Chapter 4: Uncultivated Flatland
The Japanese Medieval Period experienced a total of three samurai governments: the Kamakura Shogunate （1185-1333）, the Muromachi Shogunate （1336-1573）, and the Edo Shogunate （1603-1867）.
Each transition between governments was marked by widespread turmoil across Japan, with bodies littering the fields and blood flowing like rivers, resulting in a great many deaths. Historically, these periods are commonly referred to as “Turbulent Times.”
Now, Yuan Ye seemed to have transmigrated into these Turbulent Times. He frowned for a moment, desperately trying to recall his limited knowledge of Japanese history.
In the late Kamakura Shogunate, conflicts intensified between the ruling Hojo clan and the Japanese Emperor, as well as local samurai factions. Under the Emperor’s call, these samurai factions rose up to serve the throne, engaged in a major war, and after a great many deaths, overthrew the rule of the Kamakura Shogunate.
Subsequently, the samurai faction leader Ashikaga Takauji established a new shogunate in Kyoto’s Muromachi district in 1336 AD, assuming the title of Great General of the Pacification of the East. He then began warring with the court nobles and samurai centered around Emperor Go-Daigo, forming the Nanboku-cho period of Japan, a standoff between the Northern Kyoto court and the Southern Yoshino court.
It wasn’t until 1392 AD that the third shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, finally ended the Nanboku-cho standoff, and Japan was nominally unified.
However, under the prolonged confrontation of the Nanboku-cho period, low-intensity warfare continued unabated. The authority of the Japanese Emperor was continuously weakened, and the shogun residing in Muromachi （the samurai leader） naturally became the de facto ruler of all Japan. He dispatched his relatives and meritorious vassals to serve as “Shugo” in various domains, wielding local administrative and military power, gradually marginalizing the Japanese Emperor.
As time passed, in 1467 AD, revolving around the succession issue of the Ashikaga shogun’s family, the core forces of the Ashikaga family, the “Three Regental Houses and Four Offices,” engaged in a fierce battle in the Kyoto region, historically known as the “Onin War.” In 1467 AD, Hosokawa’s forces, numbering 161,000, and Yamana’s forces, numbering 116,000 （including many irregulars, 《Onin Ki》 data, highly inflated）, engaged in a desperate struggle in Kyoto’s Onin, and the great turmoil spread throughout Japan.
The outcome of this great turmoil was a mutual destruction, with both sides perishing.
The shogun Ashikaga family and their core forces, including the Three Regental Houses of Hosokawa, Hatakeyama, and Shiba, and the Four Offices of Yamana, Isshiki, Akamatsu, and Kyogoku, declined one after another within ten years. The existing ruling system of the Muromachi Shogunate was on the verge of collapse, and the actual power of the “Shugo” in the provinces was usurped by “Shugodai” or local powerful families.
From this point on, Japan was effectively covered by numerous large and small separatist forces, who ignored the orders of the central government. Furthermore, these separatist forces engaged in bloody conflicts among themselves to vie for territory, population, and power.
This was likely the beginning of the Japanese Warring States period.
“Lord, are you… are you alright? Did I say something wrong?” Seeing Yuan Ye suddenly lose focus while speaking, not eating or talking, and frowning with a rather serious expression, Yayoi became a little nervous. She quickly reflected deeply but couldn’t find anything she had said wrong, so she could only ask in a slightly panicked, soft voice.
Yuan Ye snapped back to attention, gave her a gentle smile, and said perfunctorily, “It’s nothing, I just remembered some past events.”
“Yes,” Yayoi obediently lowered her head and replied softly, not daring to ask further.
“Please continue eating!” Yuan Ye transferred some of the untouched brown rice into her bowl. He couldn’t get used to brown rice, and the quality of the rice itself was poor, making it hard and difficult to chew.
Well, fast-growing rice was common in Japan at this time. It was planted during the plum rain season and harvested before the typhoon season arrived; otherwise, there was a high probability that all the hard work for most of the year would be in vain.
This was not an era for pursuing refined taste.
Yayoi became a little scared, suspecting Yuan Ye had some ill intentions. However, the person before her was of noble status and her father’s savior. Her mother had repeatedly warned her to serve him carefully and never to offend this noble person. She couldn’t just abandon her bowl and flee, so she could only mumble her thanks and resign herself to fate.
She was clearly overthinking it. Yuan Ye was not so depraved as to have impure thoughts about a ten-year-old girl who was clearly malnourished. If such a person existed, he would absolutely support shooting them with a close-in weapon system for ten minutes—at 160 yuan per shell, he would be willing to sponsor 100 shells, or even 200, with the bill charged to the Shanghainese, who were wealthy.
Yuan Ye was merely subconsciously expressing goodwill in a moment of unstable thoughts, wanting to elicit more information. After portioning out the brown rice, he asked, “I came from the west and am not familiar with the local area. Whose territory is Hibitsu Village?”
Yayoi had just brought the rice to her mouth when she heard him ask. She quickly put down her bowl and chopsticks and replied, “Reporting to you, Lord, it is the Aragiko Maeda Family.”
“The Aragiko Maeda Family?”
“Yes, Lord,” Yayoi replied respectfully. “Lord Maeda holds Aragiko Castle with a stipend of 2162 kan and 700 mon. Seven surrounding villages are under the jurisdiction of the Aragiko Maeda Family.”
Yuan Ye recalled for a moment. In the Japanese Warring States period, land was generally calculated using the “kan system,” and the “koku system” was not popular, which was different from games. So, does this mean the Aragiko Maeda Family could collect taxes equivalent to 2162 kan and 700 mon in agricultural products annually?
Of course, 2162 kan and 700 mon was likely a rough estimate, and it was very possible it was an estimate from a long time ago and not accurate. The actual income should be higher. Moreover, if the head of the family was particularly ruthless and imposed various excessive taxes, they could probably squeeze even more out of the farmers.
If this were converted to the “koku system,” 2162 kan, based on data from the game 《Taiko no Tatsujin 2》, would be roughly 2500 to 3000 koku?
Not very high, it couldn’t compare to the Daimyo who had hundreds of thousands of koku. It was probably a local powerful family?
However, the family name is Maeda…
Could it be the future “Kaga Hyakuman-goku” Maeda Toshiie?
The “dog” in “Monkey and Dog”?
Yuan Ye immediately pressed further, “What is this Lord Maeda’s full name?”
“It is Lord Maeda Kurando Toshiharu,” Yayoi actually knew. It was likely because he was her direct lord.
Yuan Ye fell into thought again. Maeda Kurando Toshiharu?
That’s right. At this time, Japanese people had tsūna. The name format was “Family Name + Tsūna + Given Name,” and further back, it was “Uji + Kabane + Family Name + Tsūna + Given Name.” This was unlike modern Japanese people who typically used the simplified “Myōji + Given Name.”
Among these, Uji indicated the origin of the bloodline, or derived from place names, such as Soga, Izumo, Nabari, Katsuragi; or from immigrants, such as Qin, Han, Song, Goguryeo, Sui, Han; or from occupations, such as Hattori, Nakatomi, Torikai; or granted by the Japanese Emperor, such as Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara, Tachibana.
Kabane was used to distinguish between high and low status, generally granted by the court. From the earliest ancient kabane, such as Mahito, Kimi, Ōmuraji, Sukune, Imiki, Michi no Shi, Omi, Muraji, and Inagi, it gradually evolved into the unified “Eight Kabane,” with status from highest to lowest: Mahito （exclusively for the Japanese Imperial Family）, Asomi, Sukune, Imiki, Michi no Shi, Omi, Muraji, and Inagi.
However, as the Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara, and Tachibana clans all held the kabane of Asomi, Kabane gradually lost its function in distinguishing status in Japan and was abolished. By the Muromachi period, except for ceremonial occasions like ancestor worship and divine rituals, no one used it in daily life.
Family Name usually originated from the location of the family residence.
During the Heian period, the Fujiwara clan, as regents, reached the peak of their power. From the imperial court to local officials, all came from the Fujiwara clan. At a glance, the nobles were all Fujiwara. If one called out “Lord Fujiwara” on the streets of Heian-kyō, at least twenty people would respond.
Therefore, to distinguish themselves from each other, they began to refer to each other by the location of their residences. For example, Ichijō meant the first street in Heian-kyō.
If the location of the residence changed, the appellation would also change. Furthermore, influenced by China, the marriage system of the Heian period shifted from “visiting wife marriage （husband and wife and children did not live together, husband regularly visited wife’s home for sexual intercourse）” to “taking wife marriage （husband established a residence and built a house to marry the wife, husband, wife, and children lived together）.” The appellations derived from residences between father and son naturally became the same, gradually evolving into “Family Name,” passed down through generations.
For example, for Maeda Kurando Toshiharu, in ancient Japanese, Maeda and Nitta had the same meaning. It is highly likely that his ancestors, for some reason, came to Owari Province, reclaimed a new paddy field, and built a settlement. They then joyfully named the area “Maeda,” and his family name naturally became “Maeda,” passed down through generations.
The fact that they still resided in Aragiko Castle and used Maeda as their family name now likely means that “Maeda Village （Castle）” was abandoned for some reason, and they moved without changing their family name.
As for the tsūna and given name, they were used for others to address them and for self-reference, similar to ancient China.
For example, Zhuge Kongming. His surname was Zhuge （the Ge clan moved to Zhucheng, hence the surname Zhuge）, his given name was Liang, and his courtesy name was Kongming. If you transmigrated to the Three Kingdoms period and directly called him “Zhuge Liang,” it would be extremely impolite. You should call him “Kongming” or “Lord Zhuge.” Only when he referred to himself would he use “Liang.”
The situation in the Japanese Medieval Period was similar. “Tsūna” was akin to the “courtesy name” in China, used for others to address them. It was usually derived from childhood names, official positions granted by the court, or Buddhist dharma names and Taoist titles, determined by age and status, and could be changed at any time. “Given Name” was simply the given name, used for self-reference.
Therefore, Maeda Kurando Toshiharu: Maeda is the family name, Kurando is the tsūna, and Toshiharu is the given name.
If you were to mention him, you would either call him “Lord Maeda” or “Lord Kurando,” similar to later generations’ “Mr. Zhao” or “Director Mr.”; or if the relationship was closer and more familiar, and you were his elder or of much higher status, you could directly call him by his childhood name, such as “Ranmaru” or “Inuchiyo,” similar to later generations’ “Little Egg” or “Doggy.” It would be absolutely unacceptable to say “Maeda Toshiharu,” which would be almost contemptuous and indicate clear hostility, likely leading to a sword fight.
As for Myōji, it evolved from Family Name in the early modern period of Japan. At this time, it had not yet been abbreviated to that extent.
Of course, there was another point: the phenomenon of “false names” was rampant in Japan at this time. Just looking at the tsūna, there could be eight Iga no Kami, six Higo no Kami, and over ten thousand Ni’emon, Sa’emon, Uemon, Hyōemon, and Emon no Suke simultaneously. After all, there were only so many official positions granted by the court, and it was unrealistic to distribute one to every samurai. At the same time, many people had vanity and feared being looked down upon by others, so they would pick an official position comparable to their current strength and attach it to themselves, or forcibly embellish their ancestors’ reputations and “inherit” it as their tsūna.
The same was true among the common people. Japanese commoners did not have the right or the means to possess family names. They generally made up names, and there were also many instances of false names.
For example, Jubei. This was clearly a false name. It was highly likely that after becoming a family retainer or follower, he felt he had some status and was no longer a common farmer （a tenant farmer with a certain degree of personal freedom）, so he made up a name himself. It was absolutely impossible for such a name to exist within the formal military structure of the Japanese court.
On the other hand, Jikuro was a more honest name. One could tell at a glance that this was “the ninth child born to Jirō,” which was quite in line with the traditional naming customs of Japanese rural areas during this era.
These were things Yuan Ye learned when he was a child watching 《The Tale of Ikkyū 》. He was curious why the big, foolishly strong samurai in it was called “Shin’emon,” a strange name, and why a young monk dared to kick the shogunate general into the water. He looked up information and only then understood—Shin’emon was a tsūna, used for others to address him. His full name was Kinugawa Shin’emon Chikatō. As for the young monk Ikkyū, he was the biological son of the Japanese Emperor. Due to the Nanboku-cho conflict, he was forced to become a monk from a young age to prevent him from being supported by the Southern Court to claim the throne. Therefore, he could safely kick Ashikaga Shogun without fear of being beheaded.
From this, it can be seen that watching anime is useful. If he hadn’t been curious and looked it up back then, he probably wouldn’t even understand what the young girl Yayoi was saying now.
Yuan Ye felt a little more at ease. At least when interacting with other samurai in the future, there would be no problem with mutual address, and he wouldn’t accidentally “insult” someone and be inexplicably stabbed.
Seeing Yuan Ye start to ponder again and fall silent while asking questions, Yayoi felt that this Lord tended to get lost in thought. Hesitating, she cautiously inquired, “Lord, may I ask… what should you and that other Lord be called?”
She had wanted to ask for a long time and took this opportunity to do so.
Yuan Ye snapped back to attention, feeling that safety was the top priority in the current situation. Exposing his foreign identity could very likely lead to danger. After a slight pause, he smiled and said, “Our appellations? He is ill, you don’t need to worry about him. As for me… hmm… my name is Nohara Saburo Ieyoshi.
His hometown is located in the Central Plains, and the place name contains the character “Ye” (field). Therefore, his paternal uncle gave him a name containing “Ye.” Now, he would use it as his family name—Nohara. Moreover, using this family name could prevent him from being inadvertently categorized into other families. As far as he recalled, there were no families in the Japanese Warring States period that used “Nohara,” meaning “uncultivated flat land,” as their family name. This should avoid many troubles.
Saburo was because, counting his paternal uncle’s children, he was the third eldest, so he used this as his tsūna.
As for Ieyoshi… separated by thousands of miles and four or five hundred years, isn’t the family far away?
Therefore, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Safety first. During his stay in the Japanese Medieval Period, he planned to use this name.
