My Gang of Swordsmen

Many readers might be wondering—why is Aoto’s full name ”Minamoto Tachibana Aoto Moriharu”? Why is his full name so long? What do Minamoto and Moriharu signify?

The author is here to enlighten you with a post about the name culture of Ancient Japan.

First of all, to get straight to the point—in Ancient Japan, samurai names were always that long. The famous names like Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Kondo Isami, Chokata Toshisuke, and even the protagonist’s name ”Tachibana Aoto” are only the short forms of their real names.

A samurai’s full name typically consists of at least four components. I’ll use Aoto’s full name ”Minamoto Tachibana Aoto Moriharu” as an example.

”Minamoto” is the [Shi], the name of an ancient Japanese clan. The well-known names ”Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara, Tachibana” are all clans, and Aoto is a descendant of the Genji Clan, hence he takes Minamoto as his clan name.

”Tachibana” is the [Miao Character]. During the Nara and Heian eras, people commonly used ”clan + name” to address each other, like Minamoto no Yoshiie, Minamoto no Yoritomo, Taira no Kiyomori.

However, as the Samurai Class expanded, each clan branched into many families, so samurai began to abandon ”clan + name” and created ”miao character.”

In informal settings, they used ”miao character + name” for address. In Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu’s names, Oda and Tokugawa are their miao characters.

”Aoto” is the [Tsuisho], similar in function to ancient Chinese ”Zi” (courtesy name), as Ancient Japanese thought that the True Name should only be used by those incredibly close to them, thus they created a common name for others to use.

”Moriharu” is the [True Name], a name only close friends could call you by. Calling someone by their true name randomly was seen as extremely rude, tantamount to provocation.

Because only a select few could call a person by their true name, during the Edo Era, samurai would introduce themselves only with their miao character and tsuisho name.

Hence, in this book, when Aoto introduces himself to others, he only says, ”My name is Tachibana Aoto,” stating only his miao character and tsuisho, without immediately revealing his true name.

After the Meiji Restoration, the Meiji government issued the ”Mandatory Miao Character Decree,” abolishing this complex naming system, retaining the miao character as a surname, and the true name as the given name.

Depending on the habitual naming conventions of different eras, a person could have different forms of address.

In the Heian Era, which used ”clan + true name,” Aoto would be called ”Genji Moriharu.”

In the Edo Era, which used ”miao character + tsuisho,” Aoto would be called ”Tachibana Aoto.”

In the modern era, which uses ”miao character + true name,” Aoto would be called ”Tachibana Moriharu.”

By the way—Chokata Toshisuke’s full name is ”Fujiwara Chokata Toshisuke Harumasa,” and Kondo Isami’s full name is ”Fujiwara Kondo Isami Changyi.”

And this is not yet the extreme length of an Ancient Japanese name. In their naming system, there were also terms like ”Eight-color Surnames,” ”Legal Titles,” and various other complicated elements, which will be explained in more detail later when there is time.