| Art name | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 號 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 号 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | "mark" | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Vietnamese name | |||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet | tên hiệu | ||||||||
| Hán-Nôm | 𠸛號 | ||||||||
| Korean name | |||||||||
| Hangul | 호 | ||||||||
| Hanja | 號 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Japanese name | |||||||||
| Kana | ごう (modern usage) がう (historical usage) | ||||||||
| Kyūjitai | 號 | ||||||||
| Shinjitai | 号 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Anart name (pseudonym orpen name), also known by its native nameshào (inMandarin Chinese),gō (in Japanese),ho (in Korean), andtên hiệu (in Vietnamese), is a professional name used byartists, poets and writers in theSinosphere. The word and the concept originated inChina, where it was used as nicknames for the educated, then became popular in otherEast Asian countries (especially inJapan,Korea,Vietnam, and the formerKingdom of Ryukyu).
In some cases, artists adopted different pseudonyms at different stages of their career, usually to mark significant changes in their life. Extreme practitioners of this tendency wereTang Yin of theMing dynasty, who had more than tenhao,Hokusai of Japan, who in the period 1798 to 1806 alone used no fewer than six, andKim Jeong-hui of theJoseon Dynasty who had up to 503.[1]
In Chinese culture,Hao refers to honorific names made by oneself or given by others when one is in middle age. After one's gaining theHao, other persons may then call such a person by one'sHao even without such a person being presented[note 1].Hao usually is made by a person oneself, but sometimes is given by a high-ranked official or even is bestowed by the monarch.[2]
The use of this name as a nom de plume or artistic name, however, appears to have begun only during theSix Dynasties period, withTao Yuanming andGe Hong among the first literati to have given themselvesHao.[citation needed]
Art names came into vogue during theTang dynasty, during which time they could either be coined by the persons themselves, or given to them as a name by others. MostHao can be placed within a few categories:[citation needed]
By theSong dynasty, the majority of literati called each other by their art names, which in turn often changed; this situation continued up to the 20th century.
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Inearly modern Japan, awoodblock print artist's firstgō was usually given to them by the head of the school (a group of artists and apprentices, with a senior as master of the school) in which they initially studied; thisgō usually included one of the characters of the master'sgō. For example, one of Hokusai's earliest pseudonyms was Shunrō; his masterKatsukawa Shunshō having granted him the character 'shun' from his own name.
One can often trace the relationship among artists with this, especially in later years, when it seems to have been fairly (although not uniformly) systematic (particularly in theUtagawa school) that the first character of the pupil'sgō was the last of the master'sgō.
Thus, an artist namedToyoharu had a student namedToyohiro, who, in turn, had as a pupil the famous landscape artistHiroshige.
Another figure who studied under Toyoharu was the principal head of theUtagawa school,Toyokuni. Toyokuni had pupils namedKunisada andKuniyoshi. Kuniyoshi, in turn, had as a studentYoshitoshi, whose pupils included Toshikata.
In Korea, these names are calledho (Korean: 호;Hanja: 號). According to theEncyclopedia of Korean Culture, they arrived on the peninsula from China during theThree Kingdoms of Korea period (57 BC – 668 AD). They are now relatively uncommon, although some recent authors usepen names (필명;筆名;pilmyeong), which are seen as very similar to a subvariant ofho calledaho.[1]
People can either create their ownho or it can be given to them by others. Typically people select their ownho based on the meaning of the name. When other people give a person aho, it typically reflects their shared social context or relationship (parent to child, friend to friend, teacher to student, etc). Names can also be selected to avoidnaming taboos.[1]
While mostho are made of two characters, they can be of any length. For example, the poetKim Sang-ok had one that is ten characters long (칠수삼과처용지거주인;七須三瓜處容之居主人). A person can also have any number ofho; Kim exemplified this by having over twenty. According to theEncyclopedia of Korean Culture, he had the most art names of any modern Korean poet. An extreme example is that of the Joseon scholarKim Jeong-hui who, by the estimate of famous calligrapherOh Je-bong, had as many as 503. Some people changeho to reflect changes in their mood or situation.[1]
Someho are also exclusively written in the native Korean alphabet Hangul, without corresponding Chinese characters (Hanja). This too could be a symbolic choice. For example, the linguistLee Byeong-gi chose a pure Hangul name (가람;Garam) in part to reflect his sentiments as aKorean independence activist.[1]
When a person writes an explanation for theirho, the explanation is called ahobyeon (호변;號辨) orhogi (호기;號記). A number of texts that catalogue and categorize variousho exist, which are calledhobo (호보;號譜).[1]
Ho can be subdivided intoaho (아호;雅號) ordangho (당호;堂號).[1]
Aho are typical art names (pseudonyms for artists, writers, etc).[1]
Dangho refers to the name of the building where an intellectual lives. In other words, intellectuals could be referred to by their house's name (it was once common practice forKorean intellectuals to name their houses). For example, if someone's house was namedCh'unghyodang (충효당) and that person went to the park one day, one could use theirdangho as such: "Ch'unghyodang went to the park." This was sometimes convenient to distinguish between people with similar names. Whiledangho was typically reserved for the owner of the house, it could also be used to refer to other occupants. For example: "the eldest son of Ch'unghyodang".[3][1]
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In some schools, in particular the main Utagawa school,[citation needed] thegō of the most senior member was adopted when the master died and the chief pupil assumed his position. Perhaps as a sign of respect, artists might take thegō of a previous artist. This makes attribution difficult. The censors' seal helps determine a particular print's date. Style also is significant. For example, Kunisada, once he changed hisgō to Toyokuni, initiated the practice of signing prints with a signature in the elongated ovaltoshidama ('New Year's Jewel') seal of the Utagawa school, an unusualcartouche with the zig-zag in the upper right-hand corner. His successors continued this practice.
In modern scholarship on the subject, a Roman numeral identifies an artist in the sequence of artists using agō. Thus, Kunisada I is also known as Toyokuni III, since he was the third artist to use thatgō.