For a long time I have been pondering the origin of my surname. When asked, my father Kaoru explained to me that Katsurayama meant a type of vine (katsura) on the mountain (yama). He was unable to give me any further details. As I lost my paternal grandfather very early, I was left with only the simple definition from my father.
So, for a long time, I satisfied my curiosity and let life go on. However, with the advent of the internet and search engines, I resumed my research and managed to gather a series of new and interesting pieces of information. I initially discovered that the Japanese character that represents the first part is more like kudzu—a type of climbing herb with interesting medicinal components and very aggressive in its growth, suffocating other plants, covering trees, houses and buildings with its branches. It is known as “Japanese or Chinese arrowroot,” widely known in Southeast Asia.
It is said that at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, an event of international significance, the Japanese delegation took some kudzu seedlings to offer to the American authorities, but they were carelessly discarded after the event, which resulted, after a few years, in a rapid multiplication of this invasive weed in the vicinity of the Exposition Park. This vine spread throughout the United States and today there is a huge variety of kudzu throughout the American soil.
So what was the connection between this plant and my family name? Well, it turns out that around 1550, Japan was still to be united. Several feudal lords—the so-called daimyos—some powerful, others less so, were fighting to conquer territories and maintain supremacy over each other. The land of my ancestors was located in the north of Shinano Province, on the western side of Mount Zenko-ji and north of the Susohanagawa River, where they built, in 1553, a strategic castle, made of wood and difficult to access. It was an enclave that prevented the advance of Takeda Shingen’s army for a long time. Over time, it became a valuable ally for the daimyo Uesugi Kenshin—another powerful lord of Shinano Province and Takeda Shingen’s arch-enemy. It is said that near Katsurayama Castle there was a dense forest covered in kudzu on all sides. Unfortunately, in 1557, it snowed late that year, which made it impossible for Uesugi to send support troops to Katsurayama Castle, when an army of 6,000 men under Takeda Shingen surrounded and stormed the fortress, which, despite being besieged, resisted bravely, but succumbed in the end.
Many of the defenders died in battle, while the nobles' families committed mass suicide—as was the custom at the time. The high-ranking echelons were beheaded, leaving only the most humble servants who were deported to other distant regions. The castle was demolished and burned down, leaving only a historical marker at the site today. One group of deportees went to the distant island of Hokkaido and another to the Kumamoto region, taking with them the Katsurayama family name as an inheritance.
My ancestors are those who went to Hokkaido, where they settled in the north of that island, near the very cold region of Shibetsu, as farmers and rice planters. My grandparents immigrated to Brazil around 1918, fleeing the cold and hunger. Their first stop was at the Guatapará Farm, in the Mombuca neighborhood, where they joined other immigrants in harvesting coffee. When they had gathered some resources, they moved to the rural area of Avencas, at the time a subdistrict of Marília (SP), where they planted cotton and earned a lot of money. With these savings, they acquired land in Alta Paulista, in the nascent district of Califórnia (today the city of Osvaldo Cruz) with the aim of planting coffee and settling permanently in Brazil. From there, the children and grandchildren spread out to other locations, first to the city—where their sons and daughters could study in better schools, and then to other cities such as: Vera Cruz (SP), Naviraí (MS), Ponta Porã (MS), Taubaté (SP), Pindamonhangaba (SP), Toledo (PR) and São Paulo (SP).
Currently, we have Katsurayamas all over Brazil: Manaus (AM), Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Curitiba (PR), Porto Alegre (RS), Frei Rogério (SC), São Joaquim (SC), Ivoti (RS), São Leopoldo (RS), Indaiatuba (SP), Mogi das Cruzes (SP) and many other cities and abroad (Singapore, where my son Paulo Ossamu currently lives with his family). With the advent of the internet, I was able to establish contacts with residents in Mexico (San José del Colorado), the USA, Japan and southern Brazil (Curitibanos-SC), expanding the network of acquaintances who have the same surname. I also met other Katsurayamas in São Paulo and Campinas, but their surnames do not have the same ideogram.
Finally, I must point out that other similar surnames that have the root kudzu, such as Kudzuyama, Kuzuyama, Kazurayama and similar, may be part of the same ancestry.
This is a sample of part of our history and its origins that I try to record for all Katsurayamas, with the aim of bringing a little light to those who are interested in knowing their roots and their Japanese origins.
© 2024 Thoshio Katsurayama
Nima-kai Favorites
Do you like this story? Give it a star! The stories with the most stars will be professionally translated into our other site languages!
5 Stars
Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook