5th place
天王寺（tennoji・てんのうじ)
Tennoji is said to have originated in Tennoji-eup, Higashinari-gun, Settsu Province, which is now northern Osaka Prefecture and part of Hyogo Prefecture. It is said to have originated from the area where Shitennoji Temple is located. It is found in Hyogo Prefecture in small numbers and is said to have only about 10 members in all of Japan.
4th place
如月（kisaragi・きさらぎ)
Kisaragi is a well-known word for February. It is said to have originated from the kanji character “kisaragi,” which means “to put on clothes in layers” due to the severe cold weather (there are various theories). The origin of the current kanji is said to have been influenced by the Chinese word for February, nyogetsu.
Many people thought that the kanji “Kisaragi” sounded sophisticated, not to mention the appearance of the Chinese character for the month of February.
3rd place
西園寺（Saionji・さいおんじ）
This surname is familiar to the Saionji family of the Fujiwara no Hokke Kanyo-ryu, which is descended from Fujiwara no Michinori, a court noble in the late Heian period. Fujiwara no Kitsune, a great-grandson of Fujiwara no Michinori, built Saionji, a temple of the Pure Land sect, in the Kitayama area of Kyoto (at the foot of Mt. Kinugasa), and it is said that the name “Saionji-dono” was given to the temple.
Famous people with the Saionji surname include the politician Saionji Kimimochi.
2nd place
京極（Kyogoku・きょうごく）
The second place went to Kyogoku, which used to mean “the edge of Kyoto.
Kyogoku is familiar with names such as “Tokyo Kyogoku (easternmost point of Kyoto)” and “Nishikyogoku (westernmost point of Kyoto),” the ends of roads running east to west and north to south in Heian-kyo (present-day Kyoto City). Its use as a surname dates back to the Kamakura period (1185-1333), when the Omi Genji Ujinobu Sasaki, who settled in Kyogoku Takatsuji in Kyoto, took the name Kyogoku.
The Kyogoku surname is famous for characters such as Makoto Kyogoku, a karate master and character in the popular manga “Detective Conan.” Perhaps the coolness of the name, which evokes the weight of history, is a key factor in its easy adoption as a pen name or character’s name.
1st place
神宮寺(jinguji・じんぐうじ)
The most Japanese people chose “Jinguji” as No. 1 because it is “cool! and chose “Jinguji” as No. 1.
The term “Jinguji” generally refers to a temple built in conjunction with a shrine. It is said that this concept was born from the idea of Shintoism, which harmonizes the ancient Japanese Shinto religion with Buddhism, a foreign religion, and that jingu-ji temples already existed in the Nara period (710-794).
In Japan, the surname is especially common in Yamanashi Prefecture, but there are various theories as to when it first came into use.
In closing
We have introduced a ranking of the coolest surnames in Japan, but there are many more surnames that even Japanese people do not know. Please try to find interesting surnames on this site.
