Cipango Planum
The word ''Japan'' is an exonym, and is used (in one form or another) by many languages. The Japanese names for Japan are () and (). They are both written in Japanese using the kanji . Since the third century, Chinese called the people of the Japanese archipelago something like "ˀWâ" (), which can also mean "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, ''Yamato'', replacing the ("dwarf") character for ''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 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 ...
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