Tō-on
Tō-on or tōon (唐音; English: /ˈtoʊ.ɒn/ TOH-on; Japanese pronunciation: [toꜜːoɴ], lit. "Tang sound") are a group of Sino-Japanese kanji readings (on'yomi) introduced from China after the older go-on and kan-on strata.[1] In a narrow sense, the term refers to readings of late Ming and early Qing Chinese brought to Japan during the Edo period by Zen monks, Nagasaki interpreters, and merchants. More broadly, it includes earlier sō-on readings introduced from about the tenth century onward and is also called tō-sō-on (唐宋音; lit. "Tang and Song sound").[2]
In this name, 唐 refers to China rather than limiting the readings to the Tang dynasty.[3]
Scope and transmission
[edit]Sō-on is often used as a synonym for tō-on. When the terms are distinguished, sō-on denotes the earlier Song–Yuan layer and tō-on more narrowly denotes later Ming–Qing readings. Unlike the more systematic go-on and kan-on strata, tō-on is lexically restricted: many readings entered Japanese only with particular words.[2]
After the suspension of official missions to Tang China, Sino-Japanese exchange resumed in the late Heian and early Kamakura period and continued through the Muromachi and Edo periods. The readings were transmitted by Zen monks studying abroad, merchants engaged in private trade, Chinese monks in Japan, Nagasaki interpreters, and scholars of Chinese. Consequently, their Chinese sources vary widely in both time and region.[2][4]
Academically, tō-on is divided into medieval tō-on (also called sō-on by some scholars) and early modern tō-on.[5]
- Medieval tō-on refers to pronunciations used in Kamakura-period Rinzai and Sōtō school Buddhist recitation, chiefly associated with Southern Song and Yuan contacts and with the Jiangnan and Zhejiang regions.[2][4]
- Early modern tō-on refers to pronunciations used in the Edo period by the Ōbaku school and the Gion-ji branch of the Sōtō school, as well as readings learned by interpreters in Nagasaki and by scholars of Chinese. These include late Ming and Qing layers associated with Nanjing Mandarin and Hangzhou.[2][4]
Established tō-on words are far fewer than go-on or kan-on words. Familiar modern examples are mostly based on the medieval layer. Classification can nevertheless be difficult because a word may have multiple spellings, use characters phonetically, or mix readings from different strata.[6]
Characteristics and examples
[edit]Because tō-on readings were borrowed over several centuries and from several regions, they do not form a single uniform correspondence system. Common patterns include earlier t-series initials appearing as Japanese s-series (茶 sa, 知 shi), loss of some earlier k-series initials (杏 an, 胡 u), some earlier -u or -i codas appearing as -n (行 an, 清 shin), and altered or lost reflexes of checked-tone codas, as in 石灰 shikkui and 知客 shika.[2]
Common lexical examples include angya (行脚) and andon (行灯).[7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Kodansha. 1983. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-87011-620-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 唐音. 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 (in Japanese). Heibonsha. Retrieved 11 August 2026 – via Kotobank.
- ↑ 唐. 精選版 日本国語大辞典 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 11 August 2026 – via Kotobank.
- 1 2 3 Tateno, Yukari (2016). 現代日本漢語の漢字音 [A Study on Modern Japanese Kanji-on] (PDF) (Thesis) (in Japanese). Seitoku University. p. 12.
- ↑ Hizume 2005, p. 201.
- ↑ Hizume 2005, pp. 201–203.
- ↑ Nakazawa, Nobuyuki (5 February 2019). 同じ漢字なのに、日本語と中国語では発音がまったく違うのはなぜですか (in Japanese). National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- Hizume, Shūji (2005). 唐音系字音. 朝倉日本語講座2 文字・書記 (in Japanese). Asakura Publishing. pp. 200–212. ISBN 978-4-254-51512-1.
