Yagō

Yagō (屋号^?), literally meaning "house name", is a term applied in traditional Japanese culture to names passed down within a guild, studio, or other circumstance other than blood relations. The term is synonymous with iena (家名^?) and kadona (角名^?). The term most often refers to the guild names of kabuki actors, but is also applicable to the names artists take from their masters or studios, names taken from one's business, and a few other similar circumstances.

The ya (屋) of yagō, also often seen at the end of a yagō name, means "house", "roof", or "shop", and helps to illuminate the origins and meanings of the term. A number of yagō have associated mon emblems, some of which incorporate rebuses; see Japanese rebus monogram.

Originally, yagō were place names of homes or buildings taken on by the inhabitants. Even when the house changed hands entirely from one family to another, the new family would take on the name of the house. However, the previous owners would frequently keep the house name when they moved. Often, a family (or individual) would come to be better known by their yagō than by their actual family name.

Though it is not clear when the custom first emerged, it first appears in print in the chronicles of the Muromachi period. For many centuries, commoners in Japan did not have family names, and so yagō would often come about to describe people by their location, occupation, or by a store or business they owned. There are similarities in the origins and evolution of family names in other cultures around the world.

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