Naming Names in Kohōpeh's Books

Japanese Names in the Edo Period

Japanese people of the time (feudal Japan) changed names many times over their lifetimes, especially members of the samurai class. Successful tradespeople and artisans would as well. Shinmen Musashi/Niten/Miyamoto Musashi used or was called by several other names during his life, these three being the ones surfacing more frequently nowadays.

I decided relatively early on that I would mostly stick to one name for Okuni and Niten, and forgo the honorifics, for the sake of English-speaking readers.

In my novel The Kabuki Book, when Okuni mischievously names Niten ‘Nin’—the appointed (nin as the root / 任, duty/appointment), she is not giving him a nickname, but an occupational name, according to his new function. And when Niten ends up using ‘Kuni’ a few times, at first, it is in rebellious retaliation because Okuni is pushing him past his comfort zone.

With a tiny stretch, you can say it is historically accurate, because they and other characters are named for their role in the story.

More Historical Details on Edo Names

In Edo Japan, names were not fixed anchors of personal identity; instead, they functioned as public markers of social standing, age, factional alignment, and professional duty. A single samurai could hold dozens of names throughout his life. There were: childhood names, adult names, public nicknames, titles. When a samurai shifted allegiances, earned a promotion, took Buddhist vows, or survived a major battle, they shed their old name like snake skin to spiritually and legally (!) reset their identity.

Let me list a few outrageous examples for fun and not for profit:

• Oda Nobunaga’s self-deification: Dairokuten Maō (The Sixth Heavenly Demon King);
• Kawanabe Kyōsai’s petty rebellion: Shojō Kyōsai (Drunkard Kyōsai);
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s lineage fraud: Hashiba Hideyoshi to Fujiwara to Toyotomi (an invented hi-so¹ family name), as he didn’t have the pedigree for a shogun title.

Final interesting tidbit: contrary to the popular misconception that commoners “had no surnames,” most peasants and merchants did have family names; they were just legally barred from using them publicly. This ban happened during the ossification period of the late 17th century.

Contrast with names in 16th-Century Ayutthaya (Siam)

Names in Ayutthaya 1500s were complex and often changed over time. Let’s look at choices for the names in Lotus, Mud, Blade and Tall Thai Tales (project name). At the time of these stories, commoners bear only one name. Instead, they addressed each other by nicknames—a custom that persists in Thailand today—usually given to them in childhood. Nicknames are often derogatory or diminutive, so as not to attract unwanted attention from spirits.

For nobles, aristocrats, land holders, tenants of government & administration positions, it is quite different, not only can their name have multiple segments, but names do not go without titles. Which combination one must use to address them is defined by unwritten but unbendable rules of class and situation. It is not unusual for the clan name (“family name” in today’s speak) to be seven syllables long. The Luang, military governor of Vimaya, imposes a fourteen-syllable long name on everyone. This marks him as an arriviste and a wannabe.

As a contrast, the Okya, the local Lord of Vimaya, is of Khmer descent, old nobility (folded into the Ayutthaya Kingdom), with ties to the Khmer reigning family. He is “old blood.” Note that Luang and Okya are titles, not names.

Just as Edo commoners were barred from public surnames until the Meiji Restoration (1875), Siamese commoners had no surnames at all until King Rama VI decreed the Surname Act in 1913.

Original blog post at kohopeh.com.

Footnotes

1. hi-so (high society) a Tinglish expression for “upper crust”. Go back ↩