A Name Carries Power: Why the Japanese Avoided the Real Name

Through a long history, names were once held sacred, and through names a world like a fantasy, swirling with political intrigue, unfolded. It is a truly interesting custom, and the key to understanding it is "avoiding the real name" (jitsumei kihi) and "the double name."

Since I basically research ages without texts, I have countless times read hidden history from the names of gods and lands, and, interestingly, through it one can glimpse the reality of antiquity.

The nature of Japanese myth, to begin with, shows that the very act of naming was a sacred act of creation, and that the ancient Japanese held the sense that spiritual power dwells in a name. This leads to the thought of "kotodama," and since ancient times in Japan it has been believed that spiritual power dwells in words and shows when they are spoken.

So speaking the name of a god was itself a precious prayer, and people's names too were handled with care.

Against this background of worshiping the ancient sounds of Japan (that is, the gods), a custom of "shunning" the public calling of another's real name arose in ancient Japanese society, and it had a great effect on later history. Especially in the Asuka period (538–710) and the Nara period (710–794), when the political system strengthened its centralizing tendency, it is notable that this custom of avoiding the real name was institutionalized to raise the authority of the rulers.

As a typical case, the Taiho Code, set in 701 under Emperor Monmu, the forty-second, clearly provides "avoid the names from the imperial ancestors on," that is, not to use the "imina" (諱, the name to be shunned) of emperors and imperial family members in daily life. Then in 757 an imperial decree was issued avoiding the names of the emperor and empress, and in the following year, to avoid the character 史 used in the name of a son of Fujiwara no Kamatari, one of the powers who controlled the court, six clans that bore that character in their surnames were made to change their surnames, as recorded in the Shoku Nihongi. In this way it came to be shunned to say the names of emperors and noble people directly, and under the ritsuryo state it became an open taboo.

In this age the real name was thought to be extremely private and sacred to the person, and was hardly ever spoken in daily life. So when others called a person, a different name called a "tsusho" (通称), a common name, came to be used instead.

From the middle Heian period on, women too came to be called by the office of their father or husband. The most famous, Murasaki Shikibu, the author of the Tale of Genji, was called Murasaki Shikibu not by her real name but from her father's post of Shikibu no Jo, so to this day her real name is uncertain, with several theories. And Izumi Shikibu, the author of the Izumi Shikibu Diary, also known as an excellent poet, was likewise called so not by her real name but from her husband's post of Izumi no Kami, and her real name too is unknown.

In this way the nobles used a "double name," hid their real names, and called each other by common names.

The real name of the dead was also a strong object of shunning, and in particular, to emperors and nobles another name called "okurina" (諡) was given after death. It was an honorific that replaced the name in life, and by offering it, the soul of the dead was comforted, and it also served so that those left behind need not call the real name directly. As for emperors, the Japanese of today sometimes call them by the era name as it is, as "Emperor Heisei" or "Emperor Reiwa," but this is a new custom since Meiji, a modern phenomenon in which era name and "shigo" (諡号, which means okurina) are used as one.

So the names commonly known for the emperors Jimmu, Tenmu, Kanmu, and the rest are all shigo, not real names. The emperors of that day were not called by such names.

The Japanese of today no longer grasp how important a name is, but this is a phenomenon of the last thirty years or so, and in the whole of Japanese history it is a very new attitude. Even now, though, the custom of "giving one's name" on a first meeting and of calling the other by a job title is deeply rooted in society.

The naming of small children too was attended by a solemn rite, and there was a custom of calling a child by a provisional name until the formal name was given at the naming ceremony on the seventh day after birth, and not only among nobles but later among warriors too, it grew complex, using several names according to one's growth and rank.

When a small child fell gravely ill, the cause of the illness was strongly thought to be the name, so there are cases in which the name was changed to ward off misfortune, which shows that it was believed that a name holds a spiritual power that can even decide a person's fate. The Japanese still believe this strongly, and many people believe that naming a child decides the child's future. That is why each Japanese name holds a parent's deep feeling and wish.

I always feel strongly, as I travel the whole country to explore ancient Japan, that to make a trip to Japan the deepest experience possible, an understanding of names is indispensable. By names I mean not only the names of Japanese people but the names of lands, of shrines, and of gods.

Tourists today pay no attention at all to Japanese names, but merely understanding this opens endless possibility.