{{Short description|Japanese kanji pronunciation style}} {{Redirect|Go-On|other uses|Go On (disambiguation)}} {{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}} {{nihongo|'''''Go-on''''' or '''''goon'''''|呉音||{{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|g|ou|.|Q|n}} {{Respell|GOH|on}}; {{IPA|ja|ɡo.oɴ}} or {{IPA|ja|ɡoꜜoɴ|label=}}, "sounds from the Wu region"}} are Japanese kanji readings based on the classical pronunciations of Chinese characters of the historically prestigious eastern Jiankang<ref name="Pulleyblank">{{cite book|author=Edwin G Pulleyblank|title=Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation: In Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWGIxP1R4P4C&pg=PA487|date=1991|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-4467-3|pages=487–}}</ref> (now Nanjing) dialect.
''Go-on'' are the earliest form of {{nihongo|''on'yomi''|音読み}}, preceding the {{nihongo|''kan-on''|漢音}} readings. Both ''go-on'' and ''kan-on'' exhibit characteristics of Middle Chinese.
== History and uses == alt=|thumb|370x370px|Kentoshi route, also known as the sea route from Japan to China {{citation needed span|date=March 2023|''Go-on'' readings were introduced into Japan during the 5th and 6th centuries}}, when China was divided into separate Northern and Southern dynasties. They may have been imported either directly from the Southern dynasty or from the Korean Peninsula. There was an influx of thinkers from China and Korea to Japan at that time, including practitioners of both Buddhism and Confucianism. However, there is no historical documentation to demonstrate that ''go-on'' readings are actually based on Southern Chinese.
Shibatani has noted that ''go-on'' readings make up the first of three waves of Chinese loans to the Japanese language, the others being ''kan-on'' and ''tou-sou-on'' (meaning Tang Song sound), with ''go-on'' being mainly associated with Buddhism.<ref name="Shibatani">{{cite book|author = Masayoshi Shibatani|title = The Languages of Japan|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sD-MFTUiPYgC&q=go%27on&pg=PA121|date = 2008|publisher = Cambridge University Press|isbn = 978-0521369183|pages = 121–}}</ref>
''Go-on'' readings are particularly common for Buddhist and legal terminology, especially those of the Nara and Heian periods. These readings were also used for the Chinese characters of the ancient Japanese syllabary used in the ''Kojiki''.
When ''kan-on'' readings were introduced to Japan, their ''go-on'' equivalents did not disappear entirely. Even today, ''go-on'' and ''kan-on'' readings still both exist. Many characters have both readings. For instance, the name ''Shōtoku'' (which is ''go-on'') is pronounced as such in some derived placenames, but as ''Seitoku'' (which is ''kan-on'') in others.
However, some ''go-on'' sounds are now lost. Even though monolingual Japanese dictionaries list a complete inventory of ''go-on'' for all characters, some were actually reconstructed using the ''fanqie'' method or were inferred to be the same as their modern homophones.<ref name='Miyake'>{{cite book|last=Miyake|first=Marc Hideo |authorlink=Marc Hideo Miyake|title=Old Japanese: A Phonetic Reconstruction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1bp_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-40373-8|page=104}}</ref>
==Names== ''Go-on'' readings were formerly referred to as {{Nihongo|'''''Wa-on'''''|和音||{{lit}} "Japanese sound"}}. The term ''''go-on'''' was first introduced in the mid-Heian, likely by people who wished to promote ''kan-on'' readings.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} During the Tang dynasty, people in Chang'an referred to their own way of reading characters as {{Nihongo|''qínyīn''|秦音|shin'on|lit. "Qin sound"}} and all other readings, particularly those originating south of the Yangtze, as {{Nihongo|''wúyīn''|呉音|go'on|lit. "Wu sound"}} or one of many other similar names.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} It is thought{{By whom|date=January 2023}} that Japanese students studying in China adopted this practice, and, taking the position that the Chang'an-based manner of elocution were the correct ones, they also began to refer to the previously imported, unfashionable kanji readings as "''go-on''".
''Go-on'' readings were also occasionally referred to as {{Nihongo|''Tsushima-on''|対馬音}} and {{Nihongo|''Kudara-on''|百済音||literally "Baekje sound"}} because of a story that claims a Baekjean nun named {{nihongo|Hōmei|法明|}} had taught Buddhism in Tsushima by reading the ''Vimalakīrti Sutra'' entirely in ''go-on''.<ref name='Miyake'/>
==Characteristics== ''Go-on'' readings are generally less orderly than ''kan-on'' readings, but can be characterized as follows. * voiced consonants in Middle Chinese were distinguished from unvoiced consonants when they occurred in syllable-initial positions. * Syllable-initial nasal consonants are pronounced as nasals (''m-'', ''n-'') in Middle Chinese, but in ''kan-on'', they are interpreted as voiced plosives (''b-'', ''d-''). * In some characters, ''-o'' and ''-u'' are both acceptable and widespread, e.g., 素 (''so'', ''su''), 奴 (''do'', ''nu'') and 都 (''to'', ''tsu'').
<!-- table is from here --> {| class="wikitable" align="center" |+ Examples <small>(rare readings in parentheses)</small> |- ! ''Kanji'' ! Meaning ! ''Go-on'' ! ''Kan-on'' ! Middle Chinese<ref>{{citation | title = A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology | first = William H. | last = Baxter | author-link = William H. Baxter | location = Berlin | publisher = Mouton de Gruyter | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-3-11-012324-1 | postscript = }}</ref> |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|明}} | bright | ''myō'' | ''mei'' | ''mjaeng'' |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|京}} | capital | ''kyō'' | ''kei'' | ''kjaeng'' |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|上}} | up | ''jō'' | ''shō'' | ''dzyangX'' |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|下}} | below | ''ge'' | ''ka'' | ''haeX'', ''haeH'' |- |} <!-- table end -->
==See also== * ''On'yomi'': Sino-Japanese readings ** ''Kan-on'': a later type of reading ** ''Tō-on'': an even later type of reading * Checked tone
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Japanese language}}
Category:Kanji Category:Nanjing