But the first great difficulty in the way of a study of yobina is the difficulty of translating them. A knowledge of spoken Japanese can help you very little indeed. A knowledge of Chinese also is indispensable. The meaning of a name written in kana only,—in the Japanese characters,—cannot be, in most cases, even guessed at. The Chinese characters of the name can alone explain it. The Japanese essayist, already referred to, found himself obliged to throw out no less than thirty-six names out of a list of two hundred and thirteen, simply because these thirty-six, having been recorded only in kana, could not be interpreted. Kana give only the pronunciation; and the pronunciation of a woman's name explains nothing in a majority of cases. Transliterated into Romaji, a yobina may signify two, three, or even half-a-dozen different things. One of the names thrown out of the list was Banka. Banka might signify "Mint" (the plant), which would be a pretty name; but it might also mean "Evening-haze." Yuka, another rejected name, might be an abbreviation of Yukabutsu, "precious"; but it might just as well mean "a floor." Nochi, a third example, might signify "future"; yet it could also mean "a descendant," and various other things. My reader will be able to find many other homonyms in the lists of names given further on. Ai in Romaji, for instance, may signify either "love" or "indigo-blue";—Chō, "a butterfly," or "superior," or "long";—Ei, either "sagacious" or "blooming";—Kei, either "rapture" or "reverence";—Sato, either "native home" or "sugar";—Toshi, either "year" or "arrowhead";—Taha, "tall," "honorable," or "falcon." The chief, and, for the present, insuperable obstacle to the use of Roman letters in writing Japanese, is the prodigious number of homonyms in the language. You need only glance into any good Japanese-English dictionary to understand the gravity of this obstacle. Not to multiply examples, I shall merely observe that there are nineteen words spelled chō; twenty-one spelled hi; twenty-five spelled to or to; and no less than forty-nine spelled ho or kō.
Yet, as I have already suggested, the real signification of a woman's name cannot be ascertained even from a literal translation made with the help of the Chinese characters. Such a name, for instance, as Kagami (Mirror) really signifies the Pure-Minded, and this not in the Occidental, but in the Confucian sense of the term. Umé (Plum-blossom) is a name referring to wifely devotion and virtue. Matsu (Pine) does not refer, as an appellation, to the beauty of the tree, but to the fact that its evergreen foliage is the emblem of vigorous age. The name Take (Bamboo) is given to a child only because the bamboo has been for centuries a symbol of good-fortune. The name Sen (Wood-fairy) sounds charmingly to Western fancy; yet it expresses nothing more than the parents' hope of long life for their daughter and her offspring,—wood-fairies being supposed to live for thousands of years. . . . Again, many names are of so strange a sort that it is impossible to discover their meaning without questioning either the bearer or the giver; and sometimes all inquiry proves vain, because the original meaning has been long forgotten.
Before attempting to go further into the subject, I shall here offer a translation of the Tōkyō essayist's list of names,—rearranged in alphabetical order, without honorific prefixes or suffixes. Although some classes of common names are not represented, the list will serve to show the character of many still popular yobina, and also to illustrate several of the facts to which I have already called attention.
SELECTED NAMES OF STUDENTS AND GRADUATES
OF THE HIGHER NORMAL SCHOOL FOR
FEMALES (1880-1895):—
Number of
students
so named.
Ai
("Indigo,"—the color)
1
Ai
("Love")
1
Akasuké
("The Bright Helper")
1
Asa
("Morning")
1
Asa
("Shallow")1
2
Au
("Meeting")
2
Bun
("Composition"—in the literary sense)2
1
Chika
("Near")3
5
Chitosé
("A Thousand Years")
1
Chiyo
("A Thousand Generations")
1
Chizu
("Thousand Storks")
1
Chō
("Butterfly")
1
Chō
("Superior")
2
Ei
("Clever")
1
Ei
("Blooming")
2
Etsu
("Delight")
1
Fudé
("Writing-brush")
1
Fuji
("Fuji,"—the mountain)
1
Fuji
("Wistaria-flower")
2
Fuki
("Fuki,"—name of a plant, Nardosmia Japonica)
1
Fuku
("Good-fortune")
2
Fumi
("Letter")4
5
Fumino
("Letter-field")
1
Fusa
("Tassel")
3
Gin
("Silver")
2
Hama
("Shore")
3
Hana
("Blossom")
3
Haruë
("Spring-time Bay")
1
Hatsu
("The First-born")
2
Hidé
("Excellent")
4
Hidé
("Fruitful")
2
Hisano
("Long Plain")
2
Ichi
("Market")
4
Iku
("Nourishing")
3
Iné
("Springing Rice")
3
Ishi
("Stone")
1
Ito
("Thread")
4
Iwa
("Rock")
1
Jun
("The Obedient")1
1
Kagami
("Mirror")
3
Kama
("Sickle")
1
Kamé
("Tortoise")
2
Kaméyo
("Generations-of-the-Tortoise")2
1
Kan
("The Forbearing")3
11
Kana
("Character"—in the sense of written character)4
2
Kané
("Bronze")
3
Katsu
("Victorious")
2
Kazashi
("Hair-pin,"—or any ornament worn in the hair)
1
Kazu
("Number,"—i. e., "great number")
1
Kei
("The Respectful")
3
Ken
("Humility")
1
Kiku
("Chrysanthemum")
6
Kikuë
("Chrysanthemum-branch")
1
Kikuno
("Chrysanthemum-field")
1
Kimi
("Sovereign")
1
Kin
("Gold")
4
Kinu
("Cloth-of-Silk")
1
Kishi
("Beach")
2
Kiyo
("Happy Generations")
1
Kiyo
("Pure")
5
Ko
("Chime,"—the sound of a bell)
1
<
br /> Kō
("Filial Piety")
11
Kō
("The Fine")
1
Koma
("Filly")
1
Komé
("Cleaned Rice")
1
Koto
("Koto,"—the Japanese harp)
4
Kuma
("Bear")
1
Kumi
("Braid")
1
Kuni
("Capital,"—chief city)
1
Kuni
("Province")
3
Kura
("Treasure-house")
1
Kurano
("Storehouse-field")
1
Kuri
("Chestnut")
1
Kuwa
("Mulberry-tree")
1
Masa
("Straightforward,"—upright)
3
Masago
("Sand")
1
Masu
("Increase")
3
Masnë
("Branch-of-Increase")
1
Matsu
("Pine")
2
Matsuë
("Pine-branch")
1
Michi
("The Way,"—doctrine)
4
Mië
("Triple Branch")
1
Mikië
("Main-branch")
1
Miné
("Peak")
2
Mitsu
("Light")
5
Mitsuë
("Shining Branch")
1
Morië
("Service-Bay")1
1
Naka
("The Midmost")
4
Nami
("Wave")
1
Nobu
("Fidelity")
6
Nobu
("The Prolonger")2
1
Nobuë
("Lengthening-branch")
1
Nui
("Tapestry,"—or, Embroidery)
1
Orino
("Weaving-Field")
1
Raku
("Pleasure")
3
Ren
("The Arranger")
1
Riku
("Land,"—ground)
1
Roku
("Emolument")
1
Ryō
("Dragon")
1
Ryū
("Lofty")
3
Sada
("The Chaste")
8
Saki
("Cape,"—promontory)
1
Saku
("Composition")3
3
Sato
("Home,"—native place)
2
Sawa
("Marsh")
1
Set
("Force")
1
Seki
("Barrier,"—city-gate, toll-gate, etc.)
3
Sen
("Fairy")1
3
Setsu
("True,"—tender and true)
2
Shidzu
("The Calmer")
1
Shidzu
("Peace")
2
Shigë
("Two-fold")
2
Shika
("Deer")
2
Shikaë
("Deer-Inlet")
1
Shimé
("The Clasp,"—fastening)
1
Shin
("Truth")
1
Shina
("Goods")
1
Shina
("Virtue")
1
Shino
("Slender Bamboo")
1
Shirushi
("The Proof,"—evidence)
1
Shun
("The Excellent")
1
Sué
("The Last")
2
Sugi
("Cedar,"—cryptomeria)
1
Suté
("Forsaken,"—foundling)
1
Suzu
("Little Bell")
8
Suzu
("Tin")
1
Suzuë
("Branch of Little Bells")
1
Taë
("Exquisite")
1
Taka
("Honor")
2
Taka
("Lofty")
9
Také
("Bamboo")
1
Tama
("Jewel")
1
Tamaki
("Ring")
1
Tamé
("For-the-Sake-of—")
3
Tani
("Valley")
1
Tazu
("Ricefield-Stork")
1
Tetsu
("Iron")
4
Toku
("Virtue")
2
Tomé
("Stop,"—cease)1
1
Torni
("Riches")
3
Tomijū
("Wealth-and-Longevity")
1
Tomo
("The Friend")
4
Tora
("Tiger")
1
Toshi
("Arrowhead")
1
Toyo
("Abundance")
3
Tsugi
("Next,"—i. e., second in order of birth)
2
Tsuna
("Bond,"—rope, or fetter)
1
Tsuné
("The Constant,"—or, as we should say, Constance)
10
Tsuru
("Stork")
4
Umé.
("Plum-blossom")
1
Umégaë
("Plumtree-spray")
1
Uméno
("Plumtree-field")
2
Urano
("Shore-field")
1
Ushi
("Cow,"—or Ox)2
1
Uta
("Poem,"—or Song)
1
Wakana
("Young Na,"—probably the rape-plant is referred to)
1
Yaë
("Eight-fold")
1
Yasu
("TheTranquil")
1
Yō
("The Positive,"—as opposed to Negative or Feminine in the old Chinese philosophy;—therefore, perhaps, Masculine)
1
Shadowings Page 6
