The Ano Family (阿野家)
The Ano family belonged to the court nobility and had a status of Urin. The Ano family was of the Kanin-ryu (the Kanin lineage) of the Northern House of the Fujiwara clan. The Ano family is all of the illegitimate family lineate of the Shigenoi family. The name Ano originated with Zenjo ANO, the son of MINAMOTO no Yoshitomo and the older half-brother (with the same mother) of MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune, when he adopted the name Ano from Ano-sho, Sunto County in Suruga Province, where he was based. The Ano family in the court nobility, on the other hand, originated with Kosa ANO, the son of FUJIWARA no Narichika, who was adopted by Sanekuni SHIGENOI. The name derived from the fact that Kosa inherited a part of Ano-sho from the above-mentioned Zenjo ANO, who was his father in law. The family business was Shinto music and dance. The family crest was kara-hana (a kind of Chinese arabesque pattern). The hereditary stipend in the Edo period was 478 koku. The Ano family had pedigree. The family was the tozama daimyo (nonhereditary feudal lord). The family was awarded the title of viscount after the Meiji Restoration.
Yasuko (her name is also pronounced Kadoko) ANO, the daughter of Kinkado ANO in the Kamakura period, was favored by the Emperor Godaigo, gave birth to a son who would become the Emperor Gomurakami, and was awarded the rank of jusangu, an honorary rank for those close to Emperor, Empress Dowager, and Empress, conferred on both men and women. Most of the family took the Southern Court side in the period of the Northern and Southern Courts, but this in fact helped the family avoid to being broken up or weakened, which enabled it to remain part of the nobility on its return to Kyoto after the unification of the Northern and Southern Courts.
The Yamamoto family (which held the status of Urin, and the title of viscount after the Restoration), the Kitaoji family (which held a the title of baron), and the Tamamatsu family (which also held the title of baron) were the branches of the family.