Samurai name meaning: Uesugi Kenshin

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Samurai traditionally have several names. (learn more) They change their name to fit different situations and life stages. This was normal within the Samurai rank.

 

Uesugi Kenshin 上杉 謙信 was one of the most powerful samurai of the Sengoku period who fought with Oda Nobunaga 織田信長. While chiefly remembered for his prowess on the battlefield, Kenshin is also regarded as an extremely skillful administrator who fostered the growth of local industries and trade; his rule saw a marked rise in the standard of living of Echigo.

Kenshin is famed for his honourable conduct, his military expertise, a long-standing rivalry with Takeda Shingen 武田 信玄, his numerous campaigns to restore order in the Kanto region as the Kanto-Kanrei 関東管領, and his belief in the Buddhist god of war — Bishamonten 毘沙門天. In fact, many of his followers and others believed him to be the Avatar of Bishamonten, and called Kenshin god of war. His adopted child, Uesugi Kagekatsu 上杉景勝 was in the council of five elders, also known as Gotairō 五大老, which was formed in 1595 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉.

The transition of his famous names are as follows.

 

虎千代→長尾平三景虎→長尾弾正少弼景虎→上杉弾正少弼政虎→上杉弾正少弼輝虎→上杉不識庵謙信

 
 
 
 
 
 

⒈ 虎千代

 

Yōmyō 幼名, childhood name
                       虎   千代
reading: tora, chiyo
meaning: tiger, a thousand years

 

He was born in 1530, the year of the Tiger, as the forth boy of Nagao Tamekage 長尾 為景, a distinguished samurai in Echigo Province to support his lord Uesugi Sadazane 上杉 定実. His eldest brother Nagao Harukage 長尾 晴景 was timid and weak, and Tamekage wanted another sons to be strong. So Tamekage named his forth son Tora-chiyo 虎千代, meaning “The strong tiger boy”.

Torachiyo grew a big, intelligent and strong boy, quite different from his brother Harukage. He was too wild to embarrass Tamekage, so was sent to a temple near his castle called Rinsenji 林泉寺 when he was 7 years old.

 
 
 

⒉ 長尾 平三 景虎

 

Myōji 名字, family name
                        長    尾
reading:   naga, o
meaning: long, tail

Kemyō 仮名, pseudonym
                       平  三
reading:   hei, zō
meaning: flat and peace, third

Imina 諱, true name
                        景     虎
reading: kage, tora
meaning: bright, tiger

 

Torachiyo had a coming-of-age ceremony called Genpuku 元服 when he was 15 in 1543, and called himself Nagao Heizō Kagetora 長尾 平三 景虎. “Kage 景” of Kagetora is Tsūji 通字 or the traditional kanji character of the Nagao family.

Nagao family is a member of the Taira clan 平氏. So his pseudonym Heizō might imply he is a member of the Taira clan.

The origin of his family name “Nagao” is the Manor Nagao 長尾庄 near Kamakura. The name of Nagao might come from the geographical features that there is a long edge of a hill by the manor, which seemed a long tail.

 
 
 

3. 長尾 弾正少弼 平 景虎

 

Myōji 名字, family name
                        長    尾
reading:   naga, o
meaning: long, tail

Kemyō 仮名, pseudonym
                          弾正少弼
reading: danjyōshōhitsu
meaning: the vice chief guard officer of the palace

Uji 氏, clan name
                      平
reading: taira
meaning: flat and peace

Imina 諱, true name
                       景     虎
reading: kage, tora
meaning: bright, tiger

 

On Feburary 7, 1549, through the mediation of Sadazane, Harukage adopted Kagetora, then transferred the family headship to him and retired. Kagetora firstly dispatched a messenger to the emperor and the then Shogun that he succeeded the reigns of the family and requested a guarantee to its land ownership. After that, he continued his dedication to the expenses of the emperor’s coronation and building of the Imperial Palace. In order to pay respect to his long-time service, the emperor Gonara gave him the title called Danjyōshōhitsu 弾正少弼, the vice chief guard officer of the palace in 1552. From then, he used Danjyōshōhitsu in document as his pseudonym.

The name Taira Kagetora 平 景虎 was found in an Imperial order by the emperor Gonara in 1553 and in an optative sentence to Shinano-Sarashina-Hachiman-Gu (信濃更科八幡宮, nowadays Takemizuwake shrine 武水別神社) in 1557.

 
 
 

4. 上杉 弾正少弼 政虎

 

Myōji 名字, family name
                       上  杉
reading:   ue, sugi
meaning: upper, cedar

Kemyō 仮名, pseudonym
                          弾正少弼
reading: danjyōshōhitsu
meaning: the vice chief guard officer of the palace

Imina 諱, true name
                        政     虎
reading: masa, tora
meaning: correct by force, tiger

 

Kagetora succeeded to the family headship of Yamanouchi-Uesugi family 山内上杉家 and the post of Kanto-Kanrei 関東 管領, a shogunal deputy for the Kantō region, at Tsurugaoka-Hachiman-Gu 鶴岡八幡宮 on May 10, 1561. Also at the request of Uesugi Norimasa 上杉 憲政, he changed his name from Nagao Kagetora to Uesugi Masatora. Masa of Masatora is Masa of Norimasa, which shows Norimasa adopted Masatora as the heir of Uesugi family.

The Nagao family was a vassal of the Uesugi family, furthermore, the Uesugi family was the Fujiwara clan while that of Nagao family was the Taira clan. The circumstance to the inheritance to a family name of Uesugi by Kagetora who was a vassal with a different real name was that Uesugi Norimasa always desired to adopt a child to the Uesugi family but was refused from the Satake family who had adopted a child from the Uesugi family, then made a tough decision to have Kagetora succeed to the family name.

His pseudonym, Danjyōshōhitsu, was kept to use according to the traditional custom that Kanto-Kanrei calls himself the title as his pseudonym which was given before the inauguration.

 
 
 

5. 上杉 弾正少弼 輝虎

 

Myōji 名字, family name
                       上  杉
reading:   ue, sugi
meaning: upper, cedar

Kemyō 仮名, pseudonym
                          弾正少弼
reading: danjyōshōhitsu
meaning: the vice chief guard officer of the palace

Imina 諱, true name
                      輝     虎
reading: teru, tora
meaning: shine, tiger

 

Kenshin was granted the use of a character from the real name of shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru 足利 義輝 for a part of his name, and changed Masatora 政虎 to Terutora 輝虎 due to  his donation to the Muromachi shogunate 室町幕府.

 
 
 

6. 上杉 不識庵 謙信

 

Myōji 名字, family name
                       上  杉
reading:   ue, sugi
meaning: upper, cedar

Kemyō 仮名, pseudonym
                       不識   庵
reading: fushiki, an
meaning: attain spiritual enlightenment, hermitage

Hōgō 法号, buddhism name
                       謙  信
reading: ken, shin
meaning: modest, trust

 

Fushiki 不識 is the word by Bodhidharma in the conversation with the emperor Wu of Liang. Fushiki is directly translated to “un-know” but expresses the mind state to reach the truth and be spiritually awakened by casting aside personal feelings, the prejudice, the intelligence in book, etc.

Masatora continued to devote himself to the ascetic practices of Buddhism. One day he asked the meaning of Fushiki to his mentor Yakuō-Sōken 益翁宗謙, the eighth priest of Rinsenji. Since then he had practiced asceticism in a few months and understood the object completely. Then he called himself Fushikian Kenshin 不識庵 謙信. Fushikian is found in the message from Oda Nobunaga to Kenshin on November 20, 1572.

 

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