| Posthumous name | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 諡號/謚號 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 谥号 | ||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||
| Kanji | 諡号 | ||||||
| Hiragana | しごう | ||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||
| Hangul | 시호 | ||||||
| Hanja | 諡號 | ||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||
| Quốc ngữ | thụy hiệu | ||||||
| Hán tự | 諡號 | ||||||
A posthumous name is an honorary name given to royalty, nobles, and sometimes others, in East Asia after the person's death, and is used almost exclusively instead of one's personal name or other official titles during his life. The posthumous name is commonly used when naming royalty of China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.
Posthumous names in China and Vietnam were also given to honor lifetime accomplishments of many people who did not have hereditary titles, for example to successful courtiers.
In the Japanese tradition, an emperor is now regularly given a posthumous name that corresponds to the name of his reign. A non-royal deceased may be given a posthumous Buddhist name known as kaimyo, but is in practice still referred to by the living name.
A posthumous name should not be confused with the era name and temple name.
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Having their origins in the Zhou Dynasty, posthumous names were used 800 years earlier than temple names. The first person named posthumously was Ji Chang, named by his son Ji Fa of Zhou, as the "Civil King". Virtually all the rulers of the various states of the Zhou Dynasty are known only by their posthumous names, as the historical documents at the time strictly followed the rule. The use of posthumous names was stopped in the Qin Dynasty, because Qin Shi Huang proclaimed that it is disrespectful for the descendants, or "later emperors" to judge their elders, or the "prior emperors" (先帝). The practice was revived in the Han Dynasty after the demise of the Qin Empire. Posthumous names commonly made tracing linear genealogies more simplistic and kept a blood line apparent.
All Chinese posthumous names for rulers end in one or two of the characters for "emperor", Huángdì (皇帝, i.e. emperor), which can be shortened to Dì; except about a dozen or so less recognized ones who have had only Dì and no Huáng.
Starting with Emperor Xiaowen of Han China (more commonly "Emperor Wen"), every single Han emperor, except the first one of the Eastern Han Dynasty, has the character of "filial" (孝 xiào) at the beginning of his posthumous names. "Filial" is also used in the full posthumous names of virtually all emperors and empresses of the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties. For Qing emperors, 孝 xiào is placed in various position in the string of characters, while those Qing empresses who were given posthumous names, 孝 xiào is always initial.
The number of characters in posthumous names was increasing. The emperors of the Tang Dynasty have names in between seven to eighteen characters. Those in the Qing Dynasty have twenty-one characters. For instance, that of the Shunzhi Emperor was "The Emperor of Order who Observes the Heavenly Rituals with a Solemn Fate, Destined to Unify, Establishes with Extreme Talented Insights, Admires the Arts, Manifests the Might, with Great Virtue and Vast Achievement, Reaches Humanity, Purely Filial" (體天隆運定統建極英睿欽文顯武大德弘功至仁純孝章皇帝, Listen to pronunciation: tǐ tiān lóng yùn dìng tǒng jiàn jí yīng ruì qīn wén xiǎn wǔ dà dé hóng gōng zhì rén chún xiào zhāng huáng dì).
The woman with the longest posthumous name is Empress Cixi, who is "The Empress who is Admirably Filial, Initiates Kindness, with Blessed Health, Manifests Much Contentment, Solemn Sincerity, with Longevity, Provides Admiration Prosperously, Reveal Adoration, Prosperous with a Merry Heaven, with a Holy Appearance" (孝欽慈禧端佑康頤昭豫莊誠壽恭欽獻崇熙配天興聖顯皇后 xiào qīn cí xǐ duān yòu kāng yí zhāo yù zhuāng chéng shòu gōng qīn xiàn chóng xī pèi tiān xīng shèng xiǎn huáng hòu), or 孝欽顯皇后 for short.
Posthumous names can be praises (褒字) or deprecations (貶字). There are more praises than depreciations, so posthumous names are also commonly called respectful name (尊號 zūn hào) in Chinese. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian outlines extensively the rules behind choosing the names. Some of those guidelines:
However, most of these qualifications are subjective, repetitive, and highly stereotypical; hence the names are chosen somewhat arbitrarily. Such names are usually given by court historians, according to their good deeds or the bad ones.
To combine an emperor's temple name and posthumous name, place temple first. For example, the aforementioned Shunzhi Emperor would be 世祖章皇帝, which is the form most commonly seen in old documents. A fuller description of this naming convention for royalty appears in the Chinese sovereign entry.
According to the noble system since the Zhou Dynasty, the immediate family members of the Emperor were given the titles of Kings (or Princes), Dukes, Earls, etc., with or without actual control over a region of land. After their death, they would be referred to by the same title, with the posthumous name (usually one character) inserted in the middle. The characters used are mostly the same ones used for emperors, with the same denotations as described above. For example, the Prince Gong of the Qing Dynasty was posthumously named Loyal 忠, and thus is referred to as 恭忠親王; the Prince Chun was posthumous named Sagacious 賢, hence is referred 醇賢親王.
It was also common for persons with no hereditary titles, especially accomplished scholar-officials or ministers, to be given posthumous names by the imperial court. The characters used are mostly the same ones used for emperors, with the same denotations as described above. The length, however, was restricted to one or two characters. The posthumous name is sometimes rendered canonization in English, for the scholar-official to Confucianism is analogous to the saint in the Catholic Church, though the process is not nearly as long. See List of Posthumous Names for some examples.
Confucius has been given long posthumous names in almost every major dynasty. One of the most commonly used was Zhìshèngxiānshī 至聖先師.
Sometimes a person is given a posthumous name not by the court, but by his own family or disciples. Such names are private posthumous names (Sĩshì, 私諡). For example, Tao Qian was given Sishi Jìngjié 靖節.
The posthumous names of Japanese emperors are called teigō (帝号, lit. emperor names). In addition to the appellation Ten'nō (天皇, 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 the case for Emperor Jimmu and Emperor Antoku, for example. Others are given immediately after death, like that of Emperor Mommu.
Many have Chinese-style names, for example:
Some have Japanese-style names. For example:
Since the death of Emperor Meiji (明治天皇 Meiji Ten'nō) in 1912, the posthumous name of an emperor has always been the name of his era. For example, after his death Hirohito (by which he is usually called outside Japan) was formally renamed Emperor Shōwa (昭和天皇 Shōwa Ten'nō) after his era; Japanese now refer to him by only that name. Hirohito was his given name, but most Japanese never refer to their emperors by their given names, as it is considered disrespectful.
Koreans used posthumous name from the ancient Korean empire Gojoseon.
These are Korean styled posthumous name of the emperors of Gojoseon. Emperor Dangun (Hangul: 단군왕검; Hanja 檀君王儉) Emperor Buru (Hangul:부루 단군;Hanja:夫婁檀君) Emperor Heuldal(Hangul: 흘달; Hanja: 屹達) Emperor Gumul (Hangul: 구홀; Hanja: 丘勿) Emperor Goyeolga (Hangul:고열가;Hanja:古列加)