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(Chinese pronunciation: ''Wō''; Japanese pronunciation: ''Wa'' or more commonly, ''Yamato''; Korean pronunciation: ''Wae'') is a name of Japan used by ancient Chinese, Japanese, and Korean dynasties. The first written record of Japan (then in the Yayoi period, 300 BC-AD 250) is found as Wō in ''Wei Zhi'' (魏志) of ''San Guo Zhi''.

Contents

Etymology

Contacts with the state of Wu (5th century BC)

The Wa in the Liang-Shu (7th century)

Modern use

See also

References

External links

Etymology

The letterform "倭" is composed of "委 (entrust)" and "人 (human)." Thus, dictionaries have ascribed to the theory that the character "倭" originally meant "docile."^[1][2] The word has also been interpreted as meaning "very far away" ("逶") or "separated from the continent."^[3] It is uncertain whether the character first referred to the Japanese as a people, or whether it was a pre-existing word that was borrowed to refer to the Japanese.

Contacts with the state of Wu (5th century BC)

Ambassadoral visits to Japan by the later Northern Chinese dynasties Wei and Jin Dynasty (265-420) (''Encounters of the Eastern Barbarians'', Wei Chronicles) recorded that the Wō people claimed to be descendants of the 'Tàibó' of the Kingdom of 'Wu' (吳国). 'Tàibó' is the uncle of King Wen of Zhou. 'Wu' is a state that fell in the 5th century BC. Historical records also show that the ancient Wō people had lifestyles and customs similar to those of the pre-Sinicized inhabitants of the Wu Kingdom, including tattooing, ritual teeth-pulling, and baby-carrying on backs. Tattooing examples are found on Haniwa statues with red paint on faces and arms.
:魏略：「倭人自謂太伯之後。」(''Wèi lüè'': "Wō people call themselves 'posterity of Tàibó'.")
:晉書：「自謂太伯之後，又言上古使詣中國，皆自稱大夫。」　列傳第六十七 四夷 (''Jìn Shū, Lièzhuàn #67 - Barbarians of the Four Directions'': "They call themselves 'posterity of Tàibó'; it is also said that they have dispatched embassies to Zhongguo since times of old; they all proclaim themselves as 'big man' ('dàfu', with the same shape in Chinese characters as 'dàifu' in modern Mandarin, which is an honorific title for doctors, etc, is a title for some kind of statesmen in Ancient China.).")
:資治通鑑：「今日本又云吳太伯之後，蓋吳亡，其支庶入海為倭。」 ("The Japan of the present day is also said to be 'posterity of the Tàibó of Wu'; perhaps when 'Wu' was destroyed, a commoner of royal descent entered the sea and became a Wō.")

The Wa in the Liang-Shu (7th century)

The 7th century Chinese chronicle Book of Liang (Liangshu, Chinese: 梁書) describes the Wa as a Japanese people apparently living in Kyūshū, governed by the Kingdom of Yamatai.

''As for the Wa, they call themselves posterity of the Grand Count'' (Tàibó). ''According to custom, the people are all tattooed'' (This could also mean "The commoners are all tattooed"). ''Their territory is over 12,000 li (1,500 kilometers) from our Daifang, roughly to the east of Guiji (modern Shaoxing (Zhejiang)). One must travel an incredible distance to get there. From Daifang to Wa, it is necessary to follow the coast and go beyond the Han Korean state to the south-east for about 500 kilometers, then for the first time cross a sea to a small island 75 kilometers away, then cross the sea again for 75 kilometers to the country of Miro'' (Chinese: 未盧國 ''Wèilú-guó'', usually identified with modern Tosu city in Saga Prefecture, Japan). ''50 kilometers to the southeast is the country of Ito'' (Chinese: 伊都國 ''Yīdū-guó''). ''10 kilometers to the southeast is the country of Nu'' (Chinese: 奴國 ''Nú-guó''). ''10 kilometers to the east is the country of Bumi'' (Chinese: 不彌國 ''Bùmí-guó''). ''20 days to the south by boat is the country of Touma'' (Chinese: 投馬國 ''Tóumǎ-guó''). ''10 days to the south by boat or one month by land is the country of Yamatai'' (Chinese: 邪馬臺國 ''Xiémǎtái-guó''). ''There resides the King of the Wa people.'' (Chinese: 倭者　自云太伯之後　俗皆文身　去帶方萬二千餘里　大抵在會稽之東　相去絶遠　從帶方至倭　循海水行　歴韓國　乍東乍南　七千餘里始度一海　海闊千餘里　名瀚海　至一支國　又度一海千餘里　名未盧國　又東南陸行五百里　至伊都國　又東南行百里　至奴國　又東行百里　至不彌國　又南水行二十日　至投馬國　又南水行十日　陸行一月日　至邪馬臺國 即倭王所居, Liang Shu, 7th century)

Modern use

Currently the character "和" ("wa") is used in Japan as an adjective for describing things which are Japanese in nature. For example "和風" (wafu) 'Japanese style', "和食" (washoku) 'Japanese food', "和室" (washitsu) 'tatami room', "和服" (wafuku) 'Japanese traditional clothes (kimono, yukata, etc.)'. The kanji shares a pronunciation and a radical "禾" with "倭", implying some relationship between the two characters. The character was changed from "倭" to "和" during the Nara period, because the original character had become pejorative, since from the Chinese point of view at the time the Japanese were viewed as barbarians, in the same sense that the Romans viewed all people from outside the Roman empire as barbarian. "和" by itself means harmony. The right radical "口" is a mouth singing a song, and left radical "禾" means, from its sound ''ka'', "to add", thus the character means "a song joined by another song" to make harmony. ^[4] "和" also means "sum" and "addition". This character was chosen as a replacement for "倭" because it has a similar sound and respecting harmony was considered a very important Japanese value at the time, as it still is.

See also

★ Names of Japan

★ Wokou (倭寇)

★ Fusang

★ Five kings of Wa

★ Hogong

References

1. 旺文社 漢和辞典,1991,ISBN4-01-077522-X
2. 說文解字(Shuowen Jiezi) 卷九 人部, 倭 順皃 从人委聲
3. [1]
4. 角川新字源(Kadokawa Shinjigen), , , , Kadokawa Shoten, ,

External links

★ Text of the ''Wei Zhi'' (魏志) of ''San Guo Zhi'' (Chinese and Japanese)

★ English translation of the ''Wei Zhi''

★ Chinese historical accounts of the country of Wa (Chinese and Japanese)

★ Wa Countries and Lineages of Emperors (in English and Japanese)