What’s the difference between kage-mon, chūkage, and hinata-mon?

Hinata-mon (日向紋) fills in the motif and is the most formal style. Kage-mon (陰紋) draws only the motif’s outline in thin lines, and chūkage (中陰) draws it in thicker lines than kage-mon. On crested kimono, hinata-mon is often treated as formal and kage-mon or chūkage as informal.

What does “maru ni” (丸に) mean?

It means a crest whose motif is surrounded by a circular ring (frame). It’s said that branch families added a circle to the main family’s crest to tell houses with the same motif apart, and it’s the most common form among family crests. Other frames include hosowa, futowa, nijūwa, sumikiri-kaku, hishi, and kikkō, read as in “sumikiri-kaku ni mitsubiki”.

In what order is a crest name read?

It’s read in the order “frame + drawing style + motif”. For example, an outline-only umebachi inside a circle is “丸に陰梅鉢 (maru ni kage umebachi)”, and a filled mitsudomoe inside a thick circle is “太輪に右三つ巴 (futowa ni migi mitsudomoe)”. This tool automatically shows the name and reading for the combination you choose.

How do I make a crest image with a transparent background?

Set the background to “Transparent” and press “Save PNG” to get a PNG with a transparent background. You can choose a size from 512 to 4096px. Pasting it into Word, PowerPoint, or card software won’t show a white box.

When should I use SVG?

SVG is shape data, so lines stay crisp however much you enlarge it. It’s suited for enlarged uses such as cutting sheets, laser engraving, embroidery, and printing large banners or noren, and for editing colors or lines in Illustrator or Inkscape.

How can I find out my own family crest?

The reliable ways are to check your family grave (the front of the gravestone or the flower holders), memorial tablets or lanterns at the Buddhist altar, crested kimono or mourning clothes, or to ask the main family or relatives. Once you know the shape, choose the frame, motif, and drawing style in this tool to check the crest’s name and reading.

Can I use the crests I make commercially?

You may use the shapes drawn with this tool freely, whether commercially or not. Traditional motifs such as mitsudomoe and umebachi have long been widely used, but be careful with products resembling marks trademarked by companies or organizations, and with designs resembling the emblems of the Imperial Family or the government.

Kamon Maker | Combine Japanese Family Crest Frames like Maru ni, Sumikiri-kaku ni, and Kikkō ni with Kage-mon and Chūkage, and Download Free as SVG or Transparent PNG

Kamon Maker is a tool to create original Japanese family crests (kamon) or crest graphics in your browser. Combine 19 motifs (tomoe with one, two, or three commas facing right or left, futatsubiki, mitsubiki, kuyō, shichiyō, kikyō bellflower, umebachi plum, sakura cherry blossom, katabami wood sorrel, ken-katabami, yotsumeyui, warabishi, igeta, ichimonji ni mitsuboshi, jūji cross, janome, wachigai, shippō, and chigai takanoha hawk feathers) with the frames maru ni, hosowa ni, futowa ni, nijūwa ni, sumikiri-kaku ni, hishi ni, and kikkō ni, and the hinata-mon, chūkage, and kage-mon drawing styles. The crest name and reading, such as “丸に陰梅鉢 (maru ni kage umebachi)”, are shown automatically. Choose the crest and background colors, then save as an SVG whose lines stay crisp at any size or a transparent-background PNG (up to 4096px) for happi coats, noren curtains, New Year cards, gravestone or nameplate design drafts, cutting-sheet or laser-engraving data, and original crests for creative work. All shapes are calculated and drawn on the spot, so no images are taken out or uploaded.

CREST NAME

丸に右三つ巴

maru ni migi mitsudomoe

Frame: Maru niMotif: Three tomoe (right)

Examples of the Tomoe (comma) crest: Widely used as a shrine crest and on taiko drums

Save & copy

Size

Set the background to “Transparent” to get a PNG with a transparent background. SVG lines stay crisp when enlarged, so it also works for cutting sheets, laser engraving, and print-shop submissions.

Motif (19 types)

Number of tomoeDirection

Frame (sotowaku)

Drawing style (hinata-mon, chūkage, kage-mon)

Kage-mon and chūkage draw only the motif in lines and keep the frame (circle, etc.) as is.

Color

Crest color

Custom

Background

Custom

How crest names are read (combinations in this tool)

Crest names are read in the order “frame + drawing style + motif”. For example, an outline-only umebachi inside a circle is “丸に陰梅鉢 (maru ni kage umebachi)”.

Frame

丸に (maru ni)
細輪に (hosowa ni)
太輪に (futowa ni)
二重輪に (nijūwa ni)
隅切り角に (sumikiri-kaku ni)
菱に (hishi ni)
亀甲に (kikkō ni)

Drawing style

陽紋 (hinata-mon) … not added to the name
中陰 (chūkage) … thicker lines
陰 (kage) … thin lines

Motif

Tomoe (comma) (tomoe)
Futatsubiki (two bars) (futatsubiki)
Mitsubiki (three bars) (mitsubiki)
Kuyō (nine stars) (kuyō)
Shichiyō (seven stars) (shichiyō)
Kikyō (bellflower) (kikyō)
Umebachi (plum blossom) (umebachi)
Sakura (cherry blossom) (sakura)
Katabami (wood sorrel) (katabami)
Ken-katabami (wood sorrel with swords) (ken-katabami)
Yotsumeyui (four tie-dye squares) (yotsumeyui)
Warabishi (split diamond) (warabishi)
Igeta (well frame) (igeta)
Ichimonji ni mitsuboshi (bar and three stars) (ichimonji ni mitsuboshi)
Jūji (cross) (jūji)
Janome (snake’s eye) (janome)
Wachigai (interlocking rings) (wachigai)
Shippō (seven treasures) (shippō)
Chigai takanoha (crossed hawk feathers) (chigai takanoha)

ABOUT

About Kamon Maker | Combine Japanese Family Crest Frames like Maru ni, Sumikiri-kaku ni, and Kikkō ni with Kage-mon and Chūkage, and Download Free as SVG or Transparent PNG

Kamon Maker is a tool that creates a Japanese family crest (kamon) just by choosing a motif, a frame, and a drawing style, and saves it as SVG and transparent PNG. Combine 19 motifs such as mitsudomoe, umebachi, kikyō, kuyō, and chigai takanoha with the frames maru ni, hosowa ni, futowa ni, nijūwa ni, sumikiri-kaku ni, hishi ni, and kikkō ni, and the hinata-mon, chūkage, and kage-mon drawing styles. The crest name and reading, such as “丸に陰梅鉢 (maru ni kage umebachi)”, are shown automatically. All shapes are drawn by calculation, so lines stay crisp when enlarged.

How to use Kamon Maker | Combine Japanese Family Crest Frames like Maru ni, Sumikiri-kaku ni, and Kikkō ni with Kage-mon and Chūkage, and Download Free as SVG or Transparent PNG

1Choose a motif (mitsudomoe, umebachi, kikyō, kuyō, etc.) from the list. For tomoe, you can also choose the number (one, two, or three) and direction (right or left)
2Choose a frame (none, maru ni, hosowa ni, futowa ni, nijūwa ni, sumikiri-kaku ni, hishi ni, or kikkō ni)
3Choose a drawing style: hinata-mon (filled), chūkage (thick lines), or kage-mon (thin lines)
4Choose the crest color and background. For a transparent image, set the background to “Transparent” (for noren or happi coats, “White on navy” is handy)
5Check the crest name and reading shown, then press “Save SVG”, or choose a size and press “Save PNG”
6To show the same crest to someone, share it with “Copy this crest’s URL”

Great for

Prepare crest data to put on happi coats, noren curtains, tenugui towels, or T-shirts
Add a transparent-background crest to New Year cards or wedding place cards and invitations
Compare different frames and kage-mon before ordering a name engraving on a gravestone, nameplate, or Buddhist altar
Get an SVG that stays crisp when enlarged for cutting sheets, laser engraving, or 3D printing
Create a convincing original crest for a fictional family in a novel, manga, or game
Check how to read your own family crest’s “maru ni …” or “kage …” name
Explain the combination of crest frames and motifs in a class or independent research

Good to know

The motifs are representative shapes drawn as geometry and don’t reproduce details handed down in each family or region (line thickness, petal shape, length of the tomoe tails). For formal use such as gravestones or crested kimono, compare with the real crest and confirm with a specialist.
For tomoe right and left, this tool calls it “right tomoe” (migi-domoe) when the tail extends clockwise from the head. Some shrines and references use the opposite names.
With kage-mon and chūkage, only the motif is drawn in lines and the frame stays as is. They’re read by putting “kage” or “chūkage” after the frame, as in “丸に陰梅鉢 (maru ni kage umebachi)”.
Crest names and readings are generated automatically from the combination of frame, drawing style, and motif. Some families may use a different name.
You may use the shapes drawn with this tool freely. However, be careful when making products that resemble marks registered as trademarks by companies or organizations, or when using designs resembling the emblems of the Imperial Family or the government.
Shapes are made inside your browser, and no settings or images are sent to a server.

Questions this tool answers

Use Kamon Maker | Combine Japanese Family Crest Frames like Maru ni, Sumikiri-kaku ni, and Kikkō ni with Kage-mon and Chūkage, and Download Free as SVG or Transparent PNG for searches like these:

I want to make an original Japanese family crest for free
I want to download Japanese family crest SVG data for free
I want a family crest PNG with a transparent background
I want to know the difference between kage-mon, chūkage, and hinata-mon
I want to know how to read crest frames like “maru ni” and “sumikiri-kaku ni”
I want to make a white-cutout crest for happi coats or noren curtains
I want crest data for cutting sheets or laser engraving
I want to know the difference between right and left mitsudomoe

FAQ

What’s the difference between kage-mon, chūkage, and hinata-mon?: Hinata-mon (日向紋) fills in the motif and is the most formal style. Kage-mon (陰紋) draws only the motif’s outline in thin lines, and chūkage (中陰) draws it in thicker lines than kage-mon. On crested kimono, hinata-mon is often treated as formal and kage-mon or chūkage as informal.
What does “maru ni” (丸に) mean?: It means a crest whose motif is surrounded by a circular ring (frame). It’s said that branch families added a circle to the main family’s crest to tell houses with the same motif apart, and it’s the most common form among family crests. Other frames include hosowa, futowa, nijūwa, sumikiri-kaku, hishi, and kikkō, read as in “sumikiri-kaku ni mitsubiki”.
In what order is a crest name read?: It’s read in the order “frame + drawing style + motif”. For example, an outline-only umebachi inside a circle is “丸に陰梅鉢 (maru ni kage umebachi)”, and a filled mitsudomoe inside a thick circle is “太輪に右三つ巴 (futowa ni migi mitsudomoe)”. This tool automatically shows the name and reading for the combination you choose.
How do I make a crest image with a transparent background?: Set the background to “Transparent” and press “Save PNG” to get a PNG with a transparent background. You can choose a size from 512 to 4096px. Pasting it into Word, PowerPoint, or card software won’t show a white box.
When should I use SVG?: SVG is shape data, so lines stay crisp however much you enlarge it. It’s suited for enlarged uses such as cutting sheets, laser engraving, embroidery, and printing large banners or noren, and for editing colors or lines in Illustrator or Inkscape.
How can I find out my own family crest?: The reliable ways are to check your family grave (the front of the gravestone or the flower holders), memorial tablets or lanterns at the Buddhist altar, crested kimono or mourning clothes, or to ask the main family or relatives. Once you know the shape, choose the frame, motif, and drawing style in this tool to check the crest’s name and reading.
Can I use the crests I make commercially?: You may use the shapes drawn with this tool freely, whether commercially or not. Traditional motifs such as mitsudomoe and umebachi have long been widely used, but be careful with products resembling marks trademarked by companies or organizations, and with designs resembling the emblems of the Imperial Family or the government.

Special Thanks

SOLO GUILD | サービス作るAIエンジニア

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