Bugō

As James George Frazer demonstrated in The Golden Bough, using someone's real name is a taboo common to many countries throughout history, and to circumvent this taboo, pseudonyms are often used.{{cite book |last1=Frazer |first1=James George |title=The golden bough; a study in magic and religion |date=1922 |publisher=The Macmillan Company |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924021569128/page/n261 244]-262 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924021569128 |access-date=7 June 2019}} For example, in Japan, the word for true name (諱, imina) is derived from 忌み+名 (also imina), meaning "name to be avoided due to death or other taboos": after death, people are given posthumous names (諡, okurina) to avoid "calling" them via their true name.{{cite book |last1=Felecan |first1=Oliviu |title=Onomastics between Sacred and Profane |date=2019 |publisher=Vernon Press |isbn=9781622735570 |page=100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YtWZDwAAQBAJ&q=%22imina%22+%27name+to+be+avoided+due+to+death+or+other+taboos%27&pg=PA99 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en}}

In China's Southern Song period, Neo-Confucianism combined concepts of reclusion, self-denial and self-effacing humility from Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, and these thoughts found fertile ground in Japan.{{cite book |last1=Richter |first1=Frank-Jürgen |title=Redesigning Asian Business: In the Aftermath of Crisis |date=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9781567205251 |page=16 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oO7bOfc3ueAC&q=%22Neo-Confucianism%22%7CConfucianism++self-denial%7Cself-effacing+humility+Japan&pg=PA16 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en}} The practice of 実名敬避俗 mjitsumei keihizoku, the avoidance of real names, became fashionable and even de rigueur amongst the educated classes--literati (:ja:文人) poets, artists and monks, as well as courtiers.{{cite journal |last1=Collazo |first1=Anja M. |title=Japanese personal names as social markers of rank and individuality in premodern and contemporary times |journal=Beiträge zur Namenforschung |date=2017 |volume=52 |issue=3 |page=251 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325391826 |publisher=Universitätsverlag WINTER GmbH |location=Heidelberg}} In modern Japan, it is common practice to call people by their titles instead of their names (even within the family),{{cite book |last1=Yamada |first1=Haru |last2=Kelm |first2=Orlando R. |last3=Victor |first3=David A. |title=The 7 Keys to Communicating in Japan: An Intercultural Approach |date=2017 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn= 9781626164772 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmkwDwAAQBAJ&q=Japan+common+practice+call+people+by+titles+names&pg=PA11 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Hays |first1=Jeffrey |title=Japanese Names, Titles, First Names, Family Names and Hankos |url=http://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat18/sub113/item601.html#chapter-2 |website=factsanddetails.com |date = August 2012 |language= en}} and online, Japanese people tend to use handles rather than personal names (see also Japanese names).{{cite news |last1=Krotoski |first1= Aleks |title=Online identity: is authenticity or anonymity more important? |url= https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/apr/19/online-identity-authenticity-anonymity |access-date=7 June 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=19 April 2012}}

During the Edo period, Japanese people, including commoners, used multiple names.{{cite book |last1=Groemer |first1=Gerald |title=Portraits of Edo and Early Modern Japan |date=28 May 2019 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9789811373763 |page=xiii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6KaDwAAQBAJ&q=warrior+name&pg=PA130 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en}} Samurai names changed throughout one's lifetime, depending on stage of life (e.g. coming of age), through titles associated with official positions, allegiance, and finay with Buddhist necronyms after death (q.v. Kaimyō).{{cite book |last1=Vaporis |first1=Constantine Nomikos |title=Samurai: An Encyclopedia of Japan's Cultured Warriors |date=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781440842719 |page=197 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lPaKDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Samurai%22+name+genpuku%7C%22coming+of+age%22+Buddhist+posthumous%7Cnecronym%7CKaimy%C5%8D%7Ch%C5%8Dmy%C5%8D&pg=PA197 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en}} However, these are not normally referred to as Bugō unless used within a martial arts training setting (dōjō or ryūha).

For example, Miyamoto Musashi's various names included 藤原 Fujiwara (lineage), 宮本 Miyamoto (village origin), 新免 Shinmen (name of father's lord), 辨助 Bennosuke (childhood name), 武蔵 Musashi (title; also possibly read "Takezō" as a personal name), 玄信 ("imina", read as Harunobu, Motonobu and/or Genshin), 二天 Niten (mainly in his suiboku paintings), 二天道楽 Niten Dōraku, etc. People still debate which of these names were really used, in what ways, and how they were read.{{cite web |title=小倉碑文 |url=http://www.geocities.jp/themusasi1/ref/t012.html |website=www.geocities.jp |access-date=26 July 2018 |language=ja |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323042528/http://www.geocities.jp/themusasi1/ref/t012.html |archive-date=23 March 2019 |url-status=dead }}

As with patronymic personal names and Yagō, it is common for students to include a character from the teacher's Bugō as a mark of respect and to ensure continuity of the lineage.{{cite web |title=主君から「字」をもらう風習｜名前の話04 |url=http://59s-hibikor.doorblog.jp/archives/12125343.html |website=59'S 日々是口実 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=ja}} In many cases the name would not be chosen by the practitioner/student, but chosen for them by the teacher - see many examples below.

Similar customs can be found outside Asia: for example Richard "the Lionheart", Don Quixote, Carlos the Jackal, or the ring names used by modern sports martial artists. In addition, warrior names are found amongst the indigenous Kwakwakaʼwakw{{cite book |last1=Boas |first1=Franz |last2=Hunt |first2=George |title=Ethnology of the Kwakiutl, based on data collected by George Hunt |date=1921 |publisher=Washington, Government Printing Office |pages=828–829, 1365–1366 |url=https://archive.org/details/ethnologyofkwaki02boas/page/828 |access-date=20 January 2020}} and forest dwellers of French Guiana.{{cite book |last1=Price |first1=Richard |title=Travels with Tooy: History, Memory, and the African American Imagination |date=2010 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226680576 |page=63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qR-CV5-FBcC&q=%22martial+name%22%7C%22warrior+name%22&pg=PA63 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en}}

The Bugei Ryūha Daijiten directory of historical martial arts schools lists Bugō for many within the various lineages.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}}

The grandmasters of Shin-no-shin Ishikawa-ryū always included the character 源 in their Bugō to indicate their founder's descent from the Minamoto clan.

Ittō-ryū's founder Itō Kagehisa used the name "Ittō-sai" (一刀斎).

Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū founder Iizasa Ienao used the name "Chōi-sai" (長威斎).

Yagyū Munetoshi of the Shinkage-ryū used the name "Sekishū-sai" (石舟斎).

The character 斎 (-sai), meaning "study room", seen at the end of the three examples above is common to many martial artists of the Edo period, principally because of the Japanese four-character idiom "bunbu-ryōdō" ("the pen and the sword in accord"), i.e. the link between martial arts and visual arts. Such 斎号 ("-sai names") are even now commonly used as posthumous Buddhist Dharma names for artists or doctors.{{cite web |title=戒名 |url=https://www.e-butsudan.com/02_kaimyou.html |website=「いい仏壇」 |access-date=25 July 2018 |language=ja}} Whether a given individual intended them to be used as pen names or Bugō is not always clear.

Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu's founder Takeda Sōkaku used the Bugō "Minamoto Masayoshi" (源正義).{{cite web |title=合気揚げの秘密と時代背景 |url=http://www.daitouryu.net/1149056125093/ |website=www.daitouryu.net |access-date=25 July 2018 |language=ja |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515203503/http://www.daitouryu.net/1149056125093 |archive-date=15 May 2016 |url-status=dead }}

His student Yamamoto Tomekichi, founder of Mugen Shintō-ryū, was granted one character from Sōkaku's birth name 惣角, and one from his Bugō 源正義, combining them to make Kakuyoshi (角義). He also had a "-sai name", Ittō-sai (一刀斎) - coincidentally the same as that of Itō Kagehisa as seen above.

Furuoka Masaru, founder of Musō-ryū Iaigiri-dō, used the Bugō "Nitō-sai" (二刀斎) - another "-sai name", this time preceded with "two swords" instead of the Ittō-sai "one sword" meaning.

Bujinkan grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi has used different Bugō at different stages in his life (e.g. Byakuryū, Toratsugu, Tetsuzan, Hisamune),{{cite web |title=Los "Bugo" de Hatsumi Sôke |url=https://bushidojo.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/los-bugo-de-hatsumi-soke/ |website=Bushi Dojo Blog - Artes Marciales y más |access-date=25 July 2018 |language=es-ES |date=22 June 2012}} as did his teacher, Toshitsugu Takamatsu (e.g. Kikaku, Chōsui, Mōko no Tora).{{cite book |last1= Hatsumi |first1=Masaaki |title=Essence of Ninjutsu |date=1988 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education |isbn=9780809247240 |pages=9, 54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36zuAAAAMAAJ&q=martial+name |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Grandmasters |url=https://www.genbukan.eu/en/grandmasters/ |website=Genbukan Chiryaku Dojo |access-date=25 July 2018 |language=en}} Those training in this art are frequently awarded Bugō when they reach 5th dan (instructor) level. Many of the names include either the character 龍 (ryū, dragon) or 虎 (ko, tiger), both derived from past names of Hatsumi and Takamatsu (e.g. Unryū 雲龍 = Cloud Dragon,{{cite web |last1=González |first1=Pedro Fleitas |title=Bujinkan Unryū Dōjō |url= http://www.bujinkanpedrofleitas.com/bujinkandojo/bujinkanunryudojo/index.html |website= www.bujinkanpedrofleitas.com |access-date=25 July 2018}} Kiryū 輝龍 = Shining Dragon,{{cite web |last1=Esteve |first1=Alex |title=SOBRE EL NOMBRE DEL DOJO |url=https://cife.group/es/cejam#Item02 |website=cife.group |access-date=7 June 2019}} Hiryū 飛龍 = Flying Dragon,{{cite web |last1=Santantonio |first1=Giuseppe |title=ISHIZUKA TETSUJI |url= https://bujinkantarantodojo.wordpress.com/ishizuka-tetsuji/ |website=Bujinkantarantodojo's Blog |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=it-IT |date=13 January 2015}} Nanko = Southern Tiger).{{cite web |title=Instructor 師範 |url=http://bujinkantasmaniadojo.wixsite.com/bujinkan-tasmania/instructor |website=Bujinkan Tasmania Dojo |access-date=25 July 2018 |language=en}} The combination of the two, 龍虎 (Ryūko) was awarded to Major Joe Vaughan.{{cite web |title= About Bujinkan Ryuko Dojo |url=http://www.ryuko.co.uk/about.php |website=Bujinkan Ryuko Dojo |access-date=25 July 2018}} Most variants include animals (e.g. Shirokuma = Polar Bear,{{cite web |title=Shiro Kuma |url=https://kumablog.org/shiro%C2%A0kuma/ |first = Arnaud |last =Cousergue}} Taka Seigi = Hawk Justice,{{cite web |title=Phil Legare — Taka Seigi |url=http://takaseigi.com/about-us/phil-legare/ |website=Taka Seigi Dōjō |access-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930182624/http://takaseigi.com/about-us/phil-legare/ |archive-date=30 September 2018 |url-status=dead }} Isamu Koma 勇駒 = brave horse,{{cite web |title=Shihan Luca Lanaro |url= http://bujin.altervista.org/bujinkan_budo_tai_jutsu_ninjutsu_masaaki_hatsumi.php |website=bujin.altervista.org |access-date=7 June 2019}} Byakko 白狐 = White Fox,{{cite web |last1=Hvid |first1=René |title=The Budo of My Life |url=https://byattkodojo.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/byakko-shinden/ |website=Byakko Shinden |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=en |date=5 March 2011}} Ōzaru = Great Ape).{{cite web |title=Ben Jones: Ōzaru |url= http://www.ozaru.net/bujinkan/ozaru.html |website=www.ozaru.net |access-date=25 July 2018}}

Former students of Hatsumi similarly use martial names, e.g. Fumio "Unsui" Manaka,{{cite web |title=Jinenkan Honbu Dojo |url=http://www.jinenkan.com/ennew/manaka.html |website=www.jinenkan.com |access-date=25 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711142402/http://www.jinenkan.com/ennew/manaka.html |archive-date=11 July 2018 |url-status=dead }} Tsunehisa 'Shōtō' Tanemura.{{cite web |title=Grandmaster Shoto Tanemura |url=http://www.uminekodojo.com/shoto-tanemura/ |website=Genbukan Umineko Dōjō |access-date=25 July 2018}} Satō Kinbei, a rather controversial figure who claimed also to have studied under Takamatsu, used the Bugō (and "-sai name") "Jūshinsai" (柔心斎) and passed this to his daughter Chizuko, who became the "2nd generation Jūshinsai".{{cite web |last1=Satō |first1=Chizuko |title=jujutsu.com |url=http://www.jujutsu.com/jujutsu/html02/jujutsu-kenpou/n-2daime.htm |website=www.jujutsu.com |access-date=10 October 2018 |language=ja}} Kimura Masaji, another claiming to have studied under Takamatsu, used the Bugō "Masakatsu" (正勝).{{cite web |title=恩師紹介 |url=http://www.genbukan.com/index_shokai_kimura.html |website=www.genbukan.com |access-date=7 June 2019}}{{cite web |title=Kimura Masaji 木村正治 (student of Takamatsu Sensei) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyvP8n93WlQ |website=YouTube |access-date=7 June 2019 |date=26 March 2017}} Students of Stephen K. Hayes's To-Shin Do are awarded warrior names on promotion to 3rd Dan, e.g. Kevin "Keitoshi" Casey.{{cite web |title=New Titles and Backlist Highlights Fall 2013 |url=http://www.pguk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Tuttle-FALL-2013.pdf |publisher=Tuttle |access-date=7 June 2019 |page=68 |date=2013}}

The [http://international.tenshinryu.net/ Tenshin ryū] website lists five instructors with Bugō, each granted to them by previous masters.

Shiina Kazue, grandmaster of Hokushin Ittō-ryū, uses the Bugō "Naritane" (成胤). The character 胤 (-tane) is common to several generations of grandmaster in this school.

Hidemine Jibiki, president of the All Japan Soft-Style Martial Arts Federation uses the Bugō "Buhō" (武峰).{{cite web |title=中国柔挙演武大会 |url=http://taikyokuken.co.jp/news/img/2017enbu.pdf |access-date=25 July 2018 |language=ja}}

Nakajima Shōhitsu, grandmaster of Shinkage-ryū, used the Bugō "Shōun" (勝雲). Seven of the past eight in the lineage have used the character 勝 (meaning "to win") in their names.{{cite web |title=神影流武道場 - 道場紹介 |url=http://www.shinkageryu-budoujyo.com/intoro.html |website=www.shinkageryu-budoujyo.com |access-date=25 July 2018 |language=ja}}

In the Kidōkan Iaidō Dōjō in Osaka, new Dan grades are awarded Bugō such as 不聆庵

{{cite web |title=稽古日月抄－：[不聆庵」という武号 |url=http://yomenoukigumo.blog136.fc2.com/blog-entry-764.html |website=夢の浮雲 |publisher=真剣道・基道館 |access-date=7 June 2019 |language=ja}}

• Nom de guerre
• Shikona, ring names used by sumo wrestlers
• Yagō, pseudonyms used by Japanese actors or merchants
• Stage name (a.k.a. screen name)
• Pen name

{{Reflist}}

• [http://tenshinryuhyoho.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-1.html 「号」の文化について] - Japanese language article from Tenshin-ryū about the history of martial names
• [https://fudoan.at.webry.info/201204/article_8.html 和号と庵号と武号] - Japanese language article by Takeharu Bruce Nakadai (Bugō: Hekishū-sai 碧洲齋) from 不動庵 about the thought process behind giving martial names to students

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Category:Japanese martial arts terminology