Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 338

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 338

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/338

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Later research turned up additional information relevant to this report. See the end of the letter for details.

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on your proposed Japanese name, "Minowara Yoshinaka Mitarou."

Our sources indicate that "Minowara" is not a plausible Japanese clan name. "Mino" is the name of a province, and province names weren't used in placenames--"Minowara" is analagous to "Texasfield" or "Alaskavalley." However, the element "mina-" is found in names. It literally means "everybody" and implies "a public/common area." "Minakawa," meaning "common meadow," would be a reasonable clan name.

We didn't find any evidence for the name "Mitarou." Two similar names which might appeal to you are "Yotarou," which means "join together," and "Saburou," which means "third son." These names are "yobinas" or "call-names," names used in daily life.

"Yoshinaka" is a "nanori." There are actually two independent names pronounced "Yoshinaka" which are represented with different characters. The earliest record of "Yoshinaka" we found is from 1332. Nanori were used only by members of the noble (kuge) and military (buke) classes. The buke class is roughly equivalent to the "lesser gentry" class to which SCA members are assumed to belong, so it would be appropriate for your persona to have a nanori. There is some disagreement on how nanori were used--their use was limited to specific circumstances. However, they were recorded in census records and would form part of your formal (registered) name.

Every Japanese name we've seen puts the nanori after the yobina. Thus we recommend switching the order of the two names.

Thus, we recommend that you use the name "Minawara Yotarou Yoshinaka." If you would like a name which definitely fits your period, you can substitute "Saburou" for "Yotarou."

Solveig Throndarsdottir, Talan Gwynek, and Lindorm Eriksson contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel


Correction, Arval, Aug 2005: Fixed a typo, buge for buke.