by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Traditionally, the Japanese consider it disrespectful to call any person by his or her given name. Even among friends, the use of the surname is the common form of address. In Japanese, the surname comes before the given name.

Japanese uses honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people. These honorifics are gender-neutral and can be attached to first names as well as surnames.

• San is a title of respect added to a name. It can be used with both male and female names and with either surnames or given names. It can also be attached to the name of occupations and titles.
• Kun is used to address men who are younger or the same age as the speaker. A male might address female inferiors by kun usually in schools or companies. It can be attached to both surnames and given names. It is less polite than san. It is not used between women or when addressing one’s superiors.
• Chan is often attached to children’s names when calling them by their given names. It may also be used for babies, young children, and teenage girls, lovers, close friends, or young women.
• Sama is a more respectful version of san. It is used mainly to refer to people much higher in rank than oneself, toward one’s customers, and sometimes toward people one greatly admires.
• Shi is used in formal writing, and sometimes in very formal speech, for referring to a person who is unfamiliar to the speaker, typically a person known through publications whom the speaker has never actually met.
• Sensei is used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, politicians, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill and is also applied to novelists, poets, painters, and other artists.
• Senpai is used to address or refer to one’s senior colleagues in a school, company, sports club, or other groups.

In the case of the Imperial Family, it is considered extremely inappropriate to use the given name. The reigning Emperor is always referred to as “The Emperor”. There are two Japanese words equivalent to the English word “Emperor”:

• Tennō “heavenly sovereign” which is used exclusively to refer to the Emperor of Japan
• Kōtei the title used for all other foreign Emperors

Since the modern era, the reign of Emperor Meiji 1867 – 1912, a deceased Emperor is referred to by his posthumous name, which is the name of the era coinciding with the Emperor’s reign. Emperor Meiji was born Prince Mutsuhito but having ruled during the Meiji Era, he is posthumously known as “the Meiji Emperor” or simply “Emperor Meiji”. His personal name, which was not used in any formal or official context, except for his signature, was Mutsuhito. Deceased Empresses are also given a posthumous name. After the death of Emperors and Empresses, their posthumous names are the only names that Japanese speakers use when referring to them.

Outside Japan, the Emperor who reigned 1926 – 1989 is usually called Hirohito in English, although he was never referred to as Hirohito in Japan. He was renamed Shōwa Tennō (the Showa Emperor) after his death, which is the only name that Japanese speakers currently use when referring to him.

The Emperor generally referred to as Akihito (reigned 1989 – 2019) was typically referred to as Tennō Heika “His Imperial Majesty the Emperor”, Kinjō Heika “His Current Majesty” or simply Tennō “Emperor” during his reign.  After his abdication, he was renamed Daijō Tennō “Emperor Emeritus” which can be shortened to Jōkō. Upon his death, he will be renamed Heisei Tennō “the Heisei Emperor” and will then be referred to exclusively by that name in Japanese. In Japanese culture, it is considered a major error to refer to a living Emperor by his posthumous name, although the posthumous name is the same as the era, which is used in official documents.

The Imperial Family has no surname but uses childhood appellations called no-miya, granted by the Emperor, and used in childhood. Each person born into the Imperial Family is also given a personal name. Some examples are found in the table below.

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