Names of Court Noblewomen

Among the court nobility, tradition was revered in various respects—even during the Northern and Southern Courts period—and this tendency was particularly pronounced regarding the naming conventions for women of this class. First, let us examine the imperial family, which reveals the following:

宮廷貴族の間では、南北朝時代においてもさまざまな面で伝統が尊ばれていたが、この階嘉女性名についても、その傾向は顕著であった。まず皇族についてみると、以下のようである。

It is known that, in all these instances, the names were the “one-character, two-syllable” + 子 type (一字二音の子型). [Translator’s note: That is, each name was composed of a single kanji representing a two-syllable word, plus the suffix -ko/-shi 子.] Furthermore, in the case of imperial princesses, it was considered permissible to use a specific character even if it had previously been used in the name of another imperial princess; no sense of impropriety was attached to such usage. An examination of the names of empresses and consorts from that era reveals the following pattern:

いずれも一字二音節の子型の名であることが知られる。なお、内親王の名の場合には、以前に同じ字の内親王があっても、憚りがないとされていた。当時の后妃の名を探ってみると、つぎのとおりである。

Among the names listed above, those marked with an asterisk (*) are names derived from a traditional naming convention based on the father’s henki 偏緯 (a character shared between names); surprisingly, this type of female name is quite common. During the Northern and Southern Courts period, the number of names for women selected and formally submitted by scholars declined compared to the preceding era; nevertheless, names such as Sakako(?) 境子, Komako(?) 薦子, and Junko 殉子 are still considered to fall into this category.

A survey of the names of wives and daughters belonging to the high-ranking aristocratic families of this era—specifically those corresponding to the later Sekkan-ke 摂関家, Seiga-ke 清華家, Daijin-ke 大臣家, and Urin-ke 羽林家—compiled from sources such as the Sonpi Bunmyaku and others, yields the list presented below.

[Translator’s note: The Sekkan-ke 摂関家, Seiga-ke 清華家, Daijin-ke 大臣家, and Urin-ke 羽林家 are the top four ranks of kuge families, who filled top positions at the imperial court.]

右のうち、＊を付したのは、父親の偏緯を採った伝統的な命名法による名であって、この種の女性名は意外に多いのである。南北朝時代には、学者が撰進した女性名は、前代にくらべて減少しているが、なお境子、薦子、殉子などは、この部類に属する名とみなされる。

この時代における高級貴族の諸家（後の摂関家、清華家、大臣家、羽林家に該当する）の妻室や息女の名を『尊卑分脈』その他から拾ってみると、左のとおりである。

With the exception of the name Imako, the female names cited above differ scarcely at all from those of the mid-to-late Heian period. However, among the female names of middle- and lower-ranking court aristocrats during the Nanboku-chō period—even though they uniformly belong to the “one-character, two-syllable” + 子 type—certain variations can be observed. In this regard, the Sontaireki proves to be a convenient resource, as it records the names of numerous court ladies who were granted official ranks.

上記の女性名は、今子を例外とすれば、平安時代中・後期のそれらとほとんど渝っていない。しかし南北朝時代の中級・下級の宮廷貴族の女性名には、ひとしく一字二音節の子型に属してはいても、若干の変異が認められる。その点、『園太暦』には、叙位された多数の官女らの交名が記されており、好都合である。

The names listed above are mostly those of women belonging to the middle and lower ranks of the nobility. While they share the characteristic of being one-character, two-syllable names with the “ko” form with the same connotation as the names of high-ranking noblewomen, names such as these can be considered new names, almost unprecedented in previous eras:

以上は大部分が中級、下級の貴族に属する女性たちの名である。一字二音節の子型である点で、それらは高級貴族の女性名と軌を一にしているけれども、

末子 池子 浦子 枝子 花子 磯子 森子 苔子雪子 米子 浪子 員子 里子 彌子 肴子 景子

などは、前代にほとんど例をみない、新しい名であるといえよう。彌子は、イヤコまたはヒサコと訓んだらしい。肴子は、イヲコと訓まれたようである。

Here, elements drawn from the natural world and from man-made structures—including some that existed in the classical period [the Nara and Heian periods]—are arrayed in a long list. By the Kamakura period, such elements were already tending to disappear even from the names of commoner women; furthermore, as will be demonstrated in the following section, they are almost entirely absent from the women’s names of the current era. Consequently, it is difficult to imagine that the nobility would have deliberately chosen to imitate the common people. Nor, for that matter—given that five hundred years had elapsed since the end of the classical period, and that the field of Kokugaku (National Learning)—which looks back to the Age of the Gods 神代 [the mythical age of early Japanese history] and the classical period—had yet to develop in this era—is it any more plausible that they were attempting to imitate the people of the classical period. At present, the only conceivable explanation is that a trend suddenly emerged—driven by a unique aesthetic sensibility—that deemed such names to be desirable.

上代にあったものも含めて自然物、造営物の要素がずらりと並ぶ。鎌倉時代には既に庶民の女性名の要素からもこういった要素は消滅傾向にあり、次項で示すように当代の女性名にもほぼ見られない。よって貴族が敢えて庶民の真似をしたとは考え難い。かと言って、上代の終わりから五百年が経ち、また神代上代を顧みる国学の発展もまだのこの時代、上代人の真似をしたとは更に考え難い。独自のセンスで、これを良しとする風潮が突発的に起こったとしか今は考えられないのである。