In the book, the main character is called “Masako” from the beginning till the end. However, during the period when Masako lived, this was not the case. The name “Masako” was given by the Imperial Palace when she was appointed to the Third rank minor. We do not know how she was called before she married Yoritomo. In order to avoid the confusion among the English-speaking readers from the world, however, the name “Masako” is used consistently throughout the book, not only by the narrator of the story but also by all the characters who appear in the book.

Actually, for most women in this era in Japan, their given names are unknown. We do not know whether they were given the first name at all. You may have noticed that many female characters have names with “-no-“. These are not proper given names and are more like nicknames. You can translate “A-no-B” in Japanese into “B of A” in English. For example, “Maki-no-kata” literally means something like “Wife of (from) the Maki family.” “Ike-no-zenni” literally means something like “Zen-nun of the pond.” We do not know the proper given name of Maki-no-kata. As for Ike-no-zenni, we do know that her proper given name was “Muneko,” but the nickname was adopted in the story as this nickname is much more commonly used to refer to her in all books and stories, including academic ones.