{"id":33745,"date":"2014-02-12T18:12:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=33745"},"modified":"2014-02-12T18:12:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-12T22:12:00","slug":"%e3%80%90rocketnews24%e3%80%91nippon-or-nihon-no-consensus-on-the-japanese-pronunciation-of-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/12\/%e3%80%90rocketnews24%e3%80%91nippon-or-nihon-no-consensus-on-the-japanese-pronunciation-of-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"\u3010RocketNews24\u3011Nippon or Nihon? No consensus on the Japanese pronunciation of \u201cJapan\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted by\u00a0Michelle Lynn Dinh<\/a>\u00a0(Shimane<\/a>-ken,\u00a0Chibu-mura,\u00a0<\/strong>2010\u201313),<\/strong>\u00a0editor and writer for\u00a0RocketNews24<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>The following article was written by\u00a0Master Blaster<\/a>, writing team for\u00a0RocketNews24<\/a>,\u00a0a Japan-based site dedicated to bringing fun and quirky news from Asia to English speaking audiences.<\/p>\n

\"Nippon<\/p>\n

As any student of Japanese will tell you, its use of Chinese characters known as\u00a0kanji<\/em>can be a nightmare at times. And although they can be really useful at deducing the meaning of complex words, they give little in the way of clues as to how one should pronounce them.<\/p>\n

Take the\u00a0kanji<\/em>\u00a0for Japan (\u65e5\u672c) for example. Even a first grader can tell you what it means, but a<\/strong>sk a group of adults how to pronounce it and you might get a mixture of \u201cNihon\u201d or \u201cNippon\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0and maybe even an occasional \u201cYamato\u201d if one of those people happens to be a smart-ass.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u25a0\u00a0\u00a0Why Japan?<\/strong>
\nBefore getting into the Nihon\/Nippon issue, let\u2019s figure out why English speakers completely ignore the original name and call the country \u201cJapan,\u201d a name that would mean \u201cWell, bread!\u201d in its native language.<\/p>\n

\"Nippon<\/p>\n

It would seem the culprit behind this variation of the name is Marco Polo during his reported visits to Northern China during the Yuan Dynasty. Although he never actually made it to Japan he heard of the place from those he met in China. At that time the name for Japan was established as the\u00a0kanji<\/em>\u00a0(\u65e5\u672c), which in\u00a0Chinese reads as\u00a0R\u00ecb\u011bn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

However, due to the dialect of that area and time it came out sounding like \u201cJipen\u201d which was transcribed as \u201cZipangu\u201d in The Travels of Marco Polo. From there it spread through the linguistic stew of Europe and became the modern \u201cJapan\u201d in English today.<\/p>\n

\u25a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cNippon\u201d came first<\/strong>
\nA long time ago Japan used to be known as \u201cWa\u201d or \u201cYamato\u201d and used the\u00a0kanji<\/em>\u00a0\u502d. Time passed and the official\u00a0kanji<\/em>\u00a0was changed to \u65e5\u672c in 640. However, the name Yamato was still used for some time.\u00a0Around the latter half of the 7th century the official reading of \u65e5\u672c changed to either \u201cNippon\u201d or \u201cJippon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nippon<\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed that the pronunciation of \u201cNihon\u201d came as a nickname in the Kanto region during the Edo period. People associate that story with the differences between \u65e5\u672c\u6a4b (Nipponbashi) in Osaka and \u65e5\u672c\u6a4b (Nihonbashi) in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\u25a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cNihon\u201d came out on top<\/strong>
\nKnowing that, it would seem the obvious answer is that \u201cNippon\u201d is the correct way to pronounce \u65e5\u672c simply because it was here first. However,\u00a0a recent survey showed that 61 percent of Japanese people read it as \u201cNihon\u201d while only 37 percent said \u201cNippon<\/strong>.\u201c<\/strong>\u00a0The results also showed that \u201cNihon\u201d was much more prevalent among younger people too.\u00a0So while it would seem \u201cNippon\u201d has seniority, \u201cNihon\u201d has the popular vote.<\/p>\n

Naming the country would certainly seem like an appropriate job for the government, wouldn\u2019t it? Unfortunately there is no official document defining the pronunciation of \u65e5\u672c or \u65e5\u672c\u56fd.\u00a0However, an attempt was made by the Ministry of Education in 1934. They were conducting a major investigation into the national language, a part of which recommended that the country officially be pronounced \u201cNippon\u201d once and for all. However, the government simply ignored their request.<\/p>\n

In 2009, a Member of the Lower House made a slightly more liberal move and submitted a request asking that the national government decide on a unified pronunciation, whether it be \u201cNippon\u201d or \u201cNihon.\u201d\u00a0The government replied that both terms were in wide usage and it saw no reason to take an official side on the matter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Nippon<\/p>\n

\u25a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/b><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u65e5\u672c = ?<\/strong>
\nYou could either applaud the government\u2019s indecision as a way of saying that they had bigger issues to deal with, or you could criticize their \u201cDon\u2019t worry man, it\u2019s cool\u201d attitude.\u00a0Either way, one thing is certain.\u00a0The name of this country is simply two or three pictograms that legally could be verbally interpreted any way you want, be it Nihon, Nippon, Jippon, Japan, Hinomoto, Yamato, Wa, or Zipangu.<\/strong>\u00a0So join us next time when\u00a0RocketNews24<\/em>\u00a0brings you more news out of Candyland and the rest of Asia.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0NHK<\/a>,\u00a0Kotoba\u00a0Zatsuki<\/a>,\u00a0Gigazine<\/a>\u00a0via\u00a0Naver Matome<\/a>\u00a0(Japanese)<\/em>
\nImages:\u00a0Wikipedia<\/a>, Wikipedia \u2013\u00a0Theresamerkel<\/a>,\u00a0\u00a0Nayo148<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Here are a few groups that officially use Nippon in their name:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nippon Housou Kyoukai (NHK)Nippon Television Network Corporation
\nNippon Broadcasting Service (NBS)
\nNippon Budokan
\nAll Nippon Airways (ANA)
\nKinki Nippon Tetsudou (Kintestu Corp.)
\nNishi-Nippon Railroad Co. (Nishitetsu)
\nNippon Sports Science Unviersity
\nNippon Yuubin (Japan Post<\/p>\n

And some groups who prefer to use Nihon:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nihon University
\nNihon Koukuu (JAL)
\nNihon Keizai Shimbun (The Nikkei)
\nNihon Ryokaku Tetsudou (JR)
\nNihon Unisys
\nNihon Sumou Kyoukai (Japan Sumo Association)
\nNihon Orinpikku Iinkai (Japan Olympic Committee)<\/p>\n

*Many of these groups will also use the alternate pronunciation from time to time<\/em><\/p>\n

More articles from RocketNews24:<\/strong><\/p>\n