日本

This appellation comes from Prince Shōtoku's correspondence between Japan and the Chinese Sui Dynasty.

日本

1. Japan (a country and archipelago of East Asia)

   日本電視劇／日本电视剧  ―  Rìběn diànshìjù  ―  Japanese TV drama

Others:

• → Lao: ຍີ່ປຸ່ນ (nyī pun)
• → Malay: Jepang, Jepun (see there for further descendants)
• → Manchu: ᡰᡳ
  ᠪᡝᠨ (ži ben)
• → Thai: ญี่ปุ่น (yîi-bpùn)
• → Tibetan: ཇི་བེན (ji ben)
• → Wutunhua: reben
• → Zhuang: Yizbwnj

• 日劇／日剧 (rìjù)
• 日語／日语 (Rìyǔ)
• 日文 (Rìwén)

/nitɨpoɴ/ → /nip̚poɴ/ → /niɸoɴ/ → /nihoɴ/

Coined in Japan of Sinic elements, as compound of 日 (nichi, “sun”) +‎ 本 (hon, “origin”) and literally meaning "origin of the sun". The hon element was apparently pronounced /poɴ/ when first coined. Over time, the initial /p/ lenited, becoming /ɸ/ as shown in the Nifon entry in the 1603 Nippo Jisho ("Japanese-Portuguese Dictionary").^[1] This then became the /h/ sound in modern Japanese.^[2][3]

In older texts, this was read as kun'yomi as 日の本 (Hinomoto). The on'yomi readings Nippon and Nihon became more common in the Heian period, with both persisting into modern use.^[3] The Nihon reading appears to be the most common in everyday Japanese usage.^[4]

This appellation comes from Prince Shōtoku's famous letter from Prince Shōtoku to Emperor Yang of Sui sent via the Japanese mission to Sui China in 607, wherein we see the first mention of Japan as the Land of the Rising Sun, and a description of China as Land of the Setting Sun:

日出處天子致書日沒處天子無恙云云 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

---

日出处天子致书日没处天子无恙云云 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

rì chū chù tiānzǐ zhìshū rì méi chù tiānzǐ wúyàng yúnyún [Pinyin]

...the son of heaven of the land of the rising sun sends a letter to the son of heaven of the place where the sun sets, for good health and so on.

日出處 (literally “sun + emerge + place”) here refers to Japan, while 日沒處 (literally “sun + sink + place”) refers to China. "Sun emerge place" both refers to the eastward position of Japan relative to China, and metaphorically places the Yamato Kingship during Empress Suiko's reign on a similar footing as to the Sui dynasty under Emperor Yang's rule.

The earliest date for the specific spelling 日本 (literally “sun source”) instead of the periphrastic 日出處 (literally “sun emerge place”) may be 664, as mentioned in a fragment of the 733 text 海外国記 (Kaigai Kokki, “Record of Overseas Countries”), describing a letter given in 664 to a Tang emissary arriving in Dazaifu.^[5] However, it remains an open question whether this instance of 日本 might have been a change in name that happened between the actual event in 664 and the recording of that event in 733.^[5] More certainly, the Japanese source Shoku Nihongi relates that a 702 or 703 mission from Japan to the Tang court requested that the Chinese change the official name from 倭 (Wa) to 日本 (Nippon), and this appears to be corroborated by accounts in the Chinese source Old Book of Tang.^[5][6]

Despite the spelling, the term may have been read out as the older name Yamato for some time afterwards, as suggested by kana glosses in sources such as the Man'yōshū poetry anthology of 759.^[2][7]

Doublet of ジャパン (Japan).

• (Tokyo) にほん [nìhóꜜǹ] (Nakadaka – [2])^[8][9]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟ihõ̞ɴ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Tokyo) Note: The word 日本 is an exceptional word to の-particle deaccenting; its Nakadaka pronunciation of にほん becomes flat with の and is then pronounced as:

• にほんの
• Category:Japanese terms with Nakadaka pitch accent deaccented before の (Tōkyō)

日(に)本(ほん) • (Nihon) 

1. Japan (ellipsis of 日本国 (Nihon-koku): a country and archipelago of East Asia)
   • 1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, page 463:

     Nifon ニホン (日本) 日本.

     Nifon. Land of the rising sun.

2. a surname

• → English: nihonium
  • → Japanese: ニホニウム

/nitɨpoɴ/ → /nip̚poɴ/

Phonetic variant of Nihon above, maintaining the /p/ sound.

• (Tokyo) にっぽん [nìppóꜜǹ] (Nakadaka – [3])^[8][9]
• IPA^(key): [ɲ̟ip̚põ̞ɴ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• (Tokyo) Note: The word 日本 is an exceptional word to の-particle deaccenting; its Nakadaka pronunciation of にっぽん becomes flat with の and is then pronounced as:

• にっぽんの
• Category:Japanese terms with Nakadaka pitch accent deaccented before の (Tōkyō)

日(にっ)本(ぽん) • (Nippon) 

1. Japan (ellipsis of 日本国 (Nippon-koku): a country and archipelago of East Asia)
   • 1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, page 466:

     Nippon ニッポン（日本） Fino moto. (日の本) 日本.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1998 November 30 [1990 November 25], Fujiko F. Fujio, のび太(た)とアニマル惑星(プラネット) [Nobita and the Animal Planet] (大長編ドラえもん; 10), 22nd edition, volume 10 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, page 27:

     ぼくらは日本(にっぽん)からきたんだけど…。

     Bokura wa Nippon kara kita n da kedo….

     We’re from Japan, by the way….

     ニッポン？きいたことない。

     Nippon? Kiita koto nai.

     Japan? I’ve never heard of that before.

2. a surname

• Nippon is the official reading of 日本, although Nihon is also acknowledged.
• In everyday conversation, Nihon is more common.
• Politically, Nippon appears to be correlated with right-wing groups, and Nihon with left-wing groups.

• → English: Nippon (noun)
• → French: Nippon (noun), nippon (adjective)
• → Indonesian: Nippon (noun)

*/zitʉpon/ → /zip̚pon/ → /ʑip̚pon/

Uses the kan'on reading jitsu for 日, as compared to the goon reading nichi. First appears in texts from the early 1600s,^[10] notably the 1603 Japanese-Portuguese dictionary Nippo Jisho. Probably influenced by European-language terminology for the country,^[10][3] such as Portuguese Japão or Dutch Japan, in turn arising from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún) via Malay Jepun, or from Teochew 日本 (rig⁸ bung²) via Indonesian Malay Jepang.

• (Tokyo) じっぽん [jìppóꜜǹ] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [d͡ʑip̚põ̞ɴ]

日(じっ)本(ぽん) • (Jippon) 

1. (archaic) Japan
   • 1603, Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam (Nippo Jisho) [Vocabulary of the Language of Japan] (in Portuguese), Nagasaki, page 365:

     Iippon ジッポン (日本) Fino moto. (日の本) 東洋. すなわち、日本.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • [Note:The quoted ii in iippon is the 16th century Portuguese romanization representing ji, pronounced *[ʒi] in Portuguese, since i and j weren't consistently distinguished orthographically.]

• Thesaurus:日本

• “日本”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[4] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

• 本(ほん)日(じつ) (honjitsu)

日本 • (Ilbon) (hangeul 일본)

1. hanja form^? of 일본 : Japan (a country and archipelago of East Asia)

日本(やまとぅ) (Yamatu) 

1. alternative form of 大和 (Yamatu): Japan (a country and archipelago of East Asia)

The kanji spelling is influenced by 日の本 (pi₁ no₂ mo₍₂₎to₂).

日本 (Yamato₂) (kana やまと)

1. alternative spelling of 大和 (Yamato₂): Yamato, ancient name of Japan

• 日本武尊 (Yamato₂ Takeru no₂ mi₁ko₂to₂)
• 大日本 (Opoyamato₂)

日本

1. chữ Hán form of Nhật Bản: Japan (a country and archipelago of East Asia)