Kan-on

Kan-on (漢音, lit. "Han sound") is one of the sources of pronunciation of Japanese kanji. They were borrowed during the Tang dynasty (7th to 9th century), introduced by, among others, envoys from Japanese missions to Tang China. This period corresponds with the Japanese Nara period. Not to be confused with Tō-on "Tang sound" but nonetheless refers to later phonetic loans.

Kan-on is based on the central Chang'an pronunciation.^[1] The name Kan could refer to the Han dynasty, which also had Chang'an as its capital city.^[1] Furthermore, Kan 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 things."^[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. Sometimes actually attested Kan-on might even be discarded in favour of more systematic pronunciations in dictionaries.^[1]

Characteristics as compared to Go-on

In consonants

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

type	* / -e												-ei / -ai				* / -u
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		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	e	ge	sai	tai	mai	rai	su	zu	nu	r	zu	u	ku	ru
Notes													Mandarin -i

Type	-i- / -o-					-e- / -o-				-a- / -o-		-a- / -ya-			-yoku / -iki
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	ochi/wochi	hon	hotsu	gyou	gyaku	byaku	ɕiki	dʑiki	dʑiki	riki
Notes

Type	-e- / -ya-														others
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	hyō	mjō	rjō	jaku	ɕjaku	dʑaku	rjaku	ryaku	go	gwatsu	setsu	mon
Notes	Mandarin -ing zheng, cheng, sheng

Japanese vowels

See also

• Go-on
• Tō-on
• On'yomi
• Checked tone

References

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