Etymology
Main article: Names of Japan
Japan
Japanese name
Kanji 日本国
Hiragana にっぽんこく
にほんこく
Katakana ニッポンコク
ニホンコク
showTranscriptions
The name for Japan in Japanese is written using the kanji 日本 and pronounced Nippon or Nihon.
[9]
Before it was adopted in the early 8th century, the country was known in China as Wa (倭) and in
Japan by the endonym Yamato.[10] Nippon, the original Sino-Japanese reading of the characters, is
favored today for official uses, including on banknotes and postage stamps.[9] Nihon is typically used
in everyday speech and reflects shifts in Japanese phonology during the Edo period.[10] The
characters 日本 mean "sun origin", in reference to Japan's relatively eastern location. [9] It is the
source of the popular Western epithet "Land of the Rising Sun".[11]
The name Japan is based on the Chinese pronunciation and was introduced to European languages
through early trade. In the 13th century, Marco Polo recorded the early Mandarin or Wu
Chinese pronunciation of the characters 日本國 as Cipangu.[12] The old Malay name for
Japan, Japang or Japun, was borrowed from a southern coastal Chinese dialect and encountered
by Portuguese traders in Southeast Asia, who brought the word to Europe in the early 16th century.
[13]
The first version of the name in English appears in a book published in 1577, which spelled the
name as Giapan in a translation of a 1565 Portuguese letter.[14][15]
History
Main article: History of Japan
Prehistoric to classical history
Legendary Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇, Jinmu-tennō)
A Paleolithic culture from around 30,000 BC constitutes the first known habitation of the islands of
Japan.[16] This was followed from around 14,500 BC (the start of the Jōmon period) by
a Mesolithic to Neolithic semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer culture characterized by pit dwelling and
rudimentary agriculture.[17] Clay vessels from the period are among the oldest surviving examples of
pottery.[18] From around 1000 BC, Yayoi people began to enter the archipelago from Kyushu,
intermingling with the Jōmon;[19] the Yayoi period saw the introduction of practices including wet-rice
farming,[20] a new style of pottery,[21] and metallurgy from China and Korea.[22] According to
legend, Emperor Jimmu (grandson of Amaterasu) founded a kingdom in central Japan in 660 BC,
beginning a continuous imperial line.[23]
Japan first appears in written history in the Chinese Book of Han, completed in 111 AD.[24] Buddhism
was introduced to Japan from Baekje (a Korean kingdom) in 552, but the subsequent development
of Japanese Buddhism was primarily influenced by China. [25] Despite early resistance, Buddhism was
promoted by the ruling class, including figures like Prince Shōtoku, and gained widespread
acceptance beginning in the Asuka period (592–710).[26]
The far-reaching Taika Reforms in 645 nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed
equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a
new system of taxation.[27] The Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his
nephew Prince Ōtomo, became a major catalyst for further administrative reforms. [28] These reforms
culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code, which consolidated existing statutes and
established the structure of the central and subordinate local governments. [27] These legal reforms
created the ritsuryō state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place
for half a millennium.[28]
The Nara period (710–784) marked an emergence of a Japanese state centered on the Imperial
Court in Heijō-kyō (modern Nara). The period is characterized by the appearance of a
nascent literary culture with the completion of the Kojiki (712) and Nihon Shoki (720), as well as the
development of Buddhist-inspired artwork and architecture.[29][30] A smallpox epidemic in 735–737 is
believed to have killed as much as one-third of Japan's population. [31][30] In 784, Emperor
Kanmu moved the capital, settling on Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto) in 794.[30] This marked the beginning
of the Heian period (794–1185), during which a distinctly indigenous Japanese culture
emerged. Murasaki Shikibu's The Tale of Genji and the lyrics of Japan's national anthem "Kimigayo"
were written during this time.[32]
