1.
shop name, trade name, house name
A traditional name used for a shop, business, or household. In rural Japan, households were often known by their yagou rather than the family surname.
老舗の屋号を受け継ぐ。
Inherit the trade name of a long-established shop.
この地域では今でも屋号で呼び合う習慣がある。
In this area, people still have the custom of calling each other by house names.
何代にもわたって同じ屋号で商売を続けている店も少なくない。
There are quite a few shops that have continued business under the same trade name for many generations.
2.
stage family name (kabuki)
The hereditary guild name of a kabuki actor's family, called out by the audience during performances as a form of encouragement.
歌舞伎の屋号を叫ぶ。
Call out a kabuki stage family name.
客席から「成田屋！」と屋号が飛んだ。
"Naritaya!" — the stage name rang out from the audience.
歌舞伎役者の屋号は家ごとに決まっており、代々受け継がれている。
Kabuki actors' stage family names are fixed for each house and passed down through generations.
CULTURE:
In the kabuki world, well-known 屋号 include 成田屋 (Ichikawa family), 音羽屋 (Onoe family), and 中村屋 (Nakamura family). Audience members shout out the actor's 屋号 at dramatic moments as a form of praise, a practice called 大向こうをうならせる.
In rural communities, 屋号 served as informal house names that distinguished families more effectively than surnames, since many households in a village shared the same family name.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 屋号を名乗る: to use a trade name
- 屋号を継ぐ: to inherit a trade/stage name