Anyone Japanese here or someone knowledgeable about medieval Japanese society?

[Inhuman One]

I'm working on fleshing out a character for a story and I want to make sure I get some details right.

The character is a traveling Ronin who left the country at the age of seventeen in the year 1389. The story takes place in 1400.

So in that time period, the character will have adapted and taken on other customs since he was quite young. Even while I dont plan to go too far into his backstory, I do want to do the culture justice.


For starters: His family name. I found his own name in a list of Japanese names and their meanings, but family name gets a bit more complicated.
Could I use one of the clan names shown in Shogun 2 total war and determine through that what part of Japan he would be from? Or would he need to be important within that clan to carry one of those names? He is not an important man after all. Just trained to be an obedient Samurai like his ancestors, in service of the same lord.
If it would be adviceable to not use the names of the clans there, could perhaps a reference be given to a list of family names of the time period that I could use?
Also, did all Japanese name their family name first and own name second, or was this only reserved to the family names that held power?

Where there any specific ways in how Japanese men courted women at the time?

How well could a Japanese Samurai maintain his own armor and weapons outside of Japan?

What kind of social behaviour was considered unaccepteable towards women? Things that may have been common elsewhere but unheard of in Japan?

I might have more questions later, but for now this is what I have on my mind.

[Stincky]

I'm working on fleshing out a character for a story and I want to make sure I get some details right.

The character is a traveling Ronin who left the country at the age of seventeen in the year 1389. The story takes place in 1400.

So in that time period, the character will have adapted and taken on other customs since he was quite young. Even while I dont plan to go too far into his backstory, I do want to do the culture justice.


For starters: His family name. I found his own name in a list of Japanese names and their meanings, but family name gets a bit more complicated.
Could I use one of the clan names shown in Shogun 2 total war and determine through that what part of Japan he would be from? Or would he need to be important within that clan to carry one of those names? He is not an important man after all. Just trained to be an obedient Samurai like his ancestors, in service of the same lord.
If it would be adviceable to not use the names of the clans there, could perhaps a reference be given to a list of family names of the time period that I could use?
Also, did all Japanese name their family name first and own name second, or was this only reserved to the family names that held power?

Where there any specific ways in how Japanese men courted women at the time?

How well could a Japanese Samurai maintain his own armor and weapons outside of Japan?

What kind of social behaviour was considered unaccepteable towards women? Things that may have been common elsewhere but unheard of in Japan?

I might have more questions later, but for now this is what I have on my mind.

What province did he come from and born in 1389? lots of districts per province in Japan were places where they settled generationally... Nitta district in Kozuke, Ashikaga no sho, Serada district are all in Kozuke....but they were all cadet branches of Minamoto...im no expert on ranking but there was a lot of butthurt concerning Nitta as Ashikaga was on the rise...they simply did nothing during Genpei and so were outranked by their younger brothers the Ashikaga...so tell me a province where this hails from and one can go from there

[Inhuman One]

Well As I said I don't know that yet. I don't really care particulary about which part of Japan he is from because the story does not take place in Japan. I am simply trying to provide him with a little background.

He left Japan in the year 1389 at at of seventeen, meaning he was born in 1372. I imagine that a solid reason for him to leave can be created in any region since it is likely better when he is not linked to major historic events since he is fictional.