Nihon vs. Nippon

mvk20 · 9 Mar 2006

I've seen both for how one says "Japan" in Japanese. I've certainly seen "Nihon" far more often, but I have seen "Nippon", and I wondered what the difference is, or if there's any history behind the two forms, any sort of explanatory information. Thanks!

J C · 9 Mar 2006

As you said, Nihon is used far more often and is the standard pronounciation. It's my understanding that Nippon is adds a nationalistic tone, but I can't find anywhere sources that actually say so - I may be wrong.

Ages ago the pronounciation for 本 was PON, but then in the Nara/Heian period the pronounciation of 本 changed to HON and some people started pronouncing 日本 as NIHON, but people still used NIPPON out of habit. When other pronounciations were standardised and Tokyo Japanese was made into the official Japanese language, the NIHON/NIPPON duality seemingly got ignored or was considered too difficult to deal with.

Sometimes it is specifically pronounced NIHON or NIPPON:
日本銀行 is "NIHON GINKO", but 「日本銀行券」 on Yen notes is pronounced "NIPPON GINKO"
日本橋 in Osaka is pronounced "NIPPON BASHI", but the one in Tokyo is "NIHON BASHI"

Quite confusing...

J C · 9 Mar 2006

Oh, and here is what Goo's dictionary has to say:

古くは政権の所在地名「やまと」が日本の総称として用いられ、また、中国・朝鮮では「倭」と記していた。聖徳太子が隋に送った国書に「日出処天子」と記したのと同じ発想から「日本」を正式の国号としたのは大化頃からと思われ、「やまと」「ひのもと」などと読まれていたが、奈良・平安時代になると音読されることが多くなり、「にほん」「にっぽん」の両様の発音が行われた。昭和初期、「にっぽん」に統一しようとする動きがあったが、法的に制定されることなく現在に至っている。本辞典では、検索の便宜上「にほん」として配列した

So apparently there was a movement to standardise the pronounciation on NIPPON at the beginning of the Showas period, but it was never legally enacted. Also, if you look it up in a dictionary, the "NIHON" pronounciation is used for convenience.

Miyabi_maru · 14 Mar 2006

I was wondering what the difference was too^_^

JimmySeal · 20 Mar 2006

Japanese Paper currency has "Nippon Ginko" printed on it in romaji, but other than that I can't remember a time when I noticed anyone use the word Nippon here. Of course the language is nihongo, not nippongo, and Japanese people are nihonjin, so if you think about it, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for people to call their language nihongo and their country nippon. That would just be kinda silly.

undrentide · 20 Mar 2006

JimmySeal said:
Japanese Paper currency has "Nippon Ginko" printed on it in romaji, but other than that I can't remember a time when I noticed anyone use the word Nippon here. Of course the language is nihongo, not nippongo, and Japanese people are nihonjin, so if you think about it, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for people to call their language nihongo and their country nippon. That would just be kinda silly.

Postal stamps also show NIPPON, but in our daily conversation both nihon and nippon are used quite often.
When cheering on Japan at sports games, we do say "nippon!", most probably it is easier to stress/emphasize. "Ganbare, nippon" is a popular phrase.
And we do say "nippon jin" though "nippon go" is far less popular.

JimmySeal said:
if you think about it, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for people to call their language nihongo and their country nippon. That would just be kinda silly.

Languages (not only Japanese) are living things, and they can be illogical in many aspects. (IMHO)

KrazyKat · 20 Mar 2006

Of course 'Japan' can also be used to refer to Japan in rare circumstances.
Eg. JR（ジェイアール） - Japan Railway（ジャパンレールウェイ） there are other examples too.

Elizabeth · 20 Mar 2006

undrentide said:
Postal stamps also show NIPPON, but in our daily conversation both nihon and nippon are used quite often.
When cheering on Japan at sports games, we do say "nippon!", most probably it is easier to stress/emphasize. "Ganbare, nippon" is a popular phrase.
And we do say "nippon jin" though "nippon go" is far less popular.
Languages (not only Japanese) are living things, and they can be illogical in many aspects. (IMHO)

Nippon is also used, I think, for most names of companies and organizations, foundations etc with Japan in the title instead of Nihon.

toigaru · 24 Mar 2006

undrentide said:
Postal stamps also show NIPPON, but in our daily conversation...

As undrentide wrote, I have many stamps (most of 1983) and all "Nippon" printed on them. There is no Nihon. But also I have magazine named Nipponia I agree with undrentide again

undrentide said:
Languages (not only Japanese) are living things, and they can be illogical in many aspects. (IMHO)

Buntaro · 25 Mar 2006

Nippon is more macho than Nihon. As being macho is related to the idea of national pride, it makes sense that Nippon appears on Japanese stamps and money.

Takaryo · 25 Mar 2006

In my Japanese class, my teacher says Nippongo, but never Nihongo. But I say Nihongo.

Nihon vs. Nippon

mvk20

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J C

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J C

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Miyabi_maru

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JimmySeal

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undrentide

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Elizabeth

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toigaru

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