Overview of names for the East Asian island country
"Land of the Rising Sun" redirects here. For other uses, see Land of the Rising Sun (disambiguation).
The word Japan is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese names for Japan are Nihon (にほんⓘ) and Nippon (にっぽんⓘ). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji 日本.
During the third-century CE Three Kingdoms period, Japan was inhabited by the Yayoi people who lived in Kyushu up to the Kanto region. They were called Wa in Chinese, and the kanji for their name 倭 can be translated as "dwarf" or "submissive".[1] Japanese scribes found fault with its offensive connotation, and officially changed the characters they used to spell the native name for Japan, Yamato, replacing the 倭 ("dwarf") character for Wa with the homophone 和 ("peaceful, harmonious"). Wa和 was often combined with 大 ("great") to form the name 大和, which is read as Yamato[2][3] (see also Jukujikun 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 Chinese Old 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 the Heian period, 大和 was gradually replaced by 日本, which was first pronounced with the Chinese reading (on'yomi) Nippon and later as Nifon, and then in modern usage Nihon, reflecting shifts in phonology in Early Modern Japanese.[1] Marco Polo called Japan 'Cipangu' around 1300, based on the Chinese name,[5] probably 日本國; 'sun source country' (compare modern Min Nan pronunciation ji̍t pún kok). In the 16th century in Malacca, Portuguese traders first heard from Malay and Indonesian the names Jepang, Jipang, and Jepun.[6] In 1577 it was first recorded in English, spelled Giapan.[6] At the end of the 16th century, Portuguese missionaries came to Japan and created grammars and dictionaries of Middle Japanese. The 1603–1604 dictionary Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam has 2 entries: nifon[7] and iippon.[8] Since then many derived names of Japan appeared on early-modern European maps.
^ abCarr, Michael (1 March 1992). "Wa Wa Lexicography". International Journal of Lexicography. 5 (1): 1–31. doi:10.1093/ijl/5.1.1. ISSN 0950-3846.
^"Wa: The Spirit of Harmony and Japanese Design Today | Concept, Works, and Catalogue". Japan Foundation. Archived from the original on August 5, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
^"Why Japan is Japan? How Japan became Japan?". Retrieved January 29, 2017.
^Fogel, Joshua A. (29 April 2015). The Cultural Dimensions of Sino-Japanese Relations: Essays on the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. ʊRoutledge. p. 140. ISBN 978-1317457671.
^Cite error: The named reference marco-polo-cipangu was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abCite error: The named reference trauay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The word Japan is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanesenames for Japan are Nihon (にほん) and Nippon (にっぽん). They...
Japanesenames (日本人の氏名、日本人の姓名、日本人の名前, Nihonjin no Shimei, Nihonjin no Seimei, Nihonjin no Namae) in modern times consist of a family name (surname) followed...
Japanese place names include names for geographic features, present and former administrative divisions, transportation facilities such as railroad stations...
Japanese system is independent of the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese era name systems. Unlike its other Sinosphere counterparts, Japanese era names are...
the Standardization of Geographical Names. The Japanese government supports the exclusive use of the name "Sea ofJapan" (Japanese: 日本海), while South Korea...
This article contains lists ofnamed passenger trains in Japan. Rail transport in Japan JR Timetable, December 2008 ＪＲ新幹線＆特急列車ファイル (JR Shinkansen & Limited...
Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is in the northwest Pacific Ocean and is bordered on the west by the Sea ofJapan, extending from the Sea...
A Japanese Accepted Name (JAN) is the official non-proprietary or generic name given to a pharmaceutical substance by the government ofJapan. International...
to minor temples. Examples of temple names that have these suffixes are Kiyomizu-dera, Enryaku-ji and Kōtoku-in. The Japanese word for a Buddhist temple...
of state of Japan. The emperor is defined by the Constitution ofJapan as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, his position...
Geography of Japan Japanese archipelago List of islands ofJapan by area List of islands NamesofJapan Kojo, Hirotaka (February 15, 2023). "Japan has more than...
The Empire ofJapan, also referred to as the Japanese Empire, Imperial Japan, or simply Japan, was the Japanese nation-state that existed from the Meiji...
names requires a legal process. When people marry or divorce, the legal aspects of changing names may be simplified or included, so that the new name...
names on street signs and passports and in dictionaries and textbooks for foreign learners of the language. It is also used to transliterate Japanese...
Chinese names are personal names used by individuals from Greater China and other parts of the Sinophone world. Sometimes the same set of Chinese characters...
claimed by Japan. Nclaimed but not controlled Geography ofJapanJapanese archipelago List of islands ofJapan List of islands NamesofJapan This article...
The most popular given names vary nationally, regionally, and culturally. Lists of widely used given names can consist of those most often bestowed upon...
War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft were reporting names, often described as codenames, given by Allied personnel to Imperial Japanese aircraft during...
use more desirable characters (大養徳) (see NamesofJapan). The final revision was made in the second year of the Tenpyō-hōji era (c. 758). It is classified...
vertically-written Japanese, the given name appears under the family name. Japanese family names generally show regional variation, but Okinawan family names are known...
developed Japanese designs, licensed variants of foreign designs, and foreign-produced aircraft that served in the military ofJapan. Japanesenames are used...
ofJapan include Japanese population, birth and death rates, age distribution, population density, ethnicity, education level, healthcare system of the...
The culture ofJapan has changed greatly over the millennia, from the country's prehistoric Jōmon period, to its contemporary modern culture, which absorbs...
constellations or asterisms and give proper names to those, not to individual stars. Many star names are, in origin, descriptive of the part in the constellation they...
Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations...
human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to the Paleolithic, around 38–39,000 years ago. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked...
ofJapan ISO 3166-2 codes for Japan List of prefectural governors in Japan Flags ofJapanese prefectures Provinces ofJapan List of regions ofJapan Government...
Global Information