Kamiya Family History

Japanese: written 神谷 ‘divine valley’; also pronounced Kamitani (in western Japan) Kamegai and Kabeya. It is a habitational name. One family descendants of the Iwaki branch of the Taira clan took the name from Kamiya-mura in Iwaki (now part of Fukushima prefecture).

Other families descend from the northern Fujiwara through the Utsunomiya family and through Fujiwara no Hidesato (10th century) by his descendant Iga and Satake families.

The pronunciation Kamiya is mainly found in eastern Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands. It can also be written 上谷 ‘upper valley’ or 紙屋 ‘paper shop’.