also: とうめい · からな
Chinese-style name for a high government office (ritsuryō period)
Historical term referring to the practice of using Chinese-derived names for Japanese court offices during the ritsuryō period. Primarily encountered in historical texts.
Only with reading からな
Archaic usage, restricted to the reading からな. Refers to an assumed name or alias, similar to 偽名 or 別名 in modern Japanese.
Under the ritsuryō system, the Grand Minister was called 'Shōkoku' by its Chinese-style name.
In old documents, the author sometimes uses a pseudonym.
Standard kanji spelling for the historical term; reading とうみょう is the most common for this meaning.
Alternate reading for the historical term; less common than とうみょう.
Archaic reading used only for the 'alias/pseudonym' sense.
Compound of 唐 (Tang, referring to China) and 名 (name). The historical sense derives from the adoption of Chinese-style titles for Japanese offices. The archaic 'alias' sense is a semantic extension, but the exact derivation is uncertain.