Jap'aridze was a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 noble family known from c. 1400.

A family legend recorded by Prince

Batonishvili

Batonishvili was a title for princes and princesses of the blood royal in the Transcaucasian kingdom of Georgia, and was suffixed to the Christian name e.g., Alexandre Batonishvili, Ioane Batonishvili...

 Ioann of Georgia

Ioane Bagrationi

Ioane Bagrationi was a Georgian prince , writer and encyclopedist....

 in his genealogical treatise holds it that the Jap'aridze descended from the Mongol

Mongol Empire

The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...

 ("Chingisid") officer in Racha

Racha

Racha is a highland area in western Georgia, located in the upper Rioni river valley and hemmed in by the Greater Caucasus mountains...

 called Jap'ar whose scions later converted to Georgian Orthodox Christianity and were ennobled by the kings of Georgia. They possibly held the Duchy of Racha

Duchy of Racha

The Duchy of Racha was an important fiefdom in medieval and early modern Georgia, located in the western province of Racha, in the upper Rioni valley in the foothills of the Greater Caucasus crest, and ruled by a succession of eristavi from c. 1050 until being transferred to the royal crown in...

 between the disappearance of the Kakhaberidze and the establishment of the Chkhetidze

Chkhetidze

Chkhetidze was a Georgian noble family known in west Georgia from the tenth century. The oldest known representative is Germain Chkhetidze, Archbishop-Metropolitan of Bedia in 999, who, according to legend, was of Byzantine origin....

 (1273-1488). The Jap'aridze formed several lines: a princely one in the Kingdom of Imereti

Kingdom of Imereti

The Kingdom of Imereti was established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagration when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, Imereti was considered a separate kingdom within the Kingdom of Georgia, to which a cadet branch of the Bagration royal family held...

, and a petite noble branches in the kingdoms of Kartli

Kartli

Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...

, Kakheti

Kakheti

Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...

, and Imereti

Imereti

Imereti is a province in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It consists of the following Georgian administrative-territorial units:#Kutaisi #Baghdati region#Vani region#Zestafoni region...

.

Under the Russian

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 rule, the family was received among the princely nobility

Knyaz

Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....

 in 1850.

In 1882, Princess Agrippina Konstantinovna Japaridze (1855—1927) became a morganatic wife of Duke Konstantin Petrovich Oldenburg (1850—1906) and received for her and her descendants the title of Count(ess) Zarnekau. This title was not confirmed in Russia.