Family Household Clan


Good day, I just want to ask in-general if these words have a different level
of meaning or are they interchangeable when attched to a family name
家、氏、藩、閥、族、一族、一門、家門、閥族 。 I'm somewhat aware that a 藩 is a domain and 家 is
literally a family for example the 伊達家 used to own the 伊達藩。 But I would like
to know the exact difference of the other words for example the difference
between 伊達氏 and 伊達一族 and all the other words above. Because for me a 氏 is
literally the clan itself while an 一族 is something larger like the 田村家 is a
part of the much larger 伊達一族。

Thank you all in advance for the reply, and may you all have a good day.




～ **家【け】** neutrally refers to both an individual household and the whole clan
spanning several hundred years or more. For example 徳川家 refers to the whole
[Tokugawa clan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_clan).

～ **一族【いちぞく】** refers to a group of people/households who are related by
blood. This mainly refers to those living in the same period, and they often
do similar things like running a government, managing a circus, making
violins, etc.

～ **氏【うじ】** referred to an old form of Japanese clans. See: [Uji
(clan)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uji_\(clan\)). Basically this is an
uncommon historical term. As you may already know, today 氏 is usually read し
and is used as a suffix for a person with that family name ("Mr./Ms. ～"). In
academic contexts you can say 徳川氏 (とくがわし or とくがわうじ) to refer to Tokugawa clan,
but this may be a little confusing to laypeople.

* * *

～ **族【ぞく】** is "～ tribe". It refers to a social/ethnic group which is much
larger than a family.

～ **藩【はん】** is a suffix for old Japanese municipalities, not people nor
families. See [Han system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_system).

～ **閥【ばつ】** is a dated word for a familial corporation conglomerate. See:
[Zaibatsu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaibatsu).

～ **一門【いちもん】** , in modern Japanese, usually refers to a group of _rakugo_
performers, _sumo_ wrestlers, etc. Members do not have to be related by blood.

家門 and 閥族 are very rare and I believe you can forget them.

