Posthumous name

A posthumous name (Traditional Chinese: ??/?? Simplified Chinese: ??; Pinyin: shì hào; Romaji Japanese: shig?/tsuig?; Revised Romanization of Korean: siho; Vietnamese: th?y hi?u) is a honorary name given to royalty in some cultures posthumously, that is, after the person's death. The posthumous name is commonly used when naming most Chinese royalty, most Korean royalty, almost all Vietnamese royalty and all the emperors of Japan, except the four most recent emperors, Akihito, Hirohito (the Sh?wa emperor), the Taish? emperor and the Meiji emperor. Posthumous names in China and Vietnam were given to honor lifetime accomplishment: many people who were not related to the emperor have posthumous names. An example is Sun Yat-Sen who is called Father of the Country (?? Guófù).

Japanese emperors

The posthumous names of Japanese emperors are called teig? (??, lit. emperor names). In addition to the appellation Tenn? (??, lit. heavenly sovereign, usually translated as Emperor) that is a part of all Japanese emperors' posthumous name, most consist of two Kanji characters, although a few consist of three. Some names are given several generations later—this is case for Emperor Jimmu and Emperor Antoku, for example. Others are given immediately after death, like that of Emperor Mommu.

Related Topics:
Kanji - Emperor Jimmu - Emperor Antoku - Emperor Mommu

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many have Chinese-style names, for example:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Emperor Jimmu (???? Jinmu Tenn?, lit. Divine Might)
• Emperor Nintoku (???? Nintoku Tenn?, lit. Humane Virtue)
• Emperor ?jin (???? ?jin Tenn?, lit. Answering the Gods)

Some have Japanese-style names. For example:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• those who were named after the place where the emperor was born, lived or frequented:
• Emperor Saga (???? Saga Tenn?), named after a palace (? in)
• Emperor Ichij? (???? Ichij? Tenn?), named after an official residence (? tei)
• Emperor K?my? (???? K?my? Tenn?), named after a temple
• Emperor Higashiyama (???? Higashiyama Tenn?), named after a hill
• those who were named after an emperor whose admirable characteristics resemble those of an earlier one by adding Go (?, lit. latter) as a prefix to the earlier emperor's name:
• Emperor Go-Ichij? (????? Go-Ichij? Tenn?)
• Emperor Go-Daigo (????? Go-Daigo Tenn?)
• those who were named by combining the characters from two previous emperors' names:
• Empress Gemmei (???? Genmei Tenn?) + Empress Gensh? (???? Gensh? Tenn?) = Empress Meish? (???? Meish? Tenn?)
• Empress Sh?toku (???? Sh?toku Tenn?) + Emperor K?nin (???? K?nin Tenn?) = Emperor Sh?k? (???? Sh?k? Tenn?)