呉

Glyph origin
Variant of.

The modern Japanese usage is of reform (shinjitai) nature.

Kanji

 * 1) China
 * 2) to give something, to do something for someone

Compounds

 * : water buffalo

Etymology 1
From, the name of a state. Compare modern 🇨🇬.

Proper noun

 * 1) Japanese reading of the Chinese surname Wu.
 * 2) the ancient State of Wu
 * 3)  China, Chinese

Derived terms

 * : a kind of kanji reading, indicating an older borrowing from Chinese

Etymology 2
Likely from the of verb, from the way that China lies to the west of Japan, in the direction of the setting sun. This may be related to the famous letter from to  sent via the, wherein we see the first mention of Japan as the , and a description of China as Land of the Setting Sun:


 * here refers to Japan, while refers to China.
 * here refers to Japan, while refers to China.

In textual Japanese, the term Kure originally referred more specifically to the ancient State of Wu (roughly analogous with the modern Jiangnan region), and later shifted to refer to China as a whole.

First cited to the  of 720.

Proper noun

 * 1)  China, Chinese
 * More commonly found in compounds in modern Japanese.

Derived terms

 * : gigaku, an extinct form of masked drama performance originally imported from China
 * : alternate name for : henon bamboo, a form of (black bamboo)
 * : crimson