Kan-on

{{Short description|One of the sources of pronunciation of Japanese kanji}} {{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}} {{hatnote|Kan'on is also a Japanese name for the bodhisattva Guanyin.}} {{nihongo|'''''Kan-on''''' or '''''kan'on'''''|漢音||{{IPA|ja|kaꜜɰ̃.oɴ}} or {{IPA|ja|kaɰ̃.oɴ|}}, "Han sound"}} are Japanese kanji readings borrowed from 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: 漢 (''xanH'') as per Japanese phonology, referring to the Han dynasty, which had Chang'an as its capital city.<ref name='Miyake'/> Furthermore, ''Kan'' (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 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 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;" lang="ja" ! {{lang|en|Type}} ! colspan="6" | {{lang|en|unvoiced / voiced}} ! colspan="5" | {{lang|en|voiced / nasal}} ! colspan="7" | zi- / ni-, zy- / ny- |- !Kanji!!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 |- ! {{lang|en|Notes}} | colspan="6" | | colspan="2" |d- / n- | colspan="3" |b- / m- | colspan="7" |{{lang|en|Mandarin}} r-, er |}

===In vowels=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" lang="ja" ! {{lang|en|Type}} ! colspan="12" | * / -e ! colspan="4" | -ei / -ai ! colspan="8" | * / -u |- !Kanji !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||du||nu||ku||du||u||ku||ru |- ! {{lang|en|Notes}} | colspan="12" | | colspan="4" |{{lang|en|Mandarin}} -i | colspan="8" | |} {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" lang="ja" ! {{lang|en|Type}} ! colspan="5" | -i- / -o- ! colspan="4" | -e- / -o- ! colspan="2" | -a- / -o- ! colspan="3" | -a- / -ya- ! colspan="4" | -yoku / -iki |- !{{lang|en|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 |- ! {{lang|en|Notes}} | colspan="9" | | colspan="2" | | colspan="3" | | colspan="4" | |} {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" lang="ja" ! {{lang|en|Type}} ! colspan="14" | -e- / -ya- ! colspan="4" | {{lang|en|others}} |- ! {{lang|en|Kanji}} !京経!!形!!正声!!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 |- ! {{lang|en|Notes}} | colspan="10" |{{lang|en|Mandarin}} -ing: zheng, cheng, sheng | colspan="4" | | colspan="4" | |} 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