The is a Japanese shake clanBreen, John and Mark Teeuwen. (2000). Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami, p. 86. which traces its roots from a Yayoi period shrine in northeastern Kyoto.Shimogamo-jinja web site: history. The clan rose to prominence during the Asuka and Heian periods when the Kamo are identified with the 7th-century founding of the Kamo Shrine.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric et al. (2002). Japan Encyclopedia, p. 586.
Kamo Shrine The Kamo Shrine's name references the area's early inhabitants, many of whom continue to live near the shrine their ancestors traditionally served.Nelson, John K. (2000). Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan, pp. 92-99. The formal names of corollary jinja memorialize vital clan roots in a history which pre-dates the founding of Japan's ancient capital.Miyazaki, Makoto. "Lens on Japan: Defending Heiankyo from Demons," Daily Yomiuri. December 20, 2005.
The Kamo Shrine encompasses what are now independent but traditionally associated jinja or shrines—the in Kyoto's Kita Ward and the in Sakyo Ward. The jinja names identify the various kami or deities who are venerated; the name also refers to the nearby woods.Kamigamo-jinja web site: about the shrine .
Although now incorporated within boundaries of the city, the location was once Tadasu no Mori (糺の森),Terry, Philip. (1914). Terry's Japanese empire, p. 479. the wild forest home of the exclusive caretakers of the shrine from prehistoric times.Nelson, p. pp. 67-69.
Notable clan members
Kamo no Chōmei (1155–1216) Kamo no Mabuchi (1697–1769)
Although Chōmei did not use the surname Tokugawa before 1566, his appointment as shōgun was contingent on his claim to Matsudaira kinship and a link to the Seiwa Genji. Modern scholarship has revealed that the genealogy proffered to the emperor contained falsified information; however, since the Matsudaira used the same crest as the Kamo clan,Nussbaum, Japan Encyclopedia, p. 34. some academics suggest that he was likely a descendant of the Kamo clan."Plutschow, Herbert. (1995). Japan's Name Culture: The Significance of Names in a Religious, Political and Social Context, p. 158.
Notes
References Breen, John and Mark Teeuwen. (2000). Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Iwao, Seiichi, Teizō Iyanaga, Susumu Ishii, Shōichirō Yoshida, et al. (2002). Dictionnaire historique du Japon. Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose. ; OCLC 51096469 Nelson, John K. (2000). Enduring Identities: The Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2002). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (cloth) -- (paper) Plutschow, Herbert. (1995). Japan's Name Culture: The Significance of Names in a Religious, Political and Social Context. London: Routledge. (cloth) Terry, Thomas Philip. (1914). Terry's Japanese empire: including Korea and Formosa, with chapters on Manchuria, the Trans-Siberian railway, and the chief ocean routes to Japan; a guidebook for travelers. New York: Houghton Mifflin.