Kan-on

One of the sources of pronunciation of Japanese kanji

Kan'on is also a Japanese name for the goddess Guanyin.

Kan-on or kan'on (漢音, Japanese pronunciation: [kaꜜɰ̃.oɴ] or [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 tō-on (唐音, Tang sound), which were later phonetic loans.

Kan-on are on'yomi (音読み) based on the central Chang'an pronunciation of Middle Chinese.[1] 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.[1] 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."[1]

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.[1]

## Characteristics as compared to go-on

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### In consonants

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type  | unvoiced / voiced  | voiced / nasal  | zi- / ni- or zy- / ny-

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example | 神 | 大 | 土 | 地 | 分 | 仏  | 男 | 女 | 万 | 美 | 無  | 二児 | 人刃 | 日 | 如 | 若
Kan-on | ɕin | tai | to | tɕi | fun | futsu  | dan | dʑo | ban | bi | bu  | dʑi | dʑin | dʑitsu | dʑo | dʑaku
Go-on | dʑin | dai | do | dʑi | bun | butsu  | nan | njo | man | mi | mu  | ni | nin | nitɕi | njo | njaku
notes  |  | d- / n- | b- / m- | Mandarin r-, er

### In vowels

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type  | * / -e  | -ei / -ai  | * / -u

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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 | くゎい kwai | ぐゎいgwai | ka | くゎkwa  | sē | tē | bē | rē  | so | to | do | kō | tō | iu | kiu | riu
Go-on  | e | ke | ge | e | ge | ue/we | ke | ge | ke | ge | ke  | sai | tai | mai | rai  | su | zu | nu | ku | zu | u | ku | ru
Notes  |  | Mandarin -i |
Type  | -i- / -o-  | -e- / -o-  | -a- / -o-  | -a- / -ya-  | -yoku / -iki

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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 | hin | itsu | kitsu  | uen/wen | ken | gen | uetsu/wetsu  | han | hatsu  | kau | kaku | haku  | ɕoku | tɕoku | rjoku
Go-on  | on | kon | hon | otsu | kotsu  | won/on | kon | gon | otɕi/wotɕi  | hon | hotsu  | gjō | kjaku | bjaku  | ɕiki | dʑiki | dʑiki | riki
Notes  |  |  |  |
Type  | -e- / -ya-  | others

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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  | kē | sē | tē | hē | mē | rē  | eki | seki | reki  | giu | getsu | satsu | bun
Go-on  | kjō | gjō | ɕō | dʑō | tɕō | dʑō | hjō | bjō | mjō | rjō  | jaku | ɕaku | dʑaku | rjaku  | gu | gwatsu | setsu | mon
Notes  | Mandarin -ing zheng, cheng, sheng  |  |
Japanese vowels

## See also

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* On'yomi: Sino-Japanese readings
* Go-on: an earlier type of reading
* Tō-on: a later type of reading
* Checked tone

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Miyake, Marc Hideo (2003). Old Japanese: A Phonetic Reconstruction. Routledge. p. 104\. ISBN 978-1-134-40373-8.

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