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There are many names of Japan in English, Japanese, and other languages. The word "Japan" (or "Japon") is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by a large number of languages. The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon (にっぽん ) and Nihon (にほん ). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji 日本. ==History== Both ''Nippon'' and ''Nihon'' literally mean "the sun's origin", that is, where the sun originates,〔Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005). "Nihon" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see'' (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File ).〕 and are often translated as the ''Land of the Rising Sun''. This nomenclature comes from Imperial correspondence with the Chinese Sui Dynasty and refers to Japan's eastern position relative to China. Before ''Nihon'' came into official use, Japan was known as or . ''Wa'' was a name early China used to refer to an ethnic group living in Japan around the time of the Three Kingdoms Period. 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 *ʼWâ or *ʼWər 倭. Carr (1992:9–10) surveys prevalent proposals for Wa's etymology ranging from feasible (transcribing Japanese first-person pronouns ''waga'' 我が "my; our" and ''ware'' 我 "I; oneself; thou") to shameful (writing Japanese ''Wa'' as 倭 implying "dwarf"), and summarizes interpretations for *ʼWâ "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 as ''shùnmào'' 順皃 "obedient/submissive/docile appearance", graphically explains the "person; human" radical 亻 with a ''wěi'' 委 "bent" phonetic, and quotes the above ''Shi Jing'' poem. "Conceivably, when Chinese first met Japanese," Carr (1992:9) suggests "they transcribed Wa as *ʼWâ '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 Bowing is noted in early historical references to Japan."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 interprets ''wēi'' 逶 "winding" as "very far away" and euphemistically translates ''Wō'' 倭 as "separated from the continent." The second etymology of ''wō'' 倭 meaning "dwarf, pygmy" has possible cognates in ''ǎi'' 矮 "low, short (of stature)", ''wō'' 踒 "strain; sprain; bent legs", and ''wò'' 臥 "lie down; crouch; sit (animals and birds)". Early Chinese dynastic histories refer to a ''Zhūrúguó'' 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. Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scribes regularly wrote ''Wa'' or ''Yamato'' "Japan" with the Chinese character 倭 until the 8th century, when the Japanese found fault with it, 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 preexisting name ''Yamato'' (大和) (in a manner similar to ''e.g.'' 大清帝國 Great Qing Empire, 大英帝國 Greater British Empire). However, the pronunciation ''Yamato'' cannot be formed from the sounds of its constituent characters; it refers to a place in Japan and is speculated to originally mean "Mountain Gate" (山戸).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Ž×"n‘ä?‘‹ã?B?à )〕 Other original names in Chinese texts include ''Yamatai country'' (邪馬台国), where a Queen Himiko lived. When ''hi no moto'', the indigenous Japanese way of saying "sun's origin", was written in kanji, it was given the characters 日本. In time, these characters began to be read using Sino-Japanese readings, first ''Nippon'' and later ''Nihon''. ''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 sun plays an important role in Japanese mythology and religion as the emperor is said to be the direct descendent of the sun goddess Amaterasu and the legitimacy of the ruling house rested on this divine appointment and descent from the chief deity of the predominant Shinto religion. The name of the country reflects this central importance of the sun. 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 dialect of the Wu Chinese language (呉語) or topolect) pronunciation of characters 日本 (Japan) is still ''Zeppen'' . The Malay and Indonesian words ''Jepang'', ''Jipang'', and ''Jepun'' were borrowed from Chinese dialects, 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''. In English, the modern official title of the country is simply "Japan", one of the few nation-states to have no "long form" name. The official Japanese-language name is ''Nippon koku'' or ''Nihon koku'' (日本国), literally "''State of Japan''".〔In Japanese, countries whose "long form" does not contain a designation such as ''republic'' or ''kingdom'' are generally given a name appended by the character 国 ("country" or "nation"): for example, ドミニカ国 (Dominica), バハマ国 (Bahamas), and クウェート国 (Kuwait).〕 From the Meiji Restoration until the end of World War II, the full title of Japan was the "Empire of Greater Japan" (大日本帝國 ''Dai Nippon Teikoku''). A more poetic rendering of the name of Japan during this period was "Empire of the Sun." The official name of the 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. 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.). 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Names of Japan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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