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Why Is Japan Called the Land of the Rising Sun? The Origin of the Name Nippon

Why Is Japan Called the Land of the Rising Sun? The Origin of the Name Nippon

From a 607 letter to the Sui emperor, to the name Nippon, the Hinomaru flag and the Nihon-or-Nippon question

By J-Times Editorial·Oct 26, 2026·1 min

J-Times Editorial

J-Times 編集部 / J-Times Editorial Team

October 26, 20261 min3 views
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Nippon (日本) means 'origin of the sun': seen from China, Japan lay where the sun rises. How the name replaced 'Wa', and why Nihon and Nippon are both correct.

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Why is Japan called the Land of the Rising Sun? The origin of the name Nippon

Short answer (as of 2026-09-23): Japan's name, Nippon or Nihon (日本), means "origin of the sun" — the land to the east of China, where the sun rises. It replaced the older name "Wa" (倭) around the start of the 8th century.

The English phrase "Land of the Rising Sun" is not a Western nickname added from outside. It is close to a translation of the country's own name. The two characters 日本 are "sun" and "origin" or "root". That name was not chosen at random, and it was not a claim that Japan sees the dawn before anyone else on Earth. It came out of diplomacy with China in the 7th century, and the Chinese court's own histories record the Japanese explanation.

This article follows that story through the primary texts: the Chinese dynastic histories, Japan's own early chronicles, a 2009 written answer from the Japanese Cabinet, and the 1999 law that made the Hinomaru the national flag. Where the sources disagree, we show both.

What does "Nippon" (日本) literally mean?

日本 is written with the characters for "sun" (日) and "origin" or "base" (本). Read together, it means "the place where the sun comes from" — the east, from the point of view of the Asian mainland.

The clearest statement comes from the New Book of Tang (新唐書), compiled in China in 1060. Its account of Japan says that after 670 the Japanese "disliked the name Wa and changed it to Nippon", and quotes the envoys as saying their country was named so because it was "near where the sun rises" (國近日所出). The earlier Old Book of Tang (旧唐書), compiled in 945, says the same in slightly different words: "because the country lies at the edge of the sun, it takes Nippon as its name" (以其國在日邊，故以日本爲名).

Modern Japanese reference works agree on the direction of the idea. Shogakukan's Nipponica encyclopedia says the name "Nihon" seems to derive from the phrase hi izuru tokoro ("where the sun rises") and carries the sense of "the east". Heibonsha's World Encyclopedia says it is "fairly certain" that the phrase hi izuru tokoro turned into the name 日本.

So the "rising sun" in the name is a matter of geography and point of view. It says "we are the country to the east of China", written in a way that also sounds grand.

What did the 607 letter to the Sui emperor say?

In 607, a letter from the Japanese ruler to Emperor Yang of Sui opened: "The Son of Heaven where the sun rises sends this letter to the Son of Heaven where the sun sets. Are you well?" The emperor was displeased.

The letter is recorded in the Book of Sui (隋書), the official Chinese history of the Sui dynasty, whose main chapters were completed in 636. In its chapter on the peoples to the east, under the third year of the Daye era (607), it says the king of Wa, named Tarishihiko (多利思比孤), sent an envoy with tribute. (The edition we checked writes the country's name with the variant character 俀 rather than 倭.) The envoy said he had come because he had heard that the "Bodhisattva Son of Heaven west of the sea" was reviving Buddhism, and several dozen monks came with him to study. Then the text quotes the letter: 日出處天子致書日没處天子無恙 — "the Son of Heaven of the land where the sun rises addresses the Son of Heaven of the land where the sun sets; we trust you are in good health". Emperor Yang read it, was displeased, and told his official in charge of foreign envoys: "If letters from the barbarians are discourteous, do not bring them to me again."

What caused offence was not the sun imagery but the equal footing. Only one ruler could be "Son of Heaven" in the Chinese world order; the letter gave the title to both. Yamakawa's dictionary of Japanese history describes the 607 letter as written in a form that assumed an equal relationship, which the Sui emperor regarded as a breach of protocol.

Japan's own account matches in part. The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀), finished in 720, records under the 15th year of Empress Suiko (607) that the envoy Ono no Imoko was sent to China, with Kuratsukuri no Fukuri as interpreter. It does not quote the "sun rises" letter. Instead, it quotes a second letter carried in 608, which opens: "The Heavenly Sovereign of the East respectfully addresses the Emperor of the West" (東天皇敬白西皇帝). The wording is softer, but still claims a parallel status.

Who "Tarishihiko" was is debated. Nipponica lists several theories, notes that tarishihiko was a general term for rulers of the period, and leans towards Prince Shōtoku as the sender. We leave the identification open.

When did "Nippon" replace the old name "Wa"?

Japan's own records show envoys calling themselves "envoys of Nippon" in China in 702–704. By the early 8th century, the name was internationally recognised. Exactly when it was first adopted at home is still debated.

For centuries, Chinese and Korean sources called Japan Wa (倭). Heibonsha's encyclopedia lists Chinese histories from the Book of Han to the Book of Sui and inscriptions such as the King Gwanggaeto stele, all using Wa, and notes that fifth-century Japanese rulers also styled themselves "King of Wa" in letters to China.

The best-dated evidence for the change is Japan's Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀). Its entry for the seventh month of the first year of Keiun (704) records the return of Awata no Mahito, who had led the embassy to China. When he first arrived, someone asked where the envoys came from. His answer: "We are envoys of Nippon" (日本國使). Heibonsha calls this the one certain piece of evidence, and Yamakawa's dictionary notes that the Taihō Code of 701 already prescribed the phrase "Emperor of Nippon" for use with foreign envoys.

Earlier uses of 日本 in Japanese texts are hard to trust. Heibonsha points out that the Nihon Shoki was written after the name was fixed and systematically changed "Wa" to "Nippon" in its sources. Yamakawa, on the other hand, argues that since the 607 letter already used the idea of "where the sun rises", not every earlier use can be dismissed as a later edit.

The Chinese histories also disagree on details:

SourceCompiledWhat it says about the name
Book of Sui636Still calls the country Wa; records the 607 "sun rises" letter
Nihon Shoki720Records the 607 and 608 embassies; quotes the 608 "Heavenly Sovereign of the East" letter
Shoku Nihongi797Envoys of 702–704 answer "we are envoys of Nippon"
Old Book of Tang945Separate entries for Wa and Nippon; three explanations for the name; Awata no Mahito arrives in 703
New Book of Tang1060After 670, Japan "disliked the name Wa" and renamed itself; dates Mahito's embassy under 701

The Old Book of Tang is candid about its confusion. It gives three explanations side by side: the country lies near the sun; Wa disliked its own name as inelegant; or Nippon was once a small country that absorbed Wa. It adds that Japanese visitors were often boastful and did not answer frankly, "so China has doubts". The date of Awata no Mahito's arrival also differs — 703 in the Old Book of Tang, 701 in the New — while the Japanese record places his return in 704.

Is it "Nihon" or "Nippon"?

Both are correct. In a written answer dated 30 June 2009, the Japanese government said both readings "are widely used" and that there is "no need to unify them into one".

The question keeps coming back, so it went to the Diet. On 19 June 2009, House of Representatives member Iwakuni Tetsundo submitted a written question on the national name. It recalled that in 1934 a Ministry of Education language committee had decided on "Nippon", and claimed that the Satō Cabinet had made a Cabinet decision in 1970 to use "Nippon". It asked whether that decision still stood and whether the government meant to unify the reading.

The answer, signed by Prime Minister Asō Tarō and received on 30 June 2009, is three short paragraphs. On the first point: "no such Cabinet decision has been made" regarding the reading of 日本. On the last: "Both readings, 'Nippon' and 'Nihon', are widely used, and we believe there is no need to unify them into one."

So the popular claim that the government "officially chose Nippon in 1970" is not supported by the government's own answer. The 1934 decision is real but was never binding. The Agency for Cultural Affairs' Q&A on Words, as summarised by a National Diet Library reference record, says the committee resolved on "Nippon" in 1934 but the government did not adopt it, so no formal decision exists. Nipponica also notes that "Nippon" is used on postage stamps and at international sporting events, but has no legal basis as the sole reading. (The sources name the 1934 body slightly differently: "Temporary National Language Investigation Committee" in the Diet question and the NDL record, "Council" in Nipponica.)

In daily life, many compound names are fixed by habit. The NDL record notes that NHK keeps a list of which compounds take which reading, and that "Nippon" is often preferred for its stronger sound, for example in sports cheering.

Why is the flag a red sun, and when did it become official?

The Hinomaru ("sun circle") represents the sun. It was adopted as Japan's ship flag in 1854, set out in a merchant-shipping regulation in 1870, and made the national flag by law only in 1999.

The word for the flag in law is Nisshōki, "sun-mark flag". Shogakukan's dictionary defines the Hinomaru as a red circle representing the sun on a white ground, and Nipponica says the flag symbolises the sun.

The history in brief:

  • 1854. A paper by Kobe University's maritime museum records that on the 11th day of the 7th month of Kaei 7 (1854), the shogunate ordered that Japanese ships use a white banner with a red sun circle, so they could not be mistaken for foreign ships. Nipponica gives the same year.
  • 1870. The Meiji government's Merchant Shipping Regulations, Grand Council of State Proclamation No. 57, set out the flag's proportions, according to a National Diet Library reference record and Nipponica.
  • 1999. The Act on the National Flag and Anthem (Act No. 127 of 1999) was promulgated and took effect on 13 August 1999, according to the House of Representatives' record of enacted laws. Article 1 says: "The national flag shall be the Nisshōki." The annex fixes the flag at 2:3, with a red disc whose diameter is three-fifths of the height, placed at the centre. A transitional clause still allows the older 7:10 proportions with the disc slightly toward the pole.

The Cabinet Office publishes the statement the Prime Minister issued on 9 August 1999, when the law passed. It says the flag had long been established as customary law, and that the new law "does not impose any new obligation" on citizens.

Timeline: from Wa to Nippon

YearEventSources
600First embassy to Sui (recorded only in the Book of Sui)Nipponica; Yamakawa
607Letter from "the Son of Heaven where the sun rises"Book of Sui; Nihon Shoki (embassy); Heibonsha
608Letter from "the Heavenly Sovereign of the East"Nihon Shoki; Heibonsha
701Taihō Code enactedDigital Daijisen; Nihon Kokugo Daijiten
702–704Embassy of Awata no Mahito: "envoys of Nippon"Shoku Nihongi; Heibonsha; Yamakawa
1854Shogunate adopts the sun-circle banner for Japanese shipsKobe University paper; Nipponica
1870Proclamation No. 57 sets the flag's proportionsNDL reference record; Nipponica
1934Language committee resolves on "Nippon"; not adopted by governmentNDL reference record; Nipponica
1999Act on the National Flag and AnthemHouse of Representatives; e-Gov; Cabinet Office
2009Cabinet answer: both "Nippon" and "Nihon" are fineHouse of Representatives (question and answer)

Land of the Rising Sun: frequently asked questions

Does "Land of the Rising Sun" mean Japan sees the sunrise first? No. The Chinese histories explain the name by Japan's position relative to China — "near where the sun rises". It is about direction, not about being first in the world to see the dawn.

Where does the English word "Japan" come from? It is not settled. Heibonsha's encyclopedia says Marco Polo wrote the name as "Zipangu" or "Jipangu", and that there are two theories for "Japan": one tracing it to a northern Chinese reading of 日本, another to a southern Chinese reading. Nipponica also says there is no settled view.

What did Japan call itself before Nippon? At home, "Yamato", along with poetic names such as Ōyashima. In dealings with China, Wa (倭). Nipponica and Yamakawa's dictionary both note that the character 倭 came to be read "Yamato" in Japan.

Is Nippon the official name in English? Not in the sense of a fixed legal reading. Nipponica notes that the present constitution names the country 日本国, and that "Nippon" appears on postage stamps and at international sporting events, but has no legal basis as the only form. The 2009 Cabinet answer confirms there is no single official reading of 日本 in Japanese either.

Did Prince Shōtoku write the 607 letter? Many histories credit him, and Heibonsha and Nipponica both frame the embassies under his leadership. But the Book of Sui names the sender only as "Tarishihiko", and scholars disagree about who that was.

Sources (checked 2026-09-23)

Written by the J-Times Editorial Team. Facts current as of 2026-09-23.

Featured image: Takashi Hososhima / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunrise_in_Inubosaki_(9027196940).jpg)

#Hinomaru#Japanese flag#Japan history#Land of the Rising Sun#Nippon#Sui dynasty

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J-Times Editorial

J-Times 編集部 / J-Times Editorial Team