The English word Japan is not the name used for their country by the Japanese themselves: it is an exonym. The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon (にっぽん) and Nihon (にほん). They are both written in Japanese using the Chinese characters 日本. The Japanese name Nippon is used for most official purposes, including Japanese money, postage stamps, and international sporting events. Nihon is a more casual term and the most frequently used in contemporary speech. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... An exonym is a name for a place or people that is created by people outside of that place and is different from the name used in the native language. ... Japanese name Kanji: Hiragana: Korean name Hangul: Hanja: Vietnamese name Quoc Ngu: Han Tu: A Chinese character or Han character (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a logogram used in writing Chinese, Japanese, sometimes Korean, and formerly Vietnamese. ... ISO 4217 Code JPY User(s) Japan Inflation -0. ... A selection of Hong Kong postage stamps A postage stamp is evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services. ... Sport from childhood. ...

History

Both Nippon and Nihon literally mean "the sun's origin", that is, where the sun originates, and are often translated as the Land of the Rising Sun. This nomenclature comes from Imperial correspondence with Chinese Sui Dynasty and refers to Japan's eastward position relative to China. Before Japan had relations with China, it was known as Yamato and Hi no moto, which means "source of the sun".^[1] Wa (倭) was a name early China used to refer to an ethnic group living in Japan around the time of the Three Kingdoms Period. Because the character originally used to transcribe the ethnonym Wa (i.e. 倭) acquired pejorative connotations, a different character, 和, which has more positive connotations, came to be used in Japan instead of 倭. Retroactively, this character was adopted in Japan to refer to the country itself, often combined with the character 大, literally meaning "Great", to give the name Yamato (大和). When hi no moto was written in kanji, it was given the characters 日本. In time, these characters began to be read using pseudo-Chinese readings, first Nippon and later Nihon. Imperial embassies to China were missions to China for importing the technologies and culture of China to Japan. ... The Sui Dynasty of China amongst the Asian, African, and European spheres of the world, 600 AD. The Sui Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; 581-618 AD[1]) followed the Southern and Northern Dynasties and preceded the Tang Dynasty in China. ... The following text needs to be harmonized with text in the article History of Japan#Yamato period. ... Ideogram for Wa, formed by the radical for person (on the left), and the phonetic element Wei on the right (itself represented by a rice plant in the upper part and a woman in the lower part). ... The Three Kingdoms period (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a period in the history of China, part of an era of disunity called the Six Dynasties. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ...

Nippon appeared in history only at the end of the 7th century. Old Book of Tang (舊唐書), one of the Twenty-Four Histories, stated that the Japanese envoy disliked his country's name Woguo (倭國), and changed it to Nippon (日本), or "Origin of the Sun". Another 8th-century chronicle, True Meaning of Shiji (史記正義), however, states that the Chinese Empress Wu Zetian ordered a Japanese envoy to change the country's name to Nippon. The Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of historical books covering a period of history from 3000 B.C. to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. ... Wu Zetian (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) (625 – December 16, 705), personal name Wu Zhao (武曌), was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Emperor. ...

The English word for Japan came to the West from early trade routes. The early Mandarin Chinese or possibly Wu Chinese word for Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. The modern Shanghainese (a Wu Chinese dialect 呉語) pronunciation of characters 日本 (Japan) is still Zeppen [zəʔpən]. The old Malay word for Japan, Jepang (modern spelling Jepun, although Indonesian has retained the older spelling), was borrowed from a Chinese language, and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Malacca in the 16th century. It is thought the Portuguese traders were the first to bring the word to Europe. It was first recorded in English in 1577 spelled Giapan. This article is on all of the Northern and Southwestern Chinese dialects. ... Wu (吳方言 pinyin wú fāng yán; 吳語 pinyin wú yǔ) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. ... Marco Polo (September 15, 1254[1] – January 9, 1324 at earliest but no later than June 1325[2]) was a Venetian trader and explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione (The Million or The Travels of Marco Polo). ... Shanghainese (上海言话 [] in Shanghainese), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. ... Wu (吳方言 pinyin wú fāng yán; 吳語 pinyin wú yǔ) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. ... Not to be confused with the Malayalam language, spoken in India. ... This article is about the state in Malaysia. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 28 - Publication of the Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings. ...

In English, the official title of the country is simply "Japan", one of the few countries to have no "long form" name. From the Meiji Restoration until the end of World War II, the full title of Japan was the "Great Empire of Japan" (大日本帝國 Dai Nippon Teikoku). More poetically, another name for the empire was "Empire of the Sun". The official name of nation was changed after the adoption of the post-war constitution; the title "State of Japan" is sometimes used as a colloquial modern-day equivalent. The official Japanese title is Nippon koku or Nihon koku (日本国), literally "State of Japan". The Meiji Restoration ), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japans political and social structure. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Anthem Kimi ga Yo Imperial Reign Capital Tokyo Government Constitutional monarchy Emperor  - 1868–1912 Emperor Meiji  - 1912–1926 Emperor Taishō  - 1926–1989 Emperor Shōwa Prime Minister (many other Prime Ministers preceded the below list)  - 1916–1918 Count Masatake Terauchi  - 1937-1939, 1940-1941 Prince Fumimaro Konoe  - 1941–1944 Hideki...

Though Nippon or Nihon are still by far the most popular names for Japan from within the country, recently the foreign words Japan and even Jipangu (from Cipangu, see below) have been used in Japanese mostly for the purpose of foreign branding. Foreign branding is an advertising and marketing term describing the implied cachet or superiority of domestic products with a foreign or foreign-sounding name. ...

Nihon and Nippon

The Japanese name for Japan, 日本, can be pronounced either Nihon or Nippon. Both readings come from the on'yomi. Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ...

日 (nichi) means "sun" or "day"; 本 (hon) means "base" or "root". The compound means "base of the sun" or "sunrise" (from a Chinese point of view, the sun rises from Japan); it is of course a source for the popular Western description of Japan as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

Nichi, in compounds, often loses the final chi and creates a slight pause between the first and second syllables of the compound. When romanised, this pause is represented by a doubling of the first consonant of the second syllable; thus nichi 日 plus kō 光 (light) is written and pronounced nikkō, meaning sunlight. Hon in compounds also often changes to bon or pon; h, b and p are closely related sounds in Japanese. There are therefore two possible pronunciations for 日本: Nihon or Nippon. While both pronunciations are correct, Nippon is frequently preferred for official purposes, including money, stamps, and international sporting events, as well as the Nippon koku, literally the "State of Japan" (日本国). Japanese 10 yen coin (obverse) showing Phoenix Hall of Byodoin Yen is the currency used in Japan. ... A selection of Hong Kong postage stamps A postage stamp is evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services. ... A sport consists of a normal physical activity or skill carried out under a publicly agreed set of rules, and with a recreational purpose: for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of skill, or some combination of these. ...

Other than this, there seem to be no fixed rules for choosing one pronunciation over the other; in some cases one form is simply more common. For example, Japanese people call their language Nihongo; Nippongo, while grammatically correct, is never heard. In other cases, uses are variable. The name for the Bank of Japan (日本銀行), for example, is given as NIPPON GINKO on banknotes, but often referred to (in the media, for example) as Nihon Ginkō. The Japanese language is a spoken and written language used mainly in Japan. ...

Nippon is used always or most often in the following constructions:

• Nippon-koku kenpō (Constitution of Japan)
• Gambare Nippon! (A sporting cheer used at international sporting events, roughly, 'do your best, Japan!')
• Zen Nippon Kūyu (All Nippon Airways)
• Nippon-bashi (日本橋) (A shopping district in Osaka)

Nihon is used always or most often in the following constructions: The Constitution of Japan ) has been the founding legal document of Japan since 1946. ... All Nippon Airways Co. ... Denden Town from Tennoji Denden Town from Namba Gundams Osaka at Denden Town This article is about the place in Osaka. ... Osaka )   is a city in Japan, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of HonshÅ«. The city is the capital of Osaka Prefecture. ...

• Nihon-jin (Japanese people)
• Nihon-go (Japanese language)
• Nihon-shoki (an old history book, never Nippon-shoki)
• Nihon-bashi (日本橋) (Bridge of Japan, a bridge with same name but different reading in Tokyo and the surrounding oldest and largest commercial districts of the city)
• Nihon-kai (Sea of Japan)
• Nihon Kōkū (Japan Airlines)
• Nihon Daigaku (Nihon University)

Languages Japanese Religions Shinto, Buddhism, large secular groups      The Japanese people ) is the ethnic group that identifies as Japanese by culture or ancestry, or both. ... Not to be confused with the Javanese language. ... The Nihon Shoki ), sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. ... Nihombashi (the bridge) Marker from which distances are measured Nihombashi (or Nihonbashi, 日本橋, lit. ... For other uses, see Tokyo (disambiguation). ... The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, bordered by Japan, Korea and Russia. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... Nihon University (日本大学; Nihon Daigaku abbreviated as 日大 Nichidai) is the largest university in Japan. ...

Jipangu

As mentioned above, the English word "Japan" has a circuitous derivation; but linguists believe it derives in part from the Portuguese recording of the early Mandarin Chinese or Wu Chinese word for Japan: Cipangu (日本国), which is rendered in pinyin as Rìběnguó, and literally translates to "country of sun origin". Guó is Chinese for "realm" or "kingdom", so it could alternatively be rendered as "Japan-guó". The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For the journal, see Linguistics (journal). ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ... Wu (吳方言 pinyin wú fāng yán; 吳語 pinyin wú yǔ) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

Cipangu was first mentioned in Europe in the accounts of the travels of Marco Polo. It appears for the first time on a European map with the Fra Mauro map in 1457, although it appears much earlier on Chinese and Korean maps such as the Kangnido. Following the accounts of Marco Polo, Cipangu was thought to be fabulously rich in silver and gold, which in Medieval times was largely correct, owing to the volcanism of the islands and the possibility to access precious ores without resorting to (unavailable) deep-mining technologies. Marco Polo (September 15, 1254[1] – January 9, 1324 at earliest but no later than June 1325[2]) was a Venetian trader and explorer who gained fame for his worldwide travels, recorded in the book Il Milione (The Million or The Travels of Marco Polo). ... The Fra Mauro map (1459) in Venice (inverted, South is normally at the top). ... Events University of Freiburg founded. ... The Kangnido map (Integrated Historical Map of Countries and Cities), was made in Korea from Chinese source material in 1402, by Gim Sa-hyeong (김사형:金士衡), Li Mu (이무:李茂) and Li Hoi (이회). The map describes the totality of the Old World, from Europe and Africa in the west, to Korea and Japan in...

The modern Shanghainese pronunciation of Japan is Zeppen [zəʔpən]. In modern Japanese, Cipangu is transliterated as ジパング which in turn can be transliterated into English as Jipangu, Zipangu, Jipang, or Zipang. Jipangu (ジパング) as an obfuscated name for Japan has recently come into vogue for Japanese films, anime, video games, etc. Shanghainese (上海言话 [] in Shanghainese), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. ... Obfuscation refers to the concept of concealing the meaning of communication by making it more confusing and harder to interpret. ... This article is about motion pictures. ... “Animé” redirects here. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ...

Other names

Another old name for Japan is Ōyashima (大八洲) meaning the country of eight islands, Awaji, Iyo (later Shikoku), Oki, Tsukushi (later Kyūshū), Iki, Tsushima, Sado, and Yamato (later Honshū); note that Hokkaidō, Chishima, and Okinawa were not part of Japan in ancient times. The eight islands refers to the creation of the main eight islands of Japan by the gods Izanami and Izanagi in Japanese mythology. Also Yashima (八島), Fusō (扶桑), Mizuho (瑞穂), Shikishima (敷島) and Akitsushima (秋津島）are the names to designate ancient Japan. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 776 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (880 × 680 pixels, file size: 59 KB, MIME type: image/png) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Awaji Island (Jp. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is about the island. ... Oki (隠岐国; -no kuni) was an old province of Japan which consisted of Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan, located off the coast of Izumo and Hoki provinces. ... Tsukushi refers to either: former Chikuzen and Chikugo provinces of Japan whole Kyushu island of Japan (archaic) ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Iki Island (壱岐島) an island lying between the island of Kyushu and Tsushima in the Tsushima Strait. ... Tsushima is a name related to Japan. ... Sado can refer to: Sado, a city in Niigata Prefecture, Japan Sado province (佐渡国), an old province of Japan. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...   literally North Sea Circuit, Ainu: Mosir), formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japans second largest island and the largest of its 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. ... The Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands (Russian: Кури́льские острова́), also known as Kurile Islands, stretch northeast from Hokkaido, Japan, to Kamchatka, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the North Pacific Ocean. ... This article is about the prefecture. ... In Japanese mythology, Izanami (Katakana: イザナミ; Kanji: 伊弉冉尊 or 伊邪那美命, meaning She who invites) is a goddess of both creation and death, as well as the former wife of the god Izanagi. ... 天瓊を以て滄海を探るの図. Painting by Eitaku Kobayashi (Meiji period). ... Japanese mythology is a very complex system of beliefs that embraces Shinto and Buddhist traditions as well as agriculture-based folk religion. ... Fusang (扶桑) was described by a Buddhist missionary, Hoei-Shin (慧深) in 499 AD, as a place 20,000 Chinese miles to the east of China. ...

The katakana transcription ジャパン of the English word Japan is sometimes encountered in Japanese, for example in the names of organizations seeking to project an international image. Katakana ) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet. ... Look up Transcription in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Other East Asian nations

Dongyang (東洋) and Dongying (東瀛) – both literally, "Eastern Ocean" – are Chinese terms sometimes used to refer to Japan exotically when contrasting it with other countries or regions in eastern Eurasia; however, these same terms may also be used to refer to all of East Asia when contrasting "the East" with "the West." They have been considered to be pejorative terms when used to mean "Japan." They can be contrasted with Nanyang (Southern Ocean), which refers to Southeast Asia, and Xiyang (Western Ocean), which refers to the Western world. In Japanese and Korean, the Chinese word for "Eastern Ocean" (pronounced as tōyō in Japanese and as dongyang in Korean) is used only to refer to the Orient (including both East Asia and Southeast Asia) in general, and it is not used in the more specific Chinese sense of "Japan." For other uses, see Eurasia (disambiguation). ... East Asia Geographic East Asia. ... Nanyang (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is the Chinese name for the geographical region south of China, particularly Southeast Asia. ... Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ... Occident redirects here. ... The Orient is a term traditionally used in Western culture to refer to the Middle East (Southwest Asia and Egypt), South Asia and East Asia. ...

In China, Japan is called Riben, which is the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for the hanzi/kanji 日本. The Cantonese pronunciation is Yahtbun [jatpun], the Shanghainese (Wu Chinese) pronunciation is Zeppen [zəʔpən], and the Min Nan (Hokkien) pronunciation is Ji̍t-pún. In Korean, Japan is called Ilbon (일본/日本), which is the Korean pronunciation of the Sino-Korean name, and in Sino-Vietnamese, Japan is called Nhật Bản (also seen as Nhật Bổn). This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Japanese writing Kanji Kana Hiragana Katakana Hentaigana Manyōgana Uses Furigana Okurigana Rōmaji   ) are the Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese logographic writing system along with hiragana (平仮名), katakana (片仮名), and the Arabic numerals. ... Shanghainese (上海言话 [] in Shanghainese), sometimes referred to as the Shanghai dialect, is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai. ... Mǐn N n (Chinese: 閩南語), also spelt as Minnan or Min-nan; native name B ; literally means Southern Min or Southern Fujian and refers to the local language/dialect of southern Fujian province, China. ... Sino-Korean describes those elements of the Korean language that come directly or indirectly from Chinese — namely, Hanja and the words formed from them. ... Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Việt) are the elements in the Vietnamese language derived from Chinese. ...

Ue-kok (倭國) is recorded for older Hokkien speakers. ^[2] In the past, Korea also used 倭國, pronounced Waeguk (왜국).

Notes

See also

• Japanese place names
• List of country name etymologies
• Names of Korea
• Names of China