The Northern Dynasties Epitaph Name Index

The epigraph in ancient China had rising tides of prosperity during the Northern Wei Dynasty.The epigraph replaced gravestone and was widely used in tombs ceremony at that time;Its pattern was gradually formed and its quantity was rising.According to statistics,there are more than 1400 epigraphs found so far.The epigraph records the Northern Wei Dynasty's economy,policy,culture and social circumstances,which is significant in academic field.Due to the majority of excavated documents were reserved in a good condition,characters were clearly seen and new materials were appearing continually,historians pay more attention on the epigraph.All previous dynasties scholars sort out the reference materials from different perspectives,from which it mainly contains the description chart,epitaph,complex of record and epitaph,the contents retrieval of epitaph with its historical research.The direction of research is comprehensive with large amounts of books so that it is inconvenience to find the relevant characters,which is valuable to make up the name index during the Northern Wei Dynasty.The preface of this essay analyzed some relevant questions about name index.That concludes the interpretation of concept,the researching value of epigraph,the research status in index of names,and the writing method with innovation and significance.The body part focus on the name index,a Japanese scholar Yitengminxiong compile name and place index of Northern Southern Dynasties that based on the partial name index.This paper merge together the former achievements and also collect other materials as complimentary names index while drawing up a more comprehensive index of names.The paper on the basis of strokes order with totally three sections,that is,names and what are subordinate to the epigraphs and some specific information refer to books and articles.At the end of the paper attach the catalog of name index and the epigraph books that made up by Japanese scholar as a complementary part to it.