The Origin of the Mōri Clan Name.
A Sengoku daimyō and early modern daimyō. Their ancestor was Suemitsu, son of Ōe no Hiromoto, who resided in Mōri Manor in Sagami Province and adopted the Mōri name. In 1270, Tokichika inherited the position of jitō (land steward) of Yoshida Manor in Aki Province from his father, Tsunehisa (son of Suemitsu). Thereafter, the clan expanded its influence as a provincial lord. By the time of Motonari, they had grown into a Sengoku daimyo dominating the Chugoku region. Motonari’s grandson Terumoto served Toyotomi Hideyoshi, holding 1.12 million koku. After siding with the Western Army at the Battle of Sekigahara, his fief was reduced to Suo and Nagato provinces totaling 369,000 koku. Subsequently, they served as lords of Hagi Domain until the Meiji era.
Explanation of this Mōri calligraphy
The top row is in hiragana, the middle row in kanji, and the bottom row in katakana, all written horizontally.
Japanese American Surname Ranking (U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Survey)
This ranks 19th in the Japanese American surname rankings.
It is combined with the Mori(森) surname due to identical spelling.
| Surname | Kanji | Supplement | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tanaka | 田中 | 4th in Japan |
| 2 | Yamamoto | 山本 山元 | 8th in Japan |
| 3 | Nakamura | 中村 仲村 ・・・ | 7th in Japan |
| 4 | Watanabe | 渡辺 渡部 ・・・ | 6th in Japan |
| 5 | Sato | 佐藤 | 1st in Japan |
| 6 | Yamada | 山田 | 12th in Japan |
| 7 | Kimura | 木村 (written vertically) | 17th in Japan |
| 8 | Suzuki | 鈴木 鈴木 (written vertically) | 2nd in Japan |
| 9 | Kato | 加藤 | 10th in Japan |
| 10 | Yoshida | 吉田 | 11th in Japan |
| 11 | Takahashi | 高橋 | 3rd in Japan |
| 12 | Higa | 比嘉 | 1st in Okinawa, Japan |
| 13 | Kobayashi | 小林 | 9th in Japan |
| 14 | Nakano | 中野 仲野 ・・・ | 46th in Japan |
| 15 | Hayashi | 林 | 20th in Japan |
| 16 | Hashimoto | 橋本 | 24th in Japan |
| 17 | Saito | 斎藤 斉藤 ・・・ | 19th in Japan |
| 18 | Sasaki | 佐々木 | 13th in Japan |
| 19 | Mori | 森 毛利 ・・・ | 22th in Japan |
| 20 | Matsumoto | 松本 (written vertically) 松元 | 15th in Japan |
