Actors' names in Japan

[Wilson Gray]

Me, too. "What I tell you three times is true." (The foregoing is a
line that is a recurring motiv in an old, ASF cover story re a people
infected with Bismarck's disease, also known as "war fever," if anyone
else remembers it. The cover painting was of a computer that covered
the entire surface of a planet, a laughably silly concept, nowadays.
My antiquated eMac has about the same computing power as that
planet-covering machine.)

-Wilson

On 7/20/07, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Actors' names in Japan
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Actors' names in Japan
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >> For those expert in the traditions of assumed (i.e., stage) names of
> >> Japanese Kabuki actors (or other artists of various kinds), a few questions.
> >>
> >> I read, in Charles Isherwood's review in yesterday's New York Times
> >> of a Kabuki performance
> >> (http://theater2.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/theater/reviews/19kabu.html),
> >> the following sentences,  picture caption, and cast list:
> >>
> >> "Four centuries of theatrical history sit with disarming ease on the
> >> solid shoulders of Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII, the master Kabuki artist
> >> ... who is also the artistic director of the Heisei Nakamura-za
> >> company from Tokyo."
> >>
> >> "In 'Hokaibo,' the rollicking sex comedy from 1784 (!) [sic] ... Mr
> >> Kanzaburo is cutting up with an audience-seducing brio ... ."
> >>
> >> "Rolling his eyes at the high-pitched, slowly cadenced vocal delivery
> >> and liquid gestures of Nakamura Shichinosuke (one of Mr. Kanzaburo's
> >> sons), who plays the role of a princess, Mr Kanzaburo cracks, 'Why is
> >> she always so damn slow?'"
> >>
> >> And finally, a picture caption and the actors' credits list an
> >> additional 3 Nakamuras in the cast!  Each with a different 2nd name.
> >>
> >> 1)  In "Nakamura Kanzaburo", which is the equivalent of a sur- or
> >> family name -- Nakamura or Kanzaburo?  (Is the name in traditional or
> >> Western order?)
> >>
> >> 2)  In the index to a book, how would you expect that name to be
> >> indexed -- under N, under K, or under both?  (Related to this
> >> question is whether, where only one name is used in the book, you
> >> would expect to see it be Nakamura or Kanzaburo.)
> >>
> >> I have already consulted the following:  Library of Congress
> >> Authorities; Wikipedia (article on Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII); Chicago
> >> Manual of Style, chapter on indexing.  I am most interested in
> >> information supplementing those, and especially on any written works
> >> (in English) that might discuss the traditions of assumed names
> >> (actors, artists, etc.)
> >>
> >> (My own opinion is that Mr. Isherwood was incorrect in referring to
> >> Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII as Mr. Kanzaburo, since "Nakamura" should be
> >> treated as the equivalent of a surname.)
> >>
> >
> > While waiting for the savants, a very brief discussion is given here:
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name#Professional_names
> >
> > My own initial impression (from a position of relative ignorance) is
> > that "Nakamura" acts as a surname here: it looks like a surname (this
> > same "Nakamura" is the surname of something like 0.8% of Japan, I
> > think) and it has initial position like a surname. I suppose it would
> > be indexed under N but I myself would follow the style manual (or
> > maybe some authoritative librarians' cataloguing reference) if I
> > considered it important.
> >
> > I would think "Mr. Nakamura" would be expected in English, but since
> > there are multiple Nakamuras here, I suppose some disambiguation is
> > desirable ....
> >
> >
> >
> I concur here. Nakamura (most likely  $BCfB< (B middle village or  $BCgB< (B friend
> village) is the last name. The index should be on "N". BB
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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