Sengoku Warlords Flood the Trending List: Does a New Name Change Your Fate?

Scrolling Japan’s trending list last week, I saw three Sengoku figures on the same day’s list: Niwa Nagahide, Oda Nobukatsu, Toyotomi Hidetsugu. NHK’s sixty-fifth taiga drama, Toyotomi Kyodai!, is on air; its protagonist is Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s younger brother Hidenaga, and all three of these men are important characters in it.

Looking at their records, I found something more arresting than the plot: none of the three had only one name.

Toyotomi Hidetsugu: renamed upwards, until the line broke

Hidetsugu’s record of renamings reads like a job history:

Maru (childhood name) → Jihei → Miyabe Yoshitsugu → Miyoshi Nobuyoshi → Hashiba Nobuyoshi → Hashiba Hidetsugu → Toyotomi Hidetsugu

Each change marks a change of employer or of rank. Sent as a small child to be adopted into the Miyabe family, he took the name Miyabe Yoshitsugu; later he moved to the Miyoshi, becoming Miyoshi Nobuyoshi; when his uncle Hideyoshi rose, he was brought back and granted the surname Hashiba; in 1585, when Hideyoshi was granted the surname Toyotomi, he took that as well.

Each name was more expensive than the last. In 1591 Hideyoshi’s brother Hidenaga died and his own heir Tsurumatsu also died young, so Hideyoshi made the adult Hidetsugu his successor as kampaku, and in December that year Hidetsugu formally received the title. That was the peak of the renaming road.

Four years later everything reversed. On the fifteenth day of the seventh month of Bunroku 4 (1595), Hidetsugu was ordered to take his own life. He was 28. From kampaku to death took four years.

Oda Nobukatsu: renaming all the way into the priesthood, and living past seventy

Nobukatsu, Nobunaga’s second son, went the opposite way. His childhood name was Chasenmaru; he was adopted into the Kitabatake family, inherited it, and took the name Kitabatake Nobuoki. Later stripped of his lands and exiled to the Kanto, he entered the priesthood under the name Jōshin; he was restored in 1592 and lived until the seventh year of Kanei (1630).

One man rose with every rename and died at 28; the other renamed himself all the way to a Buddhist name and lived past seventy. If names really worked, how would these two lines be explained?

Niwa Nagahide: better known by his nicknames

Niwa Nagahide (1535–1585), on the same day’s list, was one of the four great Oda generals, married Nobunaga’s adopted daughter, and served as the construction magistrate in charge of building Azuchi Castle. His renaming record has a single entry: childhood name Manchiyo, later Nagahide, also known as Korezumi Nagahide. What the folk memory kept were two nicknames: “Kome Goroza” and “Oni Goroza” — one for being as indispensable as rice, the other for showing no mercy in battle.

Names and fate, as the people of the time saw it

In China the idea that a name changes fortune is old, but what people really cared about was not how a character sounded. It was avoidance: of naming taboos, of misfortune, of ill omens — characters in an emperor’s name had to be changed by everyone, and when a family ran into trouble they changed a character to change the mood. But what changed was a character, not what happened afterwards.

Looking at these three, my conclusion is rather plain: the rename is the effect, not the cause. A name changed because circumstances changed — adoption, a granted surname, demotion, pardon. Reading the change of circumstances as the achievement of a name is an error made by looking backwards from the ending.

Still, there is nothing ridiculous about a person attaching something graspable to an event that has not happened yet. You almost certainly know someone who renamed their social account and “felt like a different state of mind”. If you are at a hinge of your own — a job change, a marriage, a move to another city — and want to see it more clearly, write the question concretely on 占卜迷指, take the corresponding chart and reading through the real flow, and export it to keep, then read it again after the dust settles.

Disclaimer: This article covers traditional culture and folklore and is intended for entertainment and self-reflection only. It is not medical, psychological, investment, legal or marriage advice. Do not submit ID numbers, detailed addresses or other sensitive personal information. If you experience persistent insomnia, anxiety or physical discomfort, please see a doctor or a qualified professional.

Sources

• Japanese Wikipedia, “Toyotomi Hidetsugu” (renaming history, 1568–1595, appointment as kampaku in 1591): https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E6%AC%A1
• Japanese Wikipedia, “Oda Nobukatsu” (childhood name Chasenmaru, adoption by the Kitabatake, priestly name Jōshin, death in Kanei 7): https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E4%BF%A1%E9%9B%84
• Chinese Wikipedia, “Niwa Nagahide” (16 October 1535 – 15 May 1585; childhood name Manchiyo; also known as Korezumi Nagahide): https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%B9%E7%BE%BD%E9%95%BF%E7%A7%80
• NHK taiga drama “Toyotomi Kyodai!” official page (65th series, protagonist Toyotomi Hidenaga): https://www.nhk.jp/g/ts/P52L88MYXY
• ORICON NEWS, “Yamada Ryosuke makes his taiga debut as Toyotomi Hidetsugu”: https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2468585/