The different names of Japan
Over the course of its history, Japan has been given several names by the Japanese themselves but also by its main neighbor, China. Names that you will see say a lot about the state of diplomatic relations between the two nations!
The ancient Japanese traditions mention several particularly laudatory and poetic names relating to the natural environment of the archipelago. The texts thus mention the following periphrases: ” the fertile land where reeds grow in abundance by the water’s edge and where rice and the four other cereals ripen ” (Toyo ashihara no mizuho no kuni), ” the land of rich ears of the 1,500 autumns, of the plains of abundant reeds “(Toyo-ashihara chiiho-aki no mizuho no kuni),” the entrance to the mountain “(Yamato).
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Japan or the origin of the sun
At the start of the 7th century, new names emerged among Japanese political elites in reaction to the unflattering term used by the Chinese Empire to refer to the archipelago. Since the 1st century, the latter have used the word “wa” which means “dwarf” or “submissive” to speak both of the Japanese and of their country. The following Japanese appellations thus appear: Hi izuri tokoro ( country from which the sun comes out ), Hi no moto ( country of the origin of the sun ) and Hi-takami no kuni ( the country where the sun is seen high ) .
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But it is another name used for the first time by Prince Shôtoku (574-622) which will supplant all the others and mark the history of Japan with his imprint. In 608, the prince sent a letter to the Chinese emperor Yang de Sui in which he wrote: ” The Son of Heaven in the country where the sun rises addresses a letter to the Son of Heaven in the country where the sun sets. “.
This is the first mention of the term Nihon or Nippon that the Japanese have used for over 1400 years to refer to the archipelago. Composed of kanjis 日 (sun) and 本 (origin), Nihon or Nippon literally means “the origin of the sun” or the “land of the rising sun” !
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Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY
