Initially, the aoi-mon was not a special crest, but other families gradually started to avoid using the aoi-mon, including the Mitsuba-aoi, when the Tokugawa family became the Seii Taishogun (literally, "great general who subdues the barbarians") and established the Tokugawa shogunate.
はじめは、特別な紋ではなかったが徳川家が征夷大将軍となり徳川幕府を開くにあたり、次第に他家の三つ葉葵に限らず葵紋の使用がはばかられるようになった。