Details of the name “Tachibana”

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Text by Rei’ichirō Fukuno (福野礼一郎, Wikipedia).

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Ukon no Tachibana at Kyoto Imperial Palace

In the ancient manuscripts of the Nihon Syoki (日本書紀) and the Kojiki (古事記) on the creation of Japan written in the Nara period (710-794 AD), there was a legend that the Emperor sent a person named Tajima-mori (田道間守) to a foreign country to bring back an elixir of eternal life. In the Kojiki, it was written that this was from “the tree we now know as the Citrus Tachibana.” At that time, the Citrus Tachibana tree was also planted at the Emperor’s Palace in Kyoto under the name of Ukon no Tachibana. This Ukon no Tachibana tree is the origin of KT’s name.

The Emperor at the Nara period had admired the Citrus Tachibana tree and the name Tachibana as a symbol of eternal life, and gave people who made great contributions the family name of Tachibana.

Even today, the design of Japan’s Order of Culture badge is still the flower of the Citrus Tachibana.

However, there is no evidence that the Toki-jiku no kagu no konomi (非時香菓), the elixir of eternal life that Tajima-mori brought back from the foreign country in the mythological era, was in fact from the tree of the Citrus Tachibana.

There are many family names in Japan that are read as “Tachibana” but written using various Kanji characters. Although the Kanji character for KT is “橘,” other Kanji characters used for “Tachibana” include “立花” “立華” “橘内” “舘花” “多知花” and “田知花” or more. For all these Kanji characters, the reading of “Tachibana” was applied to them belatedly, and thus they all have the same meaning of “eternal life.”

This part might be very hard to follow, but Japanese pronunciation has 50 sounds that are made up of 5 different vowels. The phonetic symbols used for these are the Hiragana characters. On the other hand, Kanji characters were imported from China, and although these ideographic symbols have certain meanings, it is also possible to give them certain readings. Therefore, there are many different Kanji characters to which the reading of “Tachibana” could be applied. Although KT’s Tachibana (橘) uses the Kanji character that means the tree of the Citrus Tachibana, there are no specific meanings for Kanji characters such as “舘花” “多知花” or “田知花” In these cases, the reading of “Tachibana” is just replaced with the use of these Kanji characters. There are many examples of this in Japanese family names. As J.J.-san mentioned, most Japanese people might say that “Tachibana (橘) and Tachibana (立花) are written using different Kanji characters and so they must have different meanings,” but in fact, both Tachibana (橘) and Tachibana (立花) originally refer to the tree of the Citrus Tachibana and signify the idea of “eternal life.”

KT is located in Momoyama-cho, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto. They relocated here in 1985 from a site near the Kyoto Imperial Palace where Kyoto Brighton Hotel is presently. On March 18, 2002, as part of the 100th Anniversary Ceremonies of the school, a commemorative monument was unveiled at the original site of the school, click here for the announcement (and for further pictures of the monument click here). The hill just north of their current site is the tomb of Emperor Meiji.

Originally, this was the site of the Kihatayama Momoyama Castle (木幡山伏見城), the residence of the first warlord who unified Japan, Hideyoshi Toyotomi (豊臣秀吉), after he had retired. According to Professor Kunikazu Yamada from Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, the surroundings of KT’s location used to be the houses of Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s servants in the past. To the north of KT’s location was the mansion of Ieyasu Tokugawa (徳川家康) and to the west of KT’s school building was the mansion of Mitsunari Ishida (石田三成). After the death of their lord, the two warlords were opposed to each other and a great battle to divide the lands (the Battle of Sekigahara 関ヶ原の戦い in October 1600) ensued, which was won by Ieyasu Tokugawa (徳川家康) who unified Japan. This gave rise to the Edo period which lasted for 300 years.

Who had lived at the current site of KT’s school building? It was a warlord named Muneshige Tachibana (立花宗茂). As he was a very brave warlord, Ieyasu Tokugawa (徳川家康) thought he would betray the Toyotomi family after their lord’s death and attempted to persuade him to become his ally. However, Muneshige declined as he could not betray his lord, and he stood by Mitsunari Ishida (石田三成) who was protecting the Toyotomi family. After defeat at the great battle, Mitsunari was executed but Muneshige was exiled and became a wanderer. Many different warlords tried to recruit him to join them but Muneshige declined all of their requests. However, he eventually became a vassal of Ieyasu Tokugawa following his determined persuasion and suppressed many rebellions. Due to his tactical nous, Muneshige was widely respected by samurais as The God of Samurai. He lived until the age of 76 years old before passing away. Muneshige Tachibana is known as a warlord who was widely respected by even his enemies for his remarkable strength and his humble humanity.

Professor Hiramatsu said, “When this school was built, there were many tiles with gold leaves, cracked jars, and other items in the ground. These items are stored at the school archives even today.”

The Tachibana (立花) in Muneshige Tachibana (立花宗茂) has the same meaning as KT’s Tachibana (橘), which is the “power of eternal life.” Someone who heard about this said, “Muneshige must have summoned KT to this location! I’m sure Muneshige is still squinting at KT’s kids from the sky and watching over everyone!”

References:

日本書紀 Nihon shoki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon_Shoki

古事記 Kojiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kojiki

Citrus Tachibana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachibana_orange

右近橘 Ukon no Tachibana
(click here)

豊臣秀吉 Hideyoshi Toyotomi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyotomi_Hideyoshi

徳川家康 Ieyasu Tokugawa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu

石田三成 Mitunari Ishida
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishida_Mitsunari

関ヶ原の戦い Battle of Sekigahara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sekigahara

立花宗茂 Muneshige Tachibana
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tachibana_Muneshige

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