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Maekawas

Maekawas is a Japanese surname. The name is most commonly written with the kanji 前川, which literally means “before the river” or “in front of the river.” It is a toponymic surname, originally applied to people who lived near a river or at a river’s edge. Maekawa is widely found in Japan and is carried by members of families both within the country and among Japanese communities abroad. The standard romanization is Maekawa, though minor variations can occur with different transliteration schemes.

In scholarly and mathematical contexts, the surname is associated with Maekawa’s theorem in origami mathematics. The

Notable individuals with the surname Maekawa have made contributions across a range of fields, including architecture,

theorem
concerns
the
arrangement
of
mountain
and
valley
folds
at
a
vertex
of
a
crease
pattern
and
states
that
the
numbers
of
mountain
and
valley
folds
meeting
at
the
vertex
differ
by
two,
a
condition
required
for
flat-foldability.
This
result
is
part
of
the
broader
study
of
the
geometry
and
combinatorics
of
origami
and
is
commonly
cited
in
discussions
of
origami
mathematics
and
design.
academia,
sports,
and
the
arts.
As
with
many
Japanese
surnames,
Maekawa
appears
in
diverse
professional
domains
and
reflects
a
long-standing
toponymic
tradition
in
Japanese
naming.
The
surname
is
also
encountered
in
historical
and
contemporary
discussions
of
Japanese
culture
and
diaspora
communities.