Kanji variants in Japanese temple names
The post Kanji used to ID Honnōji at No-sword describes how a specific kanji variant used on a tile was used to tracing it to the Honnoji temple in Kyoto. Apparently, the same variant has been used exclusively in the name of Honnoji so the excavation of the same form showed the connection of the object with the temple.
Here is the name of the Honnoji temple with the variant for the character 能. You can see that the right side of the character is different from the modern form.
Here is the variant in question on a roof tile.
Actually, this variant was quite common in medieval China, it appears on Dunhuang manuscripts more often than the form used today as the standard. I assume it was the same in Japan during the Nara period and possibly even after that.
The kanji variant in a Chinese manuscript of the Mahaparanirvana sutra from Dunhuang, dated 506. This manuscript is currently in the collection of the British Library, shelfmark Or.8210/S.81.
The character 能 was one of the most varied characters in China. These examples are from the dictionary called Guang beibiezi 廣碑別字 by Qin Gong and Liu Daxin, showing variants on stone inscriptions from the Han through the Tang dynasties.
Anyway, I think it is a fascinating phenomenon that a variant would continued to be used in a trademark fashion for a particular institution. As another example, I noticed that the name of the Honkokuji temple 本圀寺 is also using a special kanji variant, instead of the standard way which would be 本国寺. The character 圀 is an Empress Wu character form, called in Japan sokuten moji 則天文字. These were used during the fifteen-year reign of Empress Wu Zetian (690-715) and have been used by scholars for dating manuscripts and inscriptions. If an Empress Wu character occurs in a manuscript, it is usually automatically assumed that it dates to 690-715. This is why it is rather surprising to see it in Japan as a standard way of writing a name of a temple. But it also occurs in Japanese surnames.
There are probably plenty of similar examples in Japan but these are the only ones I have noticed. If you know of others, I would love to hear about them.
The name of Honkokuji temple with the Empress Wu character variant. The character 圀 is actually a compound structure comprising the characters 四方 or 八方, depending on how you look at it. They say that the initial form consisted of 四方 but because of the inauspicious sound of 四, the Empress had it changed to 八方.
Here is the name of the Honnoji temple with the variant for the character 能. You can see that the right side of the character is different from the modern form.
Here is the variant in question on a roof tile.
Actually, this variant was quite common in medieval China, it appears on Dunhuang manuscripts more often than the form used today as the standard. I assume it was the same in Japan during the Nara period and possibly even after that.
The kanji variant in a Chinese manuscript of the Mahaparanirvana sutra from Dunhuang, dated 506. This manuscript is currently in the collection of the British Library, shelfmark Or.8210/S.81.
The character 能 was one of the most varied characters in China. These examples are from the dictionary called Guang beibiezi 廣碑別字 by Qin Gong and Liu Daxin, showing variants on stone inscriptions from the Han through the Tang dynasties.
Anyway, I think it is a fascinating phenomenon that a variant would continued to be used in a trademark fashion for a particular institution. As another example, I noticed that the name of the Honkokuji temple 本圀寺 is also using a special kanji variant, instead of the standard way which would be 本国寺. The character 圀 is an Empress Wu character form, called in Japan sokuten moji 則天文字. These were used during the fifteen-year reign of Empress Wu Zetian (690-715) and have been used by scholars for dating manuscripts and inscriptions. If an Empress Wu character occurs in a manuscript, it is usually automatically assumed that it dates to 690-715. This is why it is rather surprising to see it in Japan as a standard way of writing a name of a temple. But it also occurs in Japanese surnames.
There are probably plenty of similar examples in Japan but these are the only ones I have noticed. If you know of others, I would love to hear about them.
The name of Honkokuji temple with the Empress Wu character variant. The character 圀 is actually a compound structure comprising the characters 四方 or 八方, depending on how you look at it. They say that the initial form consisted of 四方 but because of the inauspicious sound of 四, the Empress had it changed to 八方.
Labels: Chinese character variants, kanji
