Did A Nun Become A Shōgun?

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Hōjō Masako may have been the most powerful woman in Japan, but oddly we don’t know her real name. Hiding the real names of high-status women had a long history in Japan. In the centuries prior, it would have been family name and then some reference to her father’s position. This is the naming convention used for 11th century Japan’s two most famous female authors: Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon.

For Hōjō Masako, we don’t even have a first name that was used in public during the time. Masako is the name that historians gave her. The “Masa” came from her father’s first name “Tokimasa.” The “ko” ending is a common modern ending used for girl’s names. (If you’re familiar with the recent Shogun series, you may recall that Blackthorne’s consort was called “Lady Fuji.” In the book and in the 1980 TV miniseries, she is called “Fujiko.” The new series changed her name as the -ko suffix is still anachronistic in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The heroine was known as Mariko, also with a “ko” suffix, but that name was too central to the book and could not be altered.)

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