The wordJapan is anexonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. TheJapanese names for Japan areNihon (にほんⓘ) andNippon (にっぽんⓘ). They are both written in Japanese using thekanji日本.
Since the third century, Chinese called the people of theJapanese archipelago something like "ˀWâ" (倭), which can also mean "dwarf" or "submissive".[1]: 4–6 Japanese scribes found fault with itsoffensive connotation, and officially changed the characters they used to spell the native name for Japan,Yamato, replacing the倭 ("dwarf") character forWa with the homophone和 ("peaceful, harmonious").Wa和 was often combined with大 ("great") to form the name大和, which is read asYamato[2][3] (see alsoJukujikun for a discussion of this type of spelling where the kanji and pronunciations are not directly related). The earliest record of日本 appears in the ChineseOld Book of Tang, which notes the change in 703 when Japanese envoys requested that its name be changed. It is believed that the name change within Japan itself took place sometime between 665 and 703.[4] During theHeian period,大和 was gradually replaced by日本, which was first pronounced with thesound reading (on'yomi)Nippon and later asNifon, and then in modern usageNihon, reflecting shifts inphonology inEarly Modern Japanese.[1][failed verification] In 1076, Turkic scholarMahmud al-Kashgari in his bookDīwān Lughāt al-Turk mentioned this country as 'Jabarqa' (جَابَرْقَا).[5]Marco Polo called Japan 'Cipangu' around 1300, based on the Chinese enunciation of the name,[6] probably日本國; 'sun source country' (compare modernMin Nan pronunciationji̍t pún kok). In the 16th century inMalacca,Portuguese traders first heard fromIndonesian andMalay the namesJepang,Jipang, andJepun.[7] In 1577 it was first recorded in English, spelledGiapan.[7] At the end of the 16th century, Portuguesemissionaries came to coastal islands of Japan and created brief grammars and dictionaries ofMiddle Japanese for the purpose of trade. The 1603–1604 dictionaryVocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam has 2 entries:nifon[8] andiippon.[9] Since then many derived names of Japan appeared on early-modern European maps.
BothNippon andNihon literally mean "the sun's origin", that is, where the sun originates,[10] and are often translated as theLand of the Rising Sun. This nomenclature comes fromImperial correspondence with theChineseSui dynasty and refers to Japan's eastern position relative toChina. BeforeNihon came into official use, Japan was known asWa (倭) orWakoku (倭国).[11]Wa was a name early China used to refer to an ethnic group living inJapan around the time of theThree Kingdoms period.[citation needed]
Although the etymological origins of "Wa" remain uncertain, Chinese historical texts recorded an ancient people residing in the Japanese archipelago (perhaps Kyūshū), named something like *ˀWâ or *ˀWər倭. Carr (1992:9–10) surveys prevalent proposals for Wa's etymology ranging from feasible (transcribing Japanese first-person pronounswaga我が "my; our" andware我 "I; oneself; thou") to shameful (writing JapaneseWa as倭 implying "dwarf"), and summarizes interpretations for *ˀWâ "Japanese" into variations on two etymologies: "behaviorally 'submissive' or physically 'short'." The first "submissive; obedient" explanation began with the (121 CE)Shuowen Jiezi dictionary. It defines倭 asshùnmào順皃 "obedient/submissive/docile appearance", graphically explains the "person; human" radical亻 with awěi委 "bent" phonetic, and quotes the aboveShijing poem[clarification needed]. "Conceivably, when Chinese first met Japanese," Carr (1992:9) suggests "they transcribed Wa as *ˀWâ 'bent back' signifying 'compliant' bowing/obeisance. Bowing is noted in early historical references to Japan." Examples include "Respect is shown by squatting" (Hou Han Shu, tr. Tsunoda 1951:2), and "they either squat or kneel, with both hands on the ground. This is the way they show respect." (Wei Zhi, tr. Tsunoda 1951:13). Koji Nakayama interpretswēi逶 "winding" as "very far away" and euphemistically translatesWō倭 as "separated from the continent." The second etymology ofwō倭 meaning "dwarf, pygmy" has possible cognates inǎi矮 "low, short (of stature)",wō踒 "strain; sprain; bent legs", andwò臥 "lie down; crouch; sit (animals and birds)". Early Chinese dynastic histories refer to aZhūrúguó侏儒國 "pygmy/dwarf country" located south of Japan, associated with possibly Okinawa Island or the Ryukyu Islands. Carr cites the historical precedence of construing Wa as "submissive people" and the "Country of Dwarfs" legend as evidence that the "little people" etymology was a secondary development.[1]: 9
Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scribes regularly wroteWa orYamato "Japan" with the Chinese character倭 until the 8th century, when the Japanese found fault with it due to itsoffensive connotation, replacing it with和 "harmony, peace, balance". Retroactively, this character was adopted in Japan to refer to the country itself, often combined with the character大 (literally meaning "Great"), so as to write the name asYamato (大和) (Great Wa, in a manner similar toe.g.大清帝國Great Qing Empire,大英帝國Empire of Great Britain). However, the pronunciationYamato cannot be formed from the sounds of its constituent characters; it refers to a place in Japan and, based onthe specific spellings used in ancient documents (see alsoMan'yōgana andOld Japanese#Vowels), this may have originally meant "Mountain Place" (山処).[12][13][14] Such words which use certain kanji to name a certain Japanese word solely for the purpose of representing the word's meaning regardless of the given kanji'son'yomi orkun'yomi, a.k.a.jukujikun, is not uncommon in Japanese. Other original names in Chinese texts includeYamatai country (邪馬台国), where aQueen Himiko lived. Whenhi no moto, the indigenous Japanese way of saying "sun's origin", was written inkanji, it was given the characters日本.[citation needed] In time, these characters began to be read usingSino-Japanese readings, firstNippon and laterNihon, although the two names are interchangeable to this day.
Nippon appeared in history only at the end of the 7th century. TheOld Book of Tang (舊唐書), one of theTwenty-Four Histories, stated that the Japanese envoy disliked his country's nameWoguo (Chinese) (倭國), and changed it toNippon (日本), or "Origin of the Sun". Another 8th-century chronicle,True Meaning of Shiji (史記正義), however, states that the first female Chinese EmperorWu Zetian ordered a Japanese envoy to change the country's name toNippon. It has been suggested that the name change in Japan may have taken place sometime between 665 and 703, and Wu Zetian then acceded to the name change in China following a request from a delegation from Japan in 703.[15] The sun plays an important role inJapanese mythology andreligion as theemperor is said to be thedirect descendant of the sun goddessAmaterasu and the legitimacy of theruling house rested on this divine appointment anddescent from the chief deity of the predominantShinto religion. The name of the country reflects this central importance of the sun. The association of the country with the sun was indicated in a letter sent in 607 and recorded in theofficial history of theSui dynasty.Prince Shōtoku, the Regent of Japan, sent a mission to China with a letter in which he called the emperor of Japan (actuallyan empress at the time) "theSon of Heaven of the Land where the Sun rises" (日出處天子). The message said: "The Son of Heaven, on the Land of the Rising Sun, sends this letter to the Son of Heaven of the Land, where the Sun sets, and wishes him well".[16][17]
The English word for Japan came to the West from early trade routes. The earlyMandarin Chinese or possiblyWu Chinese word for Japan was recorded byMarco Polo asCipangu.[6] TheMalay andIndonesian wordsJepang,Jipang, andJepun were borrowed from non-Mandarin Chinese languages, and this Malay word was encountered byPortuguese traders inMalacca in the 16th century. It is thought the Portuguese traders were the first to bring the word toEurope. It was first recorded in English in 1577 spelledGiapan.[7]
In English, the modern official title of the country is simply "Japan", one of the few countries to have no "long form" name. The official Japanese-language name isNippon-koku orNihon-koku (日本国), literally "Nation of Japan".[18] As an adjective, the term "Dai-Nippon" remains popular with Japanese governmental, commercial, or social organizations whose reach extend beyond Japan's geographic borders (e.g.,Dai Nippon Printing,Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, etc.).
ThoughNippon orNihon are still by far the most popular names for Japan from within the country, recently the foreign wordsJapan and evenJipangu (fromCipangu, see below) have been used in Japanese mostly for the purpose offoreign branding.
Portuguesemissionaries arrived in Japan at the end of the 16th century. In the course of learningJapanese, they created several grammars and dictionaries ofMiddle Japanese. The 1603–1604 dictionaryVocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam contains two entries for Japan:nifon[8] andiippon.[9]The title of the dictionary (Vocabulary of the Language of Japan) illustrates that thePortuguese word for Japan was by that timeIapam.
Historically, Japanese/h/ has undergone a number of phonological changes. Originally *[p], this weakened into[ɸ] and eventually became the modern[h]. Modern/h/ is still pronounced[ɸ] when followed by/ɯ/.
Middle Japanesenifon becomes Modern Japanesenihon via regular phonological changes.[citation needed]
Before modern styles ofromanization, the Portuguese devised theirown. In it,/zi/ is written as eitherii orji. In modernHepburn style,iippon would be rendered asJippon. There are no historical phonological changes to take into account here.
Etymologically,Jippon is similar toNippon in that it is an alternative reading of日本. The initial character日 may also be read as/ziti/ or/zitu/. Compounded with/hoɴ/ (本), this regularly becomesJippon.
Unlike theNihon/Nippon doublet, there is no evidence for a *Jihon.
TheJapanese name for Japan,日本, can be pronounced eitherNihon orNippon. Both readings come from theon'yomi.
日 (nichi) means "sun" or "day";本 (hon) means "base" or "origin". The compound means "origin of the sun", or "source of the sun"[19] or "where the sun rises" (from a westbound point of view—which includes lands west of the nation, the sun rises from Japan); it is a source for the popular Western description of Japan as the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Nichi, in compounds, often loses the finalchi and creates a slight pause between the first and second syllables of the compound. When romanised, this pause is represented by adoubling of the first consonant of the second syllable; thusnichi日 pluskō光 (light) is written and pronouncednikkō, meaning sunlight.
Japanese日 and本 were historically pronouncedniti (orjitu, reflecting aLate Middle Chinese pronunciation) andpon, respectively. In compounds, however, final voiceless stops (i.e.p,t,k) of the first word were unreleased in Middle Chinese, and the pronunciation of 日本 was thusNippon orJippon (with the adjacent consonants assimilating).
Min Chinese languages still retain this pronunciation of 日本, such asNorthern MinNì-bǒ̤ng (Jian'ou dialect) orFuzhouneseNĭk-buōng. In modernToisanese, aYue Chinese language, 日本 is pronounced asNgìp Bāwn[ŋip˦˨ bɔn˥].[20]
Historical sound change in Japanese has led to the modern pronunciations of the individual characters asnichi andhon. The pronunciationNihon originated, possibly in theKantō region, as a reintroduction of this independent pronunciation of本 into the compound. This must have taken place during theEdo period, afteranother sound change occurred which would have resulted in this form becomingNiwon and laterNion.[citation needed]
Several attempts to choose a definitive official reading were rejected by the Japanese government, which declared both to be correct.[21]
While both pronunciations are correct,Nippon is frequently preferred for official purposes,[22] includingmoney,stamps, and internationalsporting events, as well as theNippon-koku, literally the "State of Japan" (日本国).
Other than this, there seem to be no fixed rules for choosing one pronunciation over the other, but in some cases, one form is simply more common. For example, Japanese-speakers generally call their languageNihongo;Nippongo, while possible,[23]is rarely used. In other cases, uses are variable. The name for theBank of Japan (日本銀行), for example, is given asNIPPON GINKO on banknotes but is often referred to, such as in the media, asNihon Ginkō.[24]
Nippon is the form that is used usually or exclusively in the following constructions:[25]
Nihon is used always or most often in the following constructions:[26]
In 2016, element 113 on theperiodic table was namednihonium to honor its discovery in 2004 by Japanese scientists atRIKEN.[30]
As mentioned above, theEnglish wordJapan has a circuitous derivation; butlinguists believe it derives in part from thePortuguese recording of theEarly Mandarin Chinese orWu Chinese word for Japan:Cipan (日本), which is rendered inpinyin asRìběn (IPA: ʐʅ˥˩pən˨˩˦), and literally translates to "sun origin".Guó (IPA: kuo˨˦) is Chinese for "realm" or "kingdom", so it could alternatively be rendered asCipan-guo. The word was likely introduced to Portuguese through the Malay:Jipan.
Cipangu was first mentioned in Europe in the accounts ofMarco Polo.[6] It appears for the first time on a European map with theFra Mauro map in 1457, although it appears much earlier on Chinese and Korean maps such as theGangnido. Following the accounts of Marco Polo, Cipangu was thought to be fabulously rich in silver and gold, which by Medieval standards was largely correct, owing to the volcanism of the islands and the possibility to access precious ores without resorting to (unavailable) deep-mining technologies.
The modernShanghainese pronunciation of Japan isZeppen[zəʔpən]. In modern Japanese,Cipangu is transliterated asチパング which in turn can be transliterated into English asChipangu,Jipangu,Zipangu,Jipang, orZipang.Jipangu (ジパング (Zipangu)) as anobfuscated name for Japan has recently come into vogue for Japanesefilms,anime,video games, etc.
These names show up in historical texts for prehistoric legendary dates and also in names of gods andJapanese emperors:
Thekatakanatranscriptionジャパン (Japan) of the English wordJapan is sometimes encountered in Japanese, for example in the names of organizations seeking to project an international image. Examples includeジャパンネット銀行 (Japan Netto Ginkō) (Japan Net Bank),ジャパンカップ (Japan Kappu) (Japan Cup),ワイヤレスジャパン (Waiyaresu Japan) (Wireless Japan), etc.
Dōngyáng (東洋) andDōngyíng (東瀛) – both literally, "Eastern Ocean" – areChinese terms sometimes used to refer to Japan exotically when contrasting it with other countries or regions in easternEurasia; however, these same terms may also be used to refer to all ofEast Asia when contrasting "the East" with "the West". The first term,Dōngyáng, has been considered to be a pejorative term when used to mean "Japan", while the second,Dōngyíng, has remained a positive poetic name. They can be contrasted withNányáng (Southern Ocean), which refers toSoutheast Asia, andXīyáng (Western Ocean), which refers to theWestern world. InJapanese andKorean, the Chinese word for "Eastern Ocean" (pronounced astōyō in Japanese and asdongyang (동양) in Korean) is used only to refer to theFar East (including both East Asia and Southeast Asia) in general, and it is not used in the more specific Chinese sense of "Japan".
InMandarin Chinese,Japan is calledRìběn日本. TheCantonese pronunciation isYahtbún[jɐt˨pun˧˥], theShanghainese pronunciation isZeppen[zəʔpən], theHokkien pronunciation isJi̍tpún orLi̍t-pún, the standardHakka pronunciation isNgi̍t-pún and theTeochew pronunciation isJi̍k púng. This has influenced theMalay name for Japan,Jepun, and theThai wordYipun (ญี่ปุ่น). The termsJepang andJipang were previously used in both Malay and Indonesian, but are today confined primarily to theIndonesian language. The Japanese introducedNippon andDai Nippon into Indonesia during the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945) but the nativeJepang remains more common. In Korean, Japan is calledIlbon (Hangeul:일본,Hanja:日本), which is the Korean pronunciation of theSino-Korean name, and inSino-Vietnamese, Japan is calledNhật Bản (also rendered asNhựt Bổn). InMongolian, Japan is calledYapon (Япон).
Ue-kok (倭國) is recorded for olderHokkien speakers.[35] In the past, Korea also used倭國, pronouncedWaeguk (왜국).
These are historic names of Japan that were noted on old maps issued in Europe.
Unicode includes several character sequences that have been used to represent Japan graphically:
These are some of the contemporary names for Japan in different languages.
| Language | Contemporary name for Japan (romanization) |
|---|---|
| Albanian | Japonia |
| Amharic | ጃፓን (japani) |
| Arabic | اليابان (al-yābān) |
| Armenian | ճապոնիա (Chaponia) |
| Azerbaijani | Yaponiya |
| Bengali | জাপান (Japan) |
| Basque | Japonia |
| Belarusian | Японія (Japonija) |
| Bulgarian | Япония (Yaponiya) |
| Catalan | Japó |
| Cornish | Nihon |
| Croatian | Japan |
| Czech | Japonsko |
| Danish | Japan |
| Dutch | Japan |
| English | Japan |
| Filipino | Hapón (from Spanish,Japón) |
| Finnish | Japani |
| French | Japon |
| Galician | O Xapón |
| Georgian | იაპონია (iaponia) |
| German | Japan |
| Greek | Ιαπωνία (Iaponía) |
| Hawaiian | Iapana |
| Hebrew | יפן (Yapan) |
| Hindi | जापान (jāpān) |
| Hungarian | Japán |
| Icelandic | Japan |
| Indonesian | Jepang |
| Irish | An tSeapáin |
| Italian | Giappone |
| Kannada | ಜಪಾನ್ (jāpān) |
| Kazakh | Жапония (Japoniya) |
| Khmer | ជប៉ុន (japon) |
| Laotian | ຍີ່ປຸ່ນ (nyipun) |
| Lithuanian | Japonija |
| Malay | Jepun (جڤون) |
| Malayalam | ജപ്പാൻ (jappān) |
| Maltese | Ġappun |
| Manx | Yn çhapaan |
| Marathi | जपान (japān) |
| Mongolian | Япон (Yapon) |
| Norwegian | Japan |
| Persian | ژاپن (žāpon) in Iran and جاپان (jāpān) in Afghanistan |
| Polish | Japonia |
| Portuguese | Japão |
| Quechua | Nihun |
| Romanian | Japonia |
| Russian | Япония (Yaponiya) |
| Scottish Gaelic | Iapan |
| Serbian | Јапан (Japan) |
| Sinhala | ජපානය (Japanaya) |
| Slovak | Japonsko |
| Slovenian | Japonska |
| Spanish | Japón |
| Swedish | Japan |
| Tamil | ஜப்பான் (Jappaan) |
| Thai | ญี่ปุ่น (yîi-bpùn) |
| Turkish | Japonya |
| Ukrainian | Японія (Yaponiya) |
| Urdu | جاپان (jāpān) |
| Vietnamese | Nhật Bản |
| Welsh | Japan (sometimes speltSiapan) |
| Xhosa | Japhan |
