also: うえざま · かみさま
noun
Historical honorific for the emperor or shogun; used in pre-modern contexts.
江戸時代、上様は将軍を指す敬称だった。
In the Edo period, 上様 was an honorific title for the shogun.
noun
honored person
General honorific for a person of high status; now rare and mostly historical.
かつては、目上の人を上様と呼ぶことがあった。
In the past, people sometimes called their superiors 上様.
noun
Only with reading かみさま
Polite, old-fashioned term for someone else's wife; reading restricted to かみさま.
「お宅の上様はお元気ですか」は、今ではあまり使われない丁寧な言い方だ。
'Is your wife well?' is a polite expression that is rarely used nowadays.
Compound of 上 (うえ, 'above') + 様 (さま, honorific suffix). The reading かみさま uses the older かみ reading for 上.