatamoto Samurai who had a rank/reward/status of
> 1500 koku. The family name is Shimada. His given name is Sugo.
> His other name(perhaps imani?) is Naoaki. I have independently
> confirmed all the kanji characters in the name translation
> except "Sugo". The first kanji is "su", but the second one ("go")
> is the best guess of the translator. Sugo Shimada served in the
> early 1800's in the Edo (Tokyo) area, likely in/near Honjo. He had
> a son (Nobushi Naoharu Shimada) born in 1858, who served under
> General Nogi.
>
> My questions are:
> 1. What additional resources (beyond this very helpful site) are
> recommended for this type of researching? I've done extensive web
> browsing and have begun to get some books.
Try the Japanese American History Archives in San Francisco

> 2. Today, Shimada is a relatively common surname in Japan. In the
> Samurai days, was there only one Shimada clan, or perhaps one
> Shimada clan per city/area? I don't know how unique the name was
> during the Samaurai period. I have read that this surname is
> contained in ancient Japanese family name records. If there is any
> Samurai history about the Shimada family, and if there is some sort
> of connection between "those" Shimada's and my family, I would love
> to learn about it.
Shimada was not uncommon back then either, part of the problem is you
will need the kanji, and since everybody from Edo was from somewhere
else you'll want clues to the home province, family temple? sect of
Buddhism?
> 3. Is there a kamon associated with the Shimada family/clan? Where
> might I look for a copy of it? I have not found it among the
> samurai-archives and other helpful web sites.
Yes, many, but there will be families that used mon not associated
with the name, cousins that used the mon but not the last name, and
unrelated families that used it for unknown reasons. May be hard to
pin down until you know for sure where you're family is from
> 4. Can someone confirm what the second names (Naoaki and Naoharu)
> typically represent for Samurai, especially in a society where many
> had only one or two names at that time? Were their names associated
> with the Samurai coming of age ceremony, or perhaps names given to
> them after their deaths? I'm just not clear about that.
Probably was custom in this family to have a NAO-something as head of
the family, thus all male children (at least the ones likely to
succeed the father) were given a Nao-something official name, Sugo
and Nobushi were familiar names perhaps used only within the
household, by close family members
> 5. Can a tell anything about the status in society (or other
> things) of Sugo Shimada as a Hatamoto in the Edo area with 1500
> koku? Whatever they possessed (and it appeared to have been much),
> survived the Meiji restoration, but did not survive the US strategic
> bombing campaign during WWII. The surviving family members were
> back to "ground zero" in 1945.
1500 is not a bad salary, Hatamoto implies direct vassal of the
Shogun, would be pretty cool if you could prove it and would narrow
your search but then again alot of the Edo records were lost...
-t
PS geneology sites will likely be more helpful than us.
>
> Any perspectives would be greatly appreciated,
>
> Dave Cain
> Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---
> Join the 2006 Samurai Fiction contest:
> http://www.samurai-archives.com/writcon2.html
>
> Samurai Archives: http://www.samurai-archives.com
> Samurai Archives store: http://www.cafeshops.com/samuraiarchives
> ---
>
>
>
> SPONSORED LINKS
> Samurai Japan Japan airline
>
> YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
>
> Visit your group "samuraihistory" on the web.
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> samuraihistory-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks Jerry!

Dave

--- In samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com, Jerry Jiggler
wrote:

>
> I would realy like to help you so I am doing research on it my self

now the only thing I can tell you is what a samurai with 1500 koku is
expected to bring into battle, but i am doing my best to help.

Tom:

Thanks! In response:

1. Japanese-American History Archives - I'll check it out. My mother
immigrated to the US in 1958 (as my father's wife), and is the only
Japanese born member of my family in the US. Both have passed, so
gathering info is difficult.

2. Shimada kanji - My aunt writes it as shima(island)-da(rice
paddy). The shima is "‡, and the da(ta) is "c. They were living in
the Honjo area of Tokyo (Old Edo), at least in 1858 - I can't go back
further yet. I know they were/are Buddhist, but don't know what
sect. I can study that to see how to ask my aunt that question,
though. As a Christian, I have a general knowledge of Buddhism, but
not a specific knowledge of its history in Japan.

3. Mon - Thanks for explaining the variations in how kamon have
developed- I will need to ask my aunt or other surviving family
members if a family mon still exists.

4. "Official" Names - Thanks!

5. Hatamoto - I knew who they were as a group, but I'll work with my
aunt to get more family information. I have one generation of
official Japanese family registry - perhaps there is a way to get
other older ones (they are quite delicate and elegant pieces of
paper!). I will also start working with and looking up some Japanese
geneology sites and groups.

You have been very helpful!

Doomo arigato,

Dave

--- In samuraihistory@yahoogroups.com, Tom Helm wrote:
>
> Dave, I'll take a shot at this...