Day Five

I think finding name for my characters was probably one of the hardest thing to do. One reason is because Japanese names are not translated. Also, I had to do some thinking so that I may find a name that fits that character's personality, or what they do. As for the the original names in "The Blue Bird," I could not find why those specific names where chosen, because the folktale is not a very common one to where the names were given for that specific character. However, just by seeing the name, one could assume as to why that name was given. I don't recall the King and the step-mother having a name, however I will give them names in my story. There were only probably only four people that had had actual names and they were the Princess, the Prince, the step-sister, and the fairy godmother. The prince's friend was an important minor character but he was just known as the Enchanter, he didn't have an real name.

In my Japanese pastiche I've given each character a name according to the role that they play or their personality in my version of the story. The name of the princess will probably be Katsumi, which means "victorious beauty." I like this name, because it was her beauty that had caught the attention of the young samurai warrior. Her fated lover, the samurai, has the the name Nobuo, and it means "faithful man," because throughout the story he remains faithful to his love Katsumi. The emperor, Princess Katsumi's father, is named Osamu, which means "ruler." The step-mother and step-sister have more of a dark feeling to their name since they play the antagonist roles. The step-mother's name is Neikan, which means "treachous or wicked," while the step-sister's name Donyoku means "greed." The sorcerer in which the step-mother goes to find to cast a spell on the prince is called Mahou, which it translates to "magic." Back in the samurai society it was important to practice Shudo, which is like a love bond between a proper samurai and a novice samuari. This bond was also known as bido or "beautiful way," but this was an extremely strong devotion that the two had with each other. Samurai Nobuo's novice samurai would be named Tadashi, and it means "loyal" or "true." He is a loyal friend that will find Nobuo when the Emperess had cast him off as a blue heron.

So just to summarize everything and give myself a mental note of the names that I've chosen:
Princess – KATSUMI “victorious beauty”
Samurai – NOBUO “faithful man”
Step-sister – DONYOKU “greed”
Step-mother – NEIKAN “treacherous, wicked”
Emperor – OSAMU “ruler”
Shudo – TADASHI “loyal” or “true”
Sorcerer – MAHOU “magic”