ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3020
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3020
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24 Mar 2005
From: Josh Mittleman 


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Saito no Shintaro Takauji> is an appropriate name
for a Japanese man in the 15th or 16th century.  Here is what we have
found.

<Saito> is a fine family name for your period; it was used in the
Kamakura period and has remained in use to the present day [1, 2].

We are not sure whether <Shintaro> is a correct yobina (intimate given
name).  Source [1] glosses its kanji as "new" and "first son".  The
kanji translated there as "new" is correct [6], but we do not know if
that kanji was in fact used in names in your period.  Two other kanji
that are pronounced <shin> were used in names: one means "parent,
intimate", the other "eighth (bitter)" [4].  The second part of the
gloss is correct: <Tarou> (as it is more accurately transliterated) is
composed of two kanji that mean "first/eldest son".  We do not have a
pre-modern example of <Shintarou>; however, there is a modern Japanese
name <Shintaro>, so one might give it the benefit of the doubt [5].

<Takauji> is a good choice for your nanori (formal given name).  There
are two nanori which transliterate to <Takauji>.  The first element,
<taka>, corresponds to a kanji that means "tall, high" in one name and
"exemplar, admirable" in the other.  The element <uji> corresponds to
the same kanji in both names; it means "family, filial" [1, 3].  

By the 1400s, the use of <no> after the family name was dropping out
of fashion [1].  The later you want to set your persona, the more
appropriate it would be to drop that word and use <Saito Shintarou
Takauji>.


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any
part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was
assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch
Catmael, Mor inghean Chathail, Juetta Copin, and Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  24 Mar 2005


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References

[1] Edward Effingham, "Japanese names" in "An Online Japanese
Miscellany" (WWW: privately published, 2004).
http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/miscellany/names.html

[2] Solveig Throndardottir, _Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan_
(Carlsbad, N. Mex.: The Outlaw Press, 1994; Potboiler Press, 1999 [Box
30171, Columbia, MO 65205]), p.325.

[3] Solveig Throndardottir and the Academy of Saint Gabriel, "Japanese
Formal Masculine Given Names" (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel, 2001).
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/solveig/nanori/

[4] Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan.

[5] Biography of Ishihara Shintaro (1932- )
http://www.japan-zone.com/modern/ishihara_shintaro.shtml

[6] Jack Halpern, editor in chief, The Kodansha Kanji Learner's
Dictionary (New York: Kodansha International, 1999), nr. 1166.