与左衛門の父 The most reliable source to date for the Hanami family genealogy is the family headstone in Kitakata 喜多方, Fukushima 福島, Japan. Buried in the grave are the ashes of eight generations of Hanami family heads. The earliest person acknowledged as being buried there is the father of Yozaemon. Yozaemon's father─and probably Yozaemon himself─lived during the Genroku period, perhaps the most important period of literary activity during the Edo period. The era boasts such famous names as Matsuo Bashō and Ihara Saikaku. One curious matter on the headstone is the reference to Mankichi as the 41st Yozaemon. Forty-one generations is a long time. If we were to estimate one generation as eighteen years─an age old enough to procreate─that would suggest that the family line would stretch back to the Heian Period (ca.850-1180). During this period, the center of power was located in and around Kyoto. The east─the Azuma 東 region─was considered the frontier to the Northeast. This area of modern Tokyo was sparcely populated and the largest concentration of people in the area was at the seaside city of Kamakura where the Minamoto family─future hegemonists of the Kamakura period─ruled. Everything northeast, the Tōhoku region and beyond, was refered to as Michinoku 陸奥, "Land Beyond the Roads." As such, it is unlikely that the Hanami clan owned vast properties in the Aizu-Wakamatsu 会津若松 area of modern-day Fukushima, as the area was lightly populated and underdeveloped. Of course, the Hanami clan may have been frontiersmen─since a large portion of the Hanami family finds itself in the US, the search for new challenges may have been a genetic trait shared by some of our recent ancestors. This could also mean that the roots of the Hanami family began elsewhere, and eventually settled in Aizu-Wakamatsu. And of course, the possibility exists that this headstone is in error, for whatever reason. Someone needs to look this up. Yozaemon's Father 宝永五年 d. 1708 | 与左衛門 Yozaemon 享保二年 d. 1717 覚左衛門 Kakuzaemon d.1741 萬吉 Mankichi 四十一代与左衛門 ?-?

ツキ 譽三 Tsuki 1815-1900 Yozō 1810-90 岩本源右ヱ門二男   From the information available, it is difficult to determine the origins of head of households until Yozō, second son of Iwamoto Gen'uemon. He was apparently adopted as son and future head of household to be married to Tsuki, Mankichi's female offspring.

新三 マン 周三 Shinzō 1936-1904 Man 1832-1911 Shūzō （出身出生年不明） It would seem that Yozō and Tsuki did not have any surviving sons, and so they had their daughter, Man, marry... twice, first to Shinzō, then to Shūzō.

波吉   徳三郎   譽吉 ヱキ Namikichi b. 1868   Tokuzaburō b. 1856   Yokichi 1850-1922 Eki 1854-1915

新六   新五   新四郎   新一   トラ マツ Shinroku 1892   Shingo 1885   Shinshirō 1879   Shin'ichi 1877-1956   Tora 1873   Matsu 1871