The word Japan is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese names for Japan are (, hiragana: にほん) and ( hiragana: にっぽん). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji .
During the early imperial period in China, Japan was known as or Wa-koku (倭國, literally "Wa-nation" or "Wa-state"), which can mean either "dwarf" or "submissive". Japanese scribes found fault with its offensive connotation, and officially changed the characters they used to spell the native name for Japan, then known as Yamato, replacing the ("dwarf") character Wa with the homophone ("peaceful, harmonious"). Wa was often combined with ("great") to form the name , which is read as Yamato (see also Jukujikun for a discussion of this type of spelling where the kanji and pronunciations are not directly related). The earliest record of Nippon () appears in the Chinese Old Book of Tang, which notes the change in 703 when Japanese envoys requested that its name be changed. It is believed that the name change within Japan itself took place sometime between 665 and 703, during the Heian period, Yamato () was gradually replaced by Nippon (). In 1076, Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari in his book Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk mentioned this country as 'Jabarqa' (جَابَرْقَا).https://www.myoldmaps.com/early-medieval-monographs/214-al-kashgaris-world-map/214-al-kashghari.pdf World Map of al-Kashghari, «While to the east there are the lands of Mashin [China] and Japarqa [Japan], to the west, there appear the borders of Egypt and the lands of the Magrib [Iberian peninsula], which is Andulus.» Marco Polo called Japan 'Cipangu' around 1300, based on the Chinese enunciation of the name, probably (compare modern Min Nan pronunciation ji̍t pún kok). In the 16th century in Malacca, Portuguese traders first heard from Malay the names Jepang, Jipang, and Jepun. In 1577 it was first recorded in English, spelled Giapan. At the end of the 16th century, Portuguese missionaries came to coastal islands of Japan and created brief grammars and dictionaries of Middle Japanese for the purpose of trade. The 1603–1604 dictionary Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam has 2 entries: nifonDoi (1980:463) and iippon.Doi (1980:363) Since then many derived names of Japan appeared on early-modern European maps.
History
Both Nippon and Nihon literally mean "the sun's origin", that is, where the sun originates,Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric et al. (2005). "Nihon" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, see Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File . and are often translated as the Land of the Rising Sun. This nomenclature comes from Imperial correspondence with the Chinese Sui dynasty and refers to Japan's eastern position relative to China. Before Nihon came into official use, Japan was known as or . Wa was a name early China used to refer to an ethnic group living in Japan around the time of the Three Kingdoms period. Etymology
Wa Although the etymological origins of "Wa" remain uncertain, Chinese historical texts recorded an ancient people residing in the Japanese archipelago (perhaps Kyūshū), named something like *ˀWâ or *ˀWər . Carr (1992:9–10) surveys prevalent proposals for Wa's etymology ranging from feasible (transcribing Japanese first-person pronouns waga "my; our" and ware "I; oneself; thou") to shameful (writing Japanese Wa as implying "dwarf"), and summarizes interpretations for *ˀWâ "Japanese" into variations on two etymologies: "behaviorally 'submissive' or physically 'short'." The first "submissive; obedient" explanation began with the (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi dictionary. It defines as shùnmào "obedient/submissive/docile appearance", graphically explains the "person; human" radical with a wěi "bent" phonetic, and quotes the above Shijing poem. "Conceivably, when Chinese first met Japanese," Carr (1992:9) suggests "they transcribed Wa as *ˀWâ 'bent back' signifying 'compliant' bowing/obeisance. Bowing is noted in early historical references to Japan." Examples include "Respect is shown by squatting" (Hou Han Shu, tr. Tsunoda 1951:2), and "they either squat or kneel, with both hands on the ground. This is the way they show respect." (Wei Zhi, tr. Tsunoda 1951:13). Koji Nakayama interprets wēi "winding" as "very far away" and euphemistically translates Wō as "separated from the continent." The second etymology of wō meaning "dwarf, pygmy" has possible cognates in ǎi "low, short (of stature)", wō "strain; sprain; bent legs", and wò "lie down; crouch; sit (animals and birds)". Early Chinese dynastic histories refer to a Zhūrúguó "pygmy/dwarf country" located south of Japan, associated with possibly Okinawa Island or the Ryukyu Islands. Carr cites the historical precedence of construing Wa as "submissive people" and the "Country of Dwarfs" legend as evidence that the "little people" etymology was a secondary development.
Chinese, Korean, and Japanese scribes regularly wrote Wa or Yamato "Japan" with the Chinese character until the 8th century, when the Japanese found fault with it due to its offensive connotation, replacing it with "harmony, peace, balance". Retroactively, this character was adopted in Japan to refer to the country itself, often combined with the character (literally meaning "Great"), so as to write the name as Yamato () (Great Wa, in a manner similar to e.g. Great Qing Empire, Empire of Great Britain). However, the pronunciation Yamato cannot be formed from the sounds of its constituent characters; it refers to a place in Japan and, based on the specific spellings used in ancient documents (see also Man'yōgana and Old Japanese#Vowels), this may have originally meant .2006, (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, 1995, (Daijisen) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, ; entry available online here, entry available online here1988, (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, entry available online here, entry available online here Such words which use certain kanji to name a certain Japanese word solely for the purpose of representing the word's meaning regardless of the given kanji's on'yomi or kun'yomi, a.k.a. jukujikun, is not uncommon in Japanese. Other original names in Chinese texts include Yamatai country (), where a Queen Himiko lived. When hi no moto, the indigenous Japanese way of saying "sun's origin", was written in kanji, it was given the characters . In time, these characters began to be read using Sino-Japanese readings, first Nippon and later Nihon, although the two names are interchangeable to this day.
Nippon
The very first historically attested record of Nippon (日本) is found in an epitaph of a Paekche individual called (禰軍; 예군), believed to have been created around 678 that was discovered in 2011. The epitaph engraves the aftermath of the Battle of Baekgang where Silla and Tang alliance invaded Paekche and many of the refugees fled to Japan as Toraijins.According to Chinese historian Lianlong Wang (王連龍), the characters of Nippon are referring to the kingdom of Paekche as Japan was referred to as Busang Kingdom (扶桑國). Historically, "Busang Kingdom (also known as "Fusang" in Chinese)" was reserved for the "farthest east kingdom" depending on the nation that used it (i.e. Korea was a "Fusang Kingdom" from China's perspective) similar to Cheonggu/Qingqiu. However, since the individual was Korean, "Busang Kingdom" in the context of his epitaph was directing it towards Japan (then Yamato Kingship) as the kingdom of Japan was farthest east from Korea's perspective, while Nippon was dedicated to Paekche, his home nation. Japanese historian Haruyuki Tono (東野 治之) also made a similar conclusion, stating that the term Nippon originally meant "Paekche" before being adopted by the Japanese most likely due to the influence from the Paekche Toraijins.
Nippon also appeared in history only at the end of the 7th century. The Old Book of Tang (; 945), one of the Twenty-Four Histories, also stated that the Japanese envoy disliked his country's name Woguo (Chinese) (), and changed it to Nippon (), or "Origin of the Sun". Another 8th-century chronicle, True Meaning of Shiji (), however, states that the first female Chinese Emperor Wu Zetian ordered a Japanese envoy to change the country's name to Nippon. It has been suggested that the name change in Japan may have taken place sometime between 665 and 703, and Wu Zetian then acceded to the name change in China following a request from a delegation from Japan in 703. The sun plays an important role in Japanese mythology and religion as the emperor is said to be the direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu and the legitimacy of the ruling house rested on this divine appointment and descent from the chief deity of the predominant Shinto religion. The name of the country reflects this central importance of the sun. The association of the country with the sun was indicated in a letter sent in 607 and recorded in the official history of the Sui dynasty. Prince Shōtoku, the Regent of Japan, sent a mission to China with a letter in which he called the emperor of Japan (actually an empress at the time) . The message said: "The Son of Heaven, on the Land of the Rising Sun, sends this letter to the Son of Heaven of the Land, where the Sun sets, and wishes him well". (cites Bielenstein 2005 page 102)
The English word for Japan came to the West from early trade routes. The early Mandarin Chinese or possibly Wu Chinese word for Japan was recorded by Marco Polo as Cipangu. The Malay and Indonesian words Jepang, Jipang, and Jepun were borrowed from non-Mandarin Chinese languages, and this Malay word was encountered by Portuguese traders in Malacca in the 16th century. It is thought the Portuguese traders were the first to bring the word to Europe. It was first recorded in English in 1577 spelled Giapan.The History of trauayle in the VVest and East Indies : and other countreys lying eyther way towardes the fruitfull and ryche Moluccaes. As Moscouia, Persia, Arabia, Syria, Aegypte, Ethiopia, Guinea, China in Cathayo, and Giapan: VVith a discourse of the Northwest passage. In the hande of our Lorde be all the corners of the earth, Richard Jugge, approximately 1514-1577, page 493
In English, the modern official title of the country is simply "Japan", one of the few countries to have no "long form" name. The official Japanese-language name is Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku (), literally "Nation of Japan".In Japanese, countries whose "long form" does not contain a designation such as republic or kingdom are generally given a name appended by the character ("country" or "nation"): for example, (Dominica), (Bahamas), and (Kuwait). As an adjective, the term "Dai-Nippon" remains popular with Japanese governmental, commercial, or social organizations whose reach extend beyond Japan's geographic borders (e.g., Dai Nippon Printing, Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, etc.).
Though Nippon or Nihon are still by far the most popular names for Japan from within the country, recently the foreign words Japan and even Jipangu (from Cipangu, see below) have been used in Japanese mostly for the purpose of foreign branding.
Phonology Portuguese missionaries arrived in Japan at the end of the 16th century. In the course of learning Japanese, they created several grammars and dictionaries of Middle Japanese. The 1603–1604 dictionary Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam contains two entries for Japan: nifon and iippon. The title of the dictionary (Vocabulary of the Language of Japan) illustrates that the Portuguese word for Japan was by that time Iapam.
Nifon
Historically, Japanese has undergone a number of phonological changes. Originally *, this weakened into and eventually became the modern . Modern is still pronounced when followed by .
Middle Japanese nifon becomes Modern Japanese nihon via regular phonological changes.
Jippon