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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Japanese : usually written with characters meaning ‘side of the rice paddy’; it is found mostly in western Japan. The ancient pronunciation was Tanobe and meant ‘rice paddy guild’, denoting a group charged with care of the emperor’s fields. The ancient Tanabe of Kawachi (presently part of Nara prefecture) claimed descent from emperors of the Chinese Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220). The surname is listed in the Shinsen shōjiroku.

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