Alternate historical names for Japan

The following are various names by which Japan is/has been called:

  • Akishima or Akitsushima ("Island of the Dragonfly"), 秋津島
  • The Land of the Rising Sun
  • Ôyashima (Oho Yashima), 大八洲 or 大八島国 (Yashima, or "eight islands is a reference to Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Tsushima, Awaji shima, Ikishima, Okinoshima, and Sado-ga-shima)[1]
  • Shinkoku or Kami no kuni ("land of the gods"), 神国 or 神の国
  • Yamato, 大和
  • Ashihara
  • Ka
  • Wa, 和 or 倭

Terms such as honchô (本朝, "this court/realm"), wagakuni (我国, "our country"), and the like are also common, but might not be taken as true placenames.

Notes

  1. Michiko Y. Aoki, Records of Wind and Earth, page 287

References

  • Aoki, Michiko, Records of Wind and Earth
  • Kaempfer, Engelbert. (1999) Kaempfer's Japan. University of Hawai'i Press. Ttranslated by Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey.