日本

Etymology
This appellation comes from imperial correspondence between the Chinese and Japan, and refers to the eastward position of Japan relative to China.

Descendants
Others (incomplete list):

Etymology 1
→ →  →

Coined in Japan of Sinic elements, as compound of 🇰🇲 and literally meaning "origin of the sun". The hon element was apparently pronounced when first coined. Over time, the initial lenited, becoming  as shown in the Nifon entry in the 1603 Nippo Jisho ("Japanese-Portuguese Dictionary"). This then became the sound in modern Japanese.

In older texts, this was read as  as. The  readings Nippon and Nihon became more common in the, with both persisting into modern use. The Nihon reading appears to be the most common in everyday Japanese usage.

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.

Etymology 2
→

Phonetic variant of Nihon above, maintaining the sound.

Usage notes

 * Nippon is the official reading of, 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.

Etymology 3
&#42; → →

Uses the kan'on reading jitsu for, as compared to the goon reading nichi. First appears in texts from the early 1600s, notably the 1603 Japanese-Portuguese dictionary . Probably influenced by European-language terminology for the country, such as 🇨🇬 or 🇨🇬, in turn arising from 🇨🇬 via 🇨🇬, or from 🇨🇬 via 🇨🇬 🇨🇬.

Proper noun

 * 1)  Japan

Etymology
The kanji spelling is influenced by.

Proper noun

 * : Yamato, ancient name of Japan