are Japanese

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

readings borrowed from Chinese during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, from the 7th to the 9th centuries; a period which corresponds to the Japanese

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

. They were introduced by, among others, envoys from Japanese missions to Tang China. ''Kan-on'' should not be confused with , which were later phonetic loans. ''Kan-on'' are based on the central

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

pronunciation of

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

. The syllable ''Kan'' is a reading of

: 漢 (''xan^H'') as per

Japanese phonology Japanese phonology is the system of sounds used in the pronunciation of the Japanese language. Unless otherwise noted, this article describes the standard variety of Japanese based on the Tokyo dialect. There is no overall consensus on the nu ...

, referring to the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

, which had Chang'an as its

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

. Furthermore, ''Kan'' ( 漢) has also become a description for all things Chinese, e.g.,

('Chinese characters'). Kan'on partly displaced the earlier '' go-on'', which were "just imitations of Korean imitations, but ''Kan-on'' were imitations of the real thing." A minority of characters never had their ''kan-on'' transmitted to Japan; their ''kan-on'' are sometimes reconstructed in

Japanese dictionaries have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic ...

although not specifically marked as such. A few dictionaries go as far as to discard attested ''kan-on'' in favour of more systematic pronunciations.

Characteristics as compared to ''go-on''

In consonants

In vowels

See also

References