#i hadn't gone down such a rabbit hole of research since two years ago when i tried to figure out goemon's kamon

[morporkian-cryptid]

The fandom : What is Lupin’s first name? What a mystery, we may never know.

Me, neck deep in research about the naming conventions of samurais in the Edo era: Forget about Lupin, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOEMON’S NAME??? .

There’s a very strong chance that Goemon Ishikawa XIII is an alias.

I know that Goemon is probably the least mysterious character in the whole franchise, and the one we have the most lore about, and I’m overanalysing, BUT I’m a nerd with a special interest on medieval Japan and too much time on my hands, and I’m about to make this everyone else’s problem.

(Disclaimer: I am in no way an expert on Japanese history, this is the result of a few days of Internet research; all my sources are listed at the bottom. Please don’t hesitate to correct me if I made mistakes!)

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The first thing that tipped me off was the way the number is written in Goemon’s name.

Let’s look at his complete name in Japanese: 十三代目 石川 五ェ門 (Jūsan-daime Ishikawa Goemon)

Jūsan means “thirteen”. Notice how the number is the front, and followed by the suffix -daime; in contrast with ルパン三世 (Rupan Sansei) who has the number at the end and followed by the suffix -sei.

I’ve already mentioned it here (x): -sei is a counter for generations, while -daime is a counter for positions or titles. So basically, Lupin Sansei would translate to “Lupin, third of his name” while Jusan-daime Ishikawa Goemon would translate to “the thirteenth person to hold the title of Goemon Ishikawa”.

The “Number-daime Name” pattern is famously used by kabuki actors. Names are passed on along lines of actors, who are not necessarily related. Actors formally change their names during a ceremony called Shūmei.

So, just judging by the shape of his name, it’s likely that Goemon acquired this name later in life, and wasn’t born with it.

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On top of that, you’ve got Edo era samurai naming conventions, and oooooh boi does this complicate things! :D

Goemon is basically a walking-talking-anachronism, if he could live in the Edo era he would, and barring that, he does his best to live in the 21st century pretending it’s Edo-era Japan. (see Part 1 episode 5: “I’m not weird, it’s every other Japanese person who’s weird.”) His name is also the same as all his ancestors, most of whom lived in the Edo era. So it’s not a stretch to assume that his name follows the customs of that time. And in the Edo era, names were a MESS.

(Please note that the following information is an attempt to coherently describe a custom that evolved without strict rules. Also, the naming conventions described below apply mostly to nobles and the samurai class, not to commoners.)

First off, Edo-era samurais typically had 4 parts in their names.

Two surnames:

Myōji: household (or ie) name, chosen by the family, often named after a local landmark.

Ujina: clan (or uji) name, given by the emperor, refers to the larger clan that the household branches off from.

Two “first” names:

Jitsumei: “true” first name, which typically remains private: only your family, close friends and your lord can call you by your jitsumei, and if anyone else does it, it’s super rude. Most people don’t even know your jitsumei.

Tsūshō: public first name, kind of a formal nickname.

And then you have the

Childhood name: that’s the first name you’re actually born with, but when boys come of age, they stop using it, and instead receive a jitsumei and a tsūshō. Boys’ childhood names often end with -maru. (Apparently this doesn’t apply to women, who kept the same name throughout their lives.)

Then it gets even more complicated. An uji (a clan) usually contains multiple ie (households). When an ie grows big enough, it splits into multiple smaller ie. A person can use the name of any of the ie along the family tree as their own surname, sometimes using multiple names depending on the situation and who they’re trying to impress.

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In Goemon’s case, this is what his name probably looks like:

Myōji (household family name) : Ishikawa

Ujina (formal clan title) : Minamoto (the Ishikawa ie (household) branches off from the Seiwa Genji ie, which itself is part of the Minamoto uji (clan) )

Jitsumei (true first name) : ???

Tsūshō (public first name) : Goemon

So, not only is Goemon not his birth name (that would be his childhood name, which he does not use anymore), but it’s also not his “true” name, more of a formal nickname that people are allowed to call him.

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You thought this was already a mess? Don’t worry, it gets worse!! :D

Not only did samurais change their names when coming of age, they could also change it multiple times in their lives, for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to:

to signify that they had attained a higher social status

to demonstrate their allegiance to a house or clan

to show that they had succeeded to the headship of a family or company

to shed bad luck that was attached to an inauspicious name

to avoid being mistaken for a neighbour with a similar name

The third option (succession to the headship of a family) could totally apply to Goemon. So if that’s the case, that means he would have been born with a childhood name (unknown), then changed it to an adult name (unknown), then changed it again to a new name (Goemon) signifying his position as the head of the Ishikawa household.

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Btw, we don’t know if all of his ancestors were named Goemon, but we know that at least a few were:

In Part 6 ep. 5 and 6 “The Imperial City Dreams Of Thieves”, Goemon the Thirteenth assumes the identity of his grandfather and still uses the name Goemon Ishikawa

In Part 2 ep. 24 “Rats To You”, Goemon Ishikawa the Tenth and Goemon Ishikawa the Eleventh are mentioned

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So, in conclusion: what the hell is Goemon Ishikawa XIII’s actual name? Fuck if I know, but it sure as hell isn’t Goemon.

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PS: Regardless of what his birth name is, I think we can safely assume that he is really descended from the OG Goemon Ishikawa. Even though name succession in Japan (or at least in kabuki and other performance arts) doesn’t require a blood relation, Goemon did state multiple times that Goemon Ishikawa the First was his ancestor. It is possible that he or other ancestors were adopted into the family, as adoptions were frequent in the Edo era; but during that period, an adopted child had the exact same status as a genetic child, and was considered a part of the family just like everyone else. So, even if he’s not genetically descended from the OG Goemon, he’s still legally descended from him.

PPS: slightly off topic, but I couldn’t resist mentioning additional bits of trivia:

The kanji in the name Ishikawa mean “river of stones”. It’s the 19th most common surname in Japan. It’s also the name of a region, which the family is likely named after.

The historical Goemon Ishikawa’s name is written 石川 五右衛門 (last name - first name), while in the anime both he and Goemon Ishikawa the Thirteenth’s names are written 石川 五ェ門 (last name - first name). The third kanji of the first name differs ( 衛 in the historical spelling, ェ in the anime).

Wikipedia says that the historical Goemon Ishikawa probably used that name as an alias. Wikipedia gives “Kuronashin Sanada” as a possible “real” name. Interestingly, the Sanada ie and the Ishikawa ie both branch off from the larger Seiwa Genji ie and the Minamoto uji.

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Sources (if you want more info about the wonderful world of Japanese names throughout history):

Tofugu – A long history of Japanese names

Wikipedia – Shūmei (Japanese page, translated with Deepl)

Wikipedia – Japanese names : Historical names

Linfamy on Youtube – Why are samurai names so long?

Linfamy on Youtube – Why did samurais keep changing and reusing names?

Wiktionary - 世 (-sei) - see “Japanese”

Jisho - 世 (-sei) - see “Counter”

Jisho - 代目(-daime) - see “Counter”

Huge thanks to my sister @aime-aine , who helped me research all of this, used her knowledge of Japanese to help me read Wikipedia pages in their original languages, provided me with several of the above articles, and listened to me infodump about samurai naming conventions in medieval Japan for a whole evening. Aime, I love you so so much <3

#the hobbit rambles #the hobbit's headcanons #lupin iii #goemon ishikawa #japan #medieval japan #i hadn't gone down such a rabbit hole of research since two years ago when i tried to figure out goemon's kamon #i had missed it #this was so much fun! #special interest go brrrrrr #elliott's nerd corner #tbh could also be tagged as #elliott's japan trivia corner