Kaō

Kaō
Kaō
	Kaō of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Chinese name
Chinese	花押
Hanyu Pinyin
showTranscriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	huāyā
Japanese name
Kanji	花押
Kana	かおう
Romanization
showTranscriptions
Romanization	Kaō
Korean name
Hangul	화압
Hanja	花押
Revised Romanization
showTranscriptions
Revised Romanization	Hwaap
McCune–Reischauer	Hwaap

kaōs of members of Council of Five Elders.

A kaō or huāyā is a stylized signature or a mark used in East Asia in place of a true signature.

History[]

China[]

The oldest surviving record of kaō is the Book of Northern Qi, which is the official history record book of the Chinese dynasty Northern Qi.^[1] As years gone by, the popularity of kaō slowly grew in China. Kaō reached its peak popularity in Northern Song.^[2] Since then, its popularity started declining.

Japan[]

Kaō first spread to Japan during the Heian period.^[3] Though their use became far less widespread after the Edo period, they continue to be used even by some contemporary politicians and other famous people.^[4] The reading and identification of individual kaō often requires specialist knowledge; whole books devoted to the topic have been published.^[5]

Often used by Japanese swordsmith with sword tang (nakago).

References[]

^ 李百药 (November 2020), 北齐书 [Book of Northern Qi] (in Chinese), 中国社会科学出版社, ISBN 978-7-5203-7496-5
^ "日本的"花押"到底是什么?" (in Chinese). June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2021.
^ 望月鶴川 [Kakusen Mochizuki] (June 2005), 花押のせかい [The World of Kaō], 朝陽会 [Chōyōkai], ISBN 978-4-903059-03-7
^ 佐藤進一 [Satō Shin'ichi] (September 2000), 花押を読む [Reading Kaō], 平凡社 [Heibonsha], ISBN 978-4-582-76367-6
^ 上島有 [Tamotsu Kamishima] (December 2004), 中世花押の謎を解く―足利将軍家とその花押 [Cracking the Riddle of Kaō from the Middle Ages: The Ashikaga Shogunate and their Kaō], 山川出版社 [Yamakawa Shuppansha], ISBN 978-4-634-52330-2, JPNO 20717189