Japan Uses House Names, Not Dynasties
This should work with any version of the game and is likely compatible with any mod, since it’s just a localization change. You can safely ignore version mismatch warnings if they pop up.
DISCLAIMER: On a new game and the character selection screen, Japanese rulers will still appear with their dynastic names. Once the game actually starts, they switch to their house names correctly.
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Tired of almost every Japanese noble being labeled Minamoto, Taira, or Fujiwara? Ever get confused about who the game is talking about during events? I made this mini-mod for myself to fix those problems, and figured I might as well upload it because why not.
While CK3’s default Japanese naming convention is grounded in some degree of reality, especially for the early start dates, the game does not reflect the major historical shift that occurred later. During the early and mid-Heian period (9th–11th centuries), many nobles did commonly use their prestigious uji names (Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara, etc.). However, from the late Heian period onward (late 11th–12th century), and especially after the rise of the Kamakura shogunate in 1185, Japanese warriors and nobles increasingly identified themselves by their house or clan names instead. The uji remained a genealogical lineage, but the practical names people used in documents, warfare, and politics became territorial or branch-family surnames- the myōji.
From the late Heian period and especially throughout the Kamakura/Sengoku period following, Japanese warriors and nobles were overwhelmingly identified by their house or clan names (Oda, Takeda, Ashikaga, Uesugi, Kiso, etc.), which reflected their actual family branches, territories, and political identity. For example, Oda Nobunaga did not refer to himself as “Taira Nobunaga,” even though he descended from the Taira uji. In most records, he’s simply “Oda Nobunaga,” and in some formal styles he appears as “Taira no Oda Nobunaga.”
This mod corrects CK3’s behavior by displaying House names instead of Dynasty names for Japanese cultures which matches historical usage more accurately… at least I think so. I could be talking out of my ass lol
