Shadowings Part 12

There are several _yobina_ among them of which I cannot find the emblematical meaning. Generally speaking, the _yobina_ which signify precious substances, such as silver and gold, are aesthetic names; and those which signify common hard substances, such as stone, rock, iron, are intended to suggest firmness or strength of character. But the name "Rock" is also sometimes used as a symbol of the wish for long life, or long continuance of the family line. The curious name _Suna_ has nothing, however, to do with individual "grit": it is half-moral and half-aesthetic. Fine sand--especially colored sand--is much prized in this fairy-land of landscape-gardening, where it is used to cover s.p.a.ces that must always be kept spotless and beautiful, and never trodden,--except by the gardener.

MATERIAL NOUNS USED AS NAMES

_O-Gin_ "Silver."

_O-Ishi_ "Stone."

_O-Iwa_ "Rock."

_O-Kane_ "Bronze."

_O-Kaze_[63] "Air,"--perhaps Wind.

[63] I cannot find any explanation of this curious name.

_O-Kin_ "Gold."

_O-Ruri_[64]} "Emerald,"--emeraldine?

_Ruriko_ }

[64] The j.a.panese name does not give the same quality of aesthetic sensation as the name Esmeralda. The _ruri_ is not usually green, but blue; and the term "ruri-iro"

(emerald color) commonly signifies a dark violet.

_O-Ryu_ "Fine Metal."

_O-Sato_ "Sugar."

_O-Seki_ "Stone."

_O-Shiwo_ "Salt."

_O-Suna_ "Sand."

_O-Suzu_ "Tin."

_O-Tane_ "Seed."

_O-Tetsu_ "Iron."

The following five _yobina_ are aesthetic names,--although literally signifying things belonging to intellectual work. Four of them, at least, refer to calligraphy,--the matchless calligraphy of the Far East,--rather than to anything that we should call "_literary_ beauty."

LITERARY NAMES

_O-Bun_ "Composition."

_O-Fude_ "Writing-Brush."

_O-Fumi_ "Letter."

_O-Kaku_ "Writing."

_O-Uta_ "Poem."

Names relating to number are very common, but also very interesting.

They may be loosely divided into two sub-cla.s.ses,--names indicating the order or the time of birth, and names of felicitation. Such _yobina_ as _Ichi_, _San_, _Roku_, _Hachi_ usually refer to the order of birth; but sometimes they record the date of birth. For example, I know a person called O-Roku, who received this name, not because she was the sixth child born in the family, but because she entered this world upon the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth Meiji. It will be observed that the numbers Two, Five, and Nine are not represented in the list: the mere idea of such names as _O-Ni_, _O-Go_, or _O-Ku_ seems to a j.a.panese absurd. I do not know exactly why,--unless it be that they suggest unpleasant puns. The place of _O-Ni_ is well supplied, however, by the name _O-Tsugi_ ("Next"), which will be found in a subsequent list. Names signifying numbers ranging from eighty to a thousand, and upward, are names of felicitation. They express the wish that the bearer may live to a prodigious age, or that her posterity may flourish through the centuries.

NUMERALS AND WORDS RELATING TO NUMBER

_O-Ichi_ "One."

_O-San_ "Three."

_O-Mitsu_ "Three."

_O-Yotsu_ "Four."

_O-Roku_ "Six."

_O-Shichi_ "Seven."

_O-Hachi_ "Eight."

_O-Ju_ "Ten."

_O-Iso_ "Fifty."[65]

[65] Such a name may record the fact that the girl was a first-born child, and the father fifty years old at the time of her birth.

_O-Yaso_ "Eighty."

_O-Hyaku_ "Hundred."[66]

[66] The "O" before this trisyllable seems contrary to rule; but _Hyaku_ is p.r.o.nounced almost like a dissyllable.

_O-Yao_ "Eight Hundred."

_O-Sen_ "Thousand."

_O-Michi_ "Three Thousand."

_O-Man_ "Ten Thousand."

_O-Chiyo_ "Thousand Generations."

_Yachiyo_ "Eight Thousand Generations."

_O-Shige_ "Two-fold."

_O-Yae_ "Eight-fold."

_O-Kazu_ "Great Number."

_O-Mina_ "All."

_O-Han_ "Half."[67]

[67] "Better half?"--the reader may query. But I believe that this name originated in the old custom of taking a single character of the father's name--sometimes also a character of the mother's name--to compose the child's name with. Perhaps in this case the name of the girl's father was HANyemon, or HANbei.

_O-Iku_ "How Many?" (?)

OTHER NAMES RELATING TO ORDER OF BIRTH

_O-Hatsu_ "Beginning,"--first-born.

_O-Tsugi_ "Next,"--the second.

_O-Naka_ "Midmost."

_O-Tome_ "Stop,"--cease.

_O-Sue_ "Last."

Some few of the next group of names are probably aesthetic. But such names are sometimes given only in reference to the time or season of birth; and the reason for any particular _yobina_ of this cla.s.s is difficult to decide without personal inquiry.

NAMES RELATING TO TIME AND SEASON

_O-Haru_ "Spring."

_O-Natsu_ "Summer."

_O-Aki_ "Autumn."

_O-Fuyu_ "Winter."

_O-Asa_ "Morning."

_O-Cho_ "Dawn."