View source for Kan-on

{{Short description|One of the sources of pronunciation of Japanese kanji}}
{{hatnote|Kan'on is also a Japanese name for the goddess [[Guanyin]].}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{nihongo|'''''Kan-on''''' or '''''kan'on'''''|漢音||{{IPA|ja|kaꜜɰ̃.oɴ}} <small>or</small> {{IPA|ja|kaɰ̃.oɴ|}}, "Han sound"}} are [[Japanese language|Japanese]] [[kanji]] readings borrowed from [[Chinese language|Chinese]] during the [[Tang dynasty]], from the 7th to the 9th centuries; a period which corresponds to the Japanese [[Nara period]]. They were introduced by, among others, envoys from [[Japanese missions to Tang China]]. ''Kan-on'' should not be confused with {{nihongo|''[[tō-on]]''|唐音|Tang sound}}, which were later phonetic loans.
''Kan-on'' are {{nihongo|''[[on'yomi]]''|音読み}} based on the central [[Chang'an]] pronunciation of [[Middle Chinese]].<ref name='Miyake'>{{cite book|last=Miyake|first=Marc Hideo |authorlink=Marc Miyake|title=Old Japanese: A Phonetic Reconstruction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1bp_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA105|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-40373-8|page=104}}</ref> The syllable ''Kan'' is a reading of [[Middle Chinese]]: [[wikt:漢|漢]] (''xan<sup>H</sup>'') as per [[Japanese phonology]], referring to the [[Han dynasty]], which had Chang'an as its [[capital city]].<ref name='Miyake'/> Furthermore, ''Kan'' ([[wikt:漢|漢]]) has also become a description for all things Chinese, e.g., [[kanji]] ('Chinese characters').
Kan'on partly displaced the earlier ''[[go-on]]'', which were "just imitations of [[Hanja#Pronunciation|Korean imitations]], but ''Kan-on'' were imitations of the real thing."<ref name='Miyake'/>
A minority of characters never had their ''kan-on'' transmitted to Japan; their ''kan-on'' are sometimes reconstructed in [[Japanese dictionary|Japanese dictionaries]] although not specifically marked as such. A few dictionaries go as far as to discard attested ''kan-on'' in favour of more systematic pronunciations.<ref name='Miyake'/>
==Characteristics as compared to ''go-on''==
===In consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! type
! colspan="6" | unvoiced / voiced
! colspan="5" | voiced / nasal
! colspan="7" | zi- / ni- <small style="font-weight:normal;">or zy- / ny-</small>
|-
!example!!神!!大!!土!!地!!分!!仏
!男!!女!!万!!美!!無
!二児!!人刃!!日!!如!!若
|-
|Kan-on||sin||tai||to||ti||fun||futu
|dan||dyo||ban||bi||bu
|zi||zin||zitu||zyo||zyaku
|-
|Go-on||zin||dai||do||di||bun||butu
|nan||nyo||man||mi||mu
|ni||nin||niti||nyo||nyaku
|-
| notes
| colspan="6" |<small></small>
| colspan="2" |<small>d- / n-</small>
| colspan="3" |<small>b- / m-</small>
| colspan="7" |<small>[[Standard Chinese|Mandarin]] r-, er </small>
|}
===In vowels===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! type
! colspan="12" | * / -e
! colspan="4" | -ei / -ai
! colspan="8" | * / -u
|-
!examples
!衣!!気!!戯!!愛!!解!!会絵!!快怪!!外!!仮家!!下夏!!化!!花
!西斉!!体帝!!米!!礼
!素!!図!!怒!!公工口!!豆頭!!右有!!九久!!留
|-
|Kan-on
|i||ki||gi||ai||kai||colspan="2"|kwai||gwai||colspan="2"|ka||colspan="2"|kwa
|sei||tei||bei||rei
|so||to||do||kou||tou||iu||kiu||riu
|-
|Go-on
|e||ke||ge||e||ge||we||ke||ge||ke||ge|| colspan="2" |ke
|sai||tai||mai||rai
|su||zu||nu||ku||du||u||ku||ru
|-
| Notes
| colspan="12" |
| colspan="4" |<small>Mandarin -i</small>
| colspan="8" |<small></small>
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! colspan="5" | -i- / -o-
! colspan="4" | -e- / -o-
! colspan="2" | -a- / -o-
! colspan="3" | -a- / -ya-
! colspan="4" | -yoku / -iki
|-
!Examples
!音隠!!今金!!品!!乙!!乞
!遠園!!建!!言厳!!越
!叛!!発
!行!!客!!白
!色拭!!食!!直!!力
|-
|Kan-on
|in||kin||fin||itu||kitu
|wen||ken||gen||wetu
|fan||fatu
|kau||kaku||faku
|colspan="2"|syoku||tyoku||ryoku
|-
|Go-on
|on||kon||fon||otu||kotu
|won||kon||gon||woti
|fon||fotu
|gyau||kyaku||byaku
|siki||ziki||diki||riki
|-
| Notes
| colspan="9" |<small></small>
| colspan="2" |<small></small>
| colspan="3" |<small></small>
| colspan="4" |<small></small>
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! Type
! colspan="14" | -e- / -ya-
! colspan="4" | others
|-
!Examples
!京経!!形!!正生性声省精!!成静!!丁挺!!定!!兵!!平病!!名命明!!霊
!役!!石赤!!寂!!暦
!牛!!月!!殺!!文聞
|-
|Kan-on
|colspan="2"|kei||colspan="2"|sei||colspan="2"|tei||colspan="2"|fei||mei||rei
|eki||colspan="2"|seki||reki
|giu||getu||satu||bun
|-
|Go-on
|kyau||gyau||syau||zyau||tyau||dyau||fyau||byau||myau||ryau
|yaku||syaku||zyaku||ryaku
|gu||gwati||setu||mon
|-
| Notes
| colspan="10" |<small>Mandarin -ing  zheng, cheng, sheng </small>
| colspan="4" |<small></small>
| colspan="4" |<small></small>
|}
[[File:Japanese (standard) vowels.svg|thumb|Japanese vowels]]
== See also ==
* ''[[On'yomi]]'': Sino-Japanese readings
** ''[[Go-on]]'': an earlier type of reading
** ''[[Tō-on]]'': a later type of reading
* [[Checked tone]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Kanji]]
{{Japanese language}}
{{vocab-stub}}