Introduction to Women’s Names in the Northern and Southern Courts Period

The “Northern and Southern Courts period” referred to here designates the span of time extending from the first year of the Kenmu era (1334) to the ninth year of the Genchū era (1392)—the point at which the two rival courts, the Southern and the Northern, were nominally unified. Of course, this serves merely as a rough guideline; broadly speaking, it may be regarded as corresponding to the latter two-thirds of the 14th century. Although this was a relatively brief era, lasting less than sixty years, it is deemed historically significant because the massive upheavals that shook the entire nation of Japan triggered transformative changes across every sphere—political, economic, and social alike.

Turning our attention to women’s history, while the shift was not particularly pronounced within the aristocratic court society, the social status of women in both the warrior class and among the common people underwent a marked decline from the late Kamakura period through the Nanboku-chō period. Around the time the Jōei Shikimoku (Code of Jōei) was enacted—that is, during the first half of the 13th century—daughters were still entitled to receive permanent grants of inheritance from their parents or husbands, and they possessed the freedom to dispose of such assets at their own discretion.

However, with the advent of the 14th century, restrictions came to be imposed upon women’s ability to dispose of property. Since daughters would eventually marry into other families, allocating property to them effectively resulted in a diminution of the original family’s landholdings. To prevent this depletion of assets, it became common practice to attach specific conditions to any property granted to a daughter: such assets were designated as an ichigo-bun (a lifetime portion), meaning they were to be held only for the duration of her life and subsequently bequeathed to the legitimate heir of her birth family upon her death.

ここでいう「南北朝時代」とは、建武元年(一三三四）から南・北両朝がいちおう合一した元中九年(一三九二）までの期間を指している。むろんこれは、単なる目安にすぎず、おおまかにいえば、それは一四世紀の後の三分の二に該当するとみてよかろう。これは六0年たらずの短い時代ではあるけれども、日本国中を揺がした大きな動乱は、政治、経済、社会などあらゆる分野で変革を誘起した点で重視されるのである。

女性史に眼を向けると、公家社会ではさほど顕著ではなかったが、武家社会や民衆においては、鎌倉時代の末葉から南北朝時代にかけて、女性の社会的地位は、いちじるしく低下した。『貞永式目』が制定された時分、すなわち一三世紀の前半には、女子はまだ親ないし夫の遺産の永代譲与にあずかり、それを任意に処分することができた。

しかし一四世紀にはいると、女子の財産処分には制約が課されるにいたった。女子は他家に嫁ぐから、財産を女子に分与すると、その家の所領が減少することとなる。それを防ぐたいちごぶんめに、女子に贈与された分財は、一期分とされ、その没後は実家の嫡子に遺贈するよう条件づけることが一般化したのである。

To cite but one example: as early as the third day of the tenth month of the first year of the Koan era (1278), Minamoto no Tsunekane of the Iwamatsu clan 岩松家の源経兼 (who bore the Dharma name Dokaku 道覚) drafted a deed of conveyance. According to this document, the lay priest Dokaku bequeathed three cho of rice paddies and one dwelling located in Nishitajima—within Tajima Village, Nitta Estate, Nitta District, Kozuke Province—to his daughter Toyo とよ; two cho of paddies and one dwelling in the same Nishitajima area to his daughter Aguri あぐり; and Nogesaki Village—within the Soma Imperial Estate in Soma District, Shimosa Province—to his wife. However, the deed stipulated that upon the end of each of their respective lifetimes, the properties granted to these three individuals were to be returned to his heir, Masatsune 政経, under the provision that “after their lifetime tenure, Masatsune shall assume dominion over the estate.”

いま一例を挙げると、早くも弘安元年(―二七八）十月三日、
岩松家の源経兼（法名・道覚）は、譲状を認めたが、それによると、道覚入道は、上野国新田郡新田荘内の田嶋郷の西田嶋に所在する田三町と家屋一宇を娘のとよに、同じ西田嶋の田二町と家屋一宇を娘のあぐりに、下総国相馬郡の相馬御厨内の野毛崎村を妻女に譲与するが、三人がそれぞれ所与の財産を「一期後ハ政経領知すべし」と、嗣子・政経に返還すべきことを定めている。

By the mid-14th century, it was common practice to find wording in deeds of conveyance such as: “Upon the passing of the wife, the aforementioned land shall not be claimed by anyone other than the daughters,” or “All daughters shall hold their inheritance rights only for the duration of their own lifetimes.” Thus, during the Nanboku-chō period, a system of limited primogeniture—which granted daughters inheritance rights valid only for the span of their own lives—continued to be the general norm; concurrently, however, daughters’ rights to dispose of their own property were still recognized. Yet, as the 14th century drew to a close, a new trend emerged: the legitimate heir (primogeniture) would inherit the bulk of the estate, while widows, illegitimate children, and daughters would receive no direct share of the inheritance, instead relying on the legitimate heir for their financial support. As early as the second year of the Gentoku era (1330), Fujiwara no Michisuke of the Yamauchi clan 山内家の藤原通資 (Dharma name: Chōkai 長快) conveyed his ancestral estate to his legitimate heir, Michitoki 通時. In doing so, he recorded the following stipulation: “Although I have illegitimate children who are entitled to a share, their individual means are meager; were I to divide the estate among them, it would result in the fragmentation of the land—a matter of grave consequence. Therefore, I hereby convey the entire estate to Michitoki alone. Furthermore, regarding the succession to Chōkai’s legacy in perpetuity—for all generations to come—it shall be inherited by a single individual from among his descendants.” While there is no shortage of historical sources attesting to this practice of exclusive inheritance by the legitimate heir, this phenomenon is not directly correlated with a decline in the social status of women. The financial support provided by the legitimate heir was extended to illegitimate sons as well; it was by no means limited solely to daughters. In this regard, the observation made by Dr. Keiji Nagahara is entirely apposite: “Therefore, the eventual disappearance of women’s rights to inherit landed estates must be contextualized and understood within the broader, overarching trends of samurai society as a whole; to isolate the issue of women in a vacuum—unilaterally emphasizing only the decline in their status—would constitute a somewhat simplistic and shortsighted interpretation.”

一四世紀の中ごろでは、譲状に、「女房一期之後者、於彼田地者、女子等外不可有望者也」とか、「ミな〱女し（子）ハ、いち（一期）ごの程二にてあるべく候」といった文言がみられる|のは、普通のことであった。かように、南北朝時代には、女子に一期のあいだの相続権を認める、制限づきの嫡子相続制がひきつづいて一般的に行われていたが、一方では女子の財産処分権もまだ認められていた。しかし一四世紀も末葉に近づくと、嫡子が大部分の財産を相続し、後家、庶子、女子らは相続にあずからず、嫡子に扶持されるという傾向が現われた。つとに元徳二年(一三三0)、山内家の藤原通資（法名・長快）は、相伝の所帯を嫡子・通時に譲ったが、そのさい彼は、「雖阿相i分庶子等、分限狭少之間、於玉令相分一者、依不元同逢土之御大事、譲渡通時一人者也。雖爲後々末代へ於、長快跡一者、子孫之中以一人可令相続之」と記している。嫡子単独相続を証する史料は少なくないが、それは女子の社会的地位の低下とは直接関連してはいない。嫡子による扶持は、男の庶子も受けるのであり、女子にのみかぎってはいないのである。その点で永原慶二博士の「それゆえ女子の所領相続権の消滅は、そうした武家社会の全体的動向の中に位置づけて受けとめねばならないのであり、女子の問題だけを抽出してその地位の低下を一面的に強調することは、いささか短絡的な理解とされなければならないであろう」という指摘は、肯緊に当たっている。

Nevertheless, the ownership and disposition of land by women did not cease entirely; while this was indeed the case regarding estates passed down through the family line, women were still officially permitted to own and dispose of land inherited from their husbands—provided it fell outside the category of family-lineage estates—as well as land they had acquired through their own purchases.

The emergence of the sōryō (lineage head) system—a form of patriarchy—within the samurai class led to a decline in women’s social standing and fostered marital relationships in which the husband held a superior position; moreover, this degradation of status had ripple effects that extended to women among the common people as well. The fact that women withdrew from the public sphere of society constitutes a major obstacle to the study of women’s names from that era. In short, the opportunities for women’s names—particularly their given names—to be recorded in contemporary documents and records plummeted drastically. In genealogical charts and similar records, women are frequently designated simply as “daughter 女子,” and in the overwhelming majority of cases, they are identified merely as the wife or mother of a specific individual. Consequently, even among women who are historically renowned figures, there are many whose actual given names remain unknown. For instance, the mother of Kusunoki Tatewaki Masayuki 楠木帯刀正行 (1326–1348) is historically celebrated for having admonished her son against committing a rash suicide; yet, her name remains almost entirely unknown.

しかしながら、女子の土地所有やその処分は、全面的に跡を絶ったのではなく、一家相伝の所領についてはそうであったが、彼女が夫から相続した一家相伝以外の土地やみずから買得した土地を所有し、処分することは、なお公認されていたのである。

武家社会における惣領=家父長制の形成は、女性の社会的地位を引下げ、夫上位の夫婦関係を招致したが、地位の低下は民衆の女性にも連動した。女性が社会の公的な場から退引したことは、当時の女性名の研究の大きい障害となっている。つまり当代の文書、記録などに女性の名、とくに実名が記される機会は、激減したのである。系図などでは、女性は単に「女子」と書かれ、何某の妻ないし母と記される場合が圧倒的に多い。したがって歴史上著名な女性でも、実名の不明な人が多い。たとえば、楠木帯刀正行(一三二六＼一三四八）の母は、息子軽率な自害を戒めたことで、歴史上、歴史上、著聞している。しかし彼女の名は、ほとんど判明していない。

According to the death register (kakochō) of Kanshin-ji Temple in Kawachi Province, Masashige’s 正成 wife was named Hisako 久子. She was the younger sister of Minamie Bizen-no-kami Masatada 南江備前守正忠—who fell in battle alongside her husband during the Battle of Minatogawa—and after her husband committed suicide, she renounced the world to become a nun, adopting the religious name Haikyō-ni 敗鏡尼. She devoted herself to praying for the repose of her clan’s souls until her passing on the 17th day of the 7th month of Shōhei 19 (1364), at the age of sixty-one. The former site of the Minamie family residence was located in the Yasari district of Kannabi, Tomitabayashi City—a location situated in close proximity to Mikumari in Akasaka Village, where Masashige’s own residence once stood. It is highly improbable, however, that a woman belonging to a provincial gentry family such as the Minamie clan would bear a name ending in the suffix “-ko” (子)—a naming convention typically adopted by court ladies within the aristocratic society of the Imperial Palace. According to the Kanshin-ji Documents (as cited by Hoshi), the names of women belonging to the local gentry families of Ishikawa and Nishikibe Districts in Kawachi Province—spanning the late Kamakura period through the Nanboku-chō period—were typically styled as follows:

Note: All meanings were added by the translator. Apostrophes indicate that the -n- sound is part of the following syllable, and is not the standalone n ん sound.

河内国の観心寺の過去帳によると、正成の妻は名を久子といい、正成とともに「湊川の戦」で討死した南江備前守正忠の妹で、夫が自害した後は出家して敗鏡尼といい、一門の菩提を弔っていたが、正平十九年(一三六四）七月十七日、六一歳で没したという。南江家の屋敷跡は富田林市大字甘南備字矢佐利にあったが、それは正成の居館が存した赤坂村水分（みくまり）とは近距離の位置にあった。この南江家という地方豪族の女性が宮廷社会の官女たちが帯びていたX子型の名をもっていたとは考えられない。『観心寺文書』による星、鎌倉時代末期から南北朝時代にかけての河内国の石川郡や錦部郡の地方豪族の女性名は、

Given that the death register of Kanshin-ji Temple was a reconstruction—rewritten based on the collective memories of the local populace after the original records had been destroyed in a fire—it is reasonable to surmise that if the legend regarding “Hisako” contains even a kernel of truth, the actual name of Kusunoki Hangan Masashige’s wife was likely “Hisa” or “Hisame” (see Vol. 1, p. 344).

During the Northern and Southern Courts period, a major social trend emerged in which the number of women renouncing the secular world to enter the Buddhist clergy surged dramatically. Among the deeds of conveyance surviving from this era, a significant number represent bequests left behind by widowed nuns. While these documents record the widows’ Buddhist names, they typically fail to explicitly state their given names.

のようなものであった。観心寺の過去帳は、一度火災で焼失したものを人びとの記憶にもとづいて再書したものである。もし久子という伝承がいくぶん真実を伝えているとすれば、楠木判官正成の後室の名は、ひさまたは久女ではなかったかと推量されるのであが（上巻、三四四頁参照）。

南北朝時代には、大きな社会的趨勢として、婦人の出家入道が激増した。当代の譲状には後家尼の遺したものが多い。それらは後家の法名を伝えても、実名を明記してはいないのである。

In the samurai and commoner societies of this era, every woman naturally possessed a personal name 実名 or a formal adult name (azana 字); however, opportunities for these names to be recorded were exceedingly scarce. Even when a name was noted, the entries were often impersonal—emphasizing the woman’s ties to her birth family rather than her individuality—such as “a child of the [Such-and-Such] Clan.” Although The Taiheiki features a vast multitude of male figures, it records the presence of very few women. Moreover, even these few women are identified by titles such as “The Concubine of Lord Sagami, Lady Nii-no-Tsubone 相模殿ノ妾二位殿ノ御局,” “The Mother of Ajin 阿新ノ母御,” “The Daughter of Kimiaki (the late Lady Fujiwara) 公顕ノ女（過去聖霊藤原氏女）,” “Lady Kibai (Kibai-no-mae) 記配ノ前,” “The Wife of Tokiharu 時治ノ女房,” or “The Principal Wife of Nakatoki (Nakatoki-no-kita-no-kata) 仲時ノ北ノ方”; instances in which a woman’s actual personal name is explicitly recorded are exceedingly rare.

Thus, during this period—when such matters were rarely committed to writing—the given names of common women continued to evolve without interruption, eventually transitioning into the stable, medieval-style names characteristic of the Edo period. The reasons why it is difficult to precisely trace the process of this transformation should be evident from the foregoing discussion.

この時代の武家や民衆の社会では、むろん、どの女性も実名ないし字を帯びていたが、それらが記録される機会は、はなはだ乏しかった。名は記されていても、何々氏の氏子などのように、実家との関係を強調した没個性的な名の記載が多いのである。名は記されていても、何々氏の犀のかよなどのように、実家との関係を強調した没個性的な名の記載が多いのである。『太平記』には、おびただしい数にのぼる男子が登場しているけれども、女性はわずかしか記されていない。その女性たちも、「相模殿ノ妾二位殿ノ御局」、「阿新ノ母御」、「公顕ノ女（過去聖霊藤原氏女）」、「記配ノ前」「時治ノ女房」、「仲時ノ北ノ方」などと書かれ、実名の記される例は、はなはだ少ないのである。

このように、記録されることが少ない間に、庶民の女性名自体は絶えることなく変化をつづけ、江戸時代における安定した、中世的な女性名へと推移するのである。その間の変化の過程を精確に跡づけることが困難な理由は、叙上によって了解されるであろう。

Like the Kamakura period, the Nanboku-chō period falls within the category of the “mixed-ancient” era; indeed, this mixed-ancient character is also discernible in the names given to women. With the exception of the select few belonging to the court nobility, women’s names during the medieval period are characterized by two distinct features: first, the omission of the suffixes me (賣) or nyo (女), resulting in names consisting of just two syllables (for instance, names such as Kame 亀 or Matsu 松—derived from Kame’nyo 亀女 and Matsu’nyo 松女—originated in this manner); and second, the practice of addressing women by prefixing the honorific o to their names to convey respect or affection. While the former trend had already begun to emerge during the Kamakura period (as noted in Volume I, pp. 304–306), the latter trend originated during the Nanboku-chō period. Upon entering the Muromachi period, both of these tendencies intensified significantly, and by the late medieval period (specifically, the Momoyama era), they had become the overwhelmingly dominant norms.

南北朝時代も、鎌倉時代と同様、混成古代に属しているが、女性の名にも混古的性格はうめかがえる。中世の女性名は、一握りの公家社会のそれを別として、接尾語の「賣（女）」ないによし「女」が脱落し、二音となっていること（たとえば亀女、松女から妍り、ま6が由来していること）、尊敬、親愛を意味する接頭語の「お」を付して呼ばれることを特色としている。前者はすでに鎌倉時代に現われているが（上巻、三0四＼三0六頁）、後者は南北朝時代に起こっている。二つの傾向は、室町時代にはいっ如如てますます増幅し、中世にはいって（桃山状料時代）圧倒的となるのである。

From the late Heian period through the Kamakura period, suffixes such as no の, gozen 御前, and no-go の御 were employed as honorifics or affectionate appellations; however, in cases where the suffix no was used, the character for “woman” (nyo 女) was invariably omitted. For instance, Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 referred to his elder sister, Kenjunyo 健寿女, as Ken-mae [Translator’s note: I’m not certain of the correct pronunciation] 健前, and to Giōnyo 祇王女 as Giō-gozen 祇王御前. During the Nanboku-chō period, while the usage of these suffixes gradually declined, the honorific prefix o 御 [Translator’s note: Currently spelled お] emerged. By the Momoyama period, in addition to these earlier forms, the honorific suffix no Kata の方 came to be widely adopted (as seen in names such as Oichi no Kata お市の方 and Oman no Kata お萬の方). When considering these new trends, the reason why the Nanboku-chō period—specifically regarding women’s names—exhibits a hybrid character blending elements of antiquity becomes self-evident.

時代後期から鎌倉時代にかけては、尊称ないし愛称としての接尾語「の」、「御前」、「の御」が用いられたが、の場合にかぎって「女」が省略された。藤原定家などは、実姉の「健寿女」を「健前」、「祇王女」を「祇王御前」などと呼んでいた。南北朝時代にはこれらの接語は漸減する一方、接頭語の「御」が現われた。桃山時代になると、それにくわえて尊称の接尾語「の方」が多く用いられるようになった（お市の方、お萬の方など）。こうした新しい動向を考慮するならば、女性名に関して南北朝時代が混成古代的であるゆえんもおのずから明察されるのである。