This word has two main uses.
One is to mean “forest.”
There is a kanji character using the character for “Ki” (木) that means “Hayashi” (林). Both “森” and ‘林’ mean “forest,” but those who realize that the different kanji characters actually mean different things are very astute.
In Japanese, “林” refers to a group of trees planted through afforestation, while “森” refers to a group of trees that have grown naturally, including both coniferous and deciduous trees.
The other use is as a surname.
Japan is a country with an extremely high population density, as most of the land is either mountainous or coastal, leaving little flat land for housing.
Since there are many mountains, there were also many forests, and this surname originates from the terrain, with roots in various regions. It is believed that people who lived in areas with many natural forests, untouched by human hands, began to adopt this surname during that era.
It ranks 22nd among Japanese surnames and 19th among Japanese-American surnames.
Japanese American Surname Ranking (U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 Survey)
Mori ranks 19th in this ranking.
| 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 ・・・ | 5th 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 |
