watanabe (æ¸¡è¾º: "ferryside") is the fifth most common japanese surname. the first to be named watanabe were the samurai clan originated by watanabe no tsuna (953-1025), a descendant of the emperor saga. tsuna established watanabe branch of saga minamoto clan, taken the family name from his residential area watanabe, settsu province.ãhe was companion in arms of minamoto no yorimitsu (944-1021), and famous for his military exploits in a number of tales and legends. dominating settsu province as a focal area of maritime transportation in medieval japan, the watanabe family spread its influence widely. their descendants settled in other areas, including kyushu. besides the mainstream of watanbe, matsura in hizen province, later daimyo of hirado domain, were the most famous and flourished branch. several samurai clans claimed to their genealogical relation to the watanabe family the above. they included watanabe of hakata and watanabe of Åmura. the watanabe of hakata were daimyo of hakata domain (izumi province) until the meiji restoration (1868). the watanabe of Åmura clan (hizen province) and the watanabe of the suwa clan (shinano province) were ranked among the peers after 1868. during the 16th century wars, the following samurai distinguished themselves: *watanabe hajime of the mori clan at the battles of gassan-toda (1540), miyajima (1555) and moji (1561). *watanabe moritsuna (1542â1620) who joined tokugawa ieyasu in 1557, at the battles of anegawa (1570), mikatagahara (1573) and nagashino (1575). in the context of the japanese economy, mrs. watanabe is generic, collective name for housewives who deal in foreign exchange. ==people== * akeno watanabe (voice actress) * atsushi watanabe (actor) * atsushi watanabe (politician) * akira watanabe (national president of the scout association of japan from 1974â2003) * emi watanabe (olympic figure skater) * gedde watanabe (a.k.a. gary watanabe, actor) * graham watanabe (u.s. olympic snowboarder) * greg watanabe (actor) * hamako watanabe (singer) * hiroshi watanabe (animator) * hiroshi watanabe (photographer) * jiro watanabe (boxer) * [[josÃ© w
Japanese-language_surnames Surnames