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{{Short description|Japanese kanji pronunciation style}}
{{Redirect|Go-On|other uses|Go On (disambiguation)}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Japanese words and phrases]]}}
{{nihongo|'''''Go-on''''' or '''''goon'''''|呉音|{{IPAc-en|lang|ˈ|g|ou|.|Q|n}} {{Respell|GOH|on}}; {{IPA|ja|ɡo.oɴ}} or {{IPA|ja|ɡoꜜoɴ|label=}}, "sounds from the [[Wu (region)|Wu region]]"}} are [[Japanese language|Japanese]] [[kanji]] [[Kanji#Readings|readings]] based on the classical pronunciations of [[Chinese characters]] of the historically [[Prestige (sociolinguistics)|prestigious]] eastern [[Jiankang]]<ref name="Pulleyblank">{{cite book|author=Edwin G Pulleyblank|title=Lexicon of Reconstructed Pronunciation: In Early Middle Chinese, Late Middle Chinese, and Early Mandarin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qWGIxP1R4P4C&pg=PA487|date=1991|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-4467-3|pages=487–}}</ref> (now [[Nanjing]]) dialect.

''Go-on'' are the earliest form of {{nihongo|''[[on'yomi]]''|音読み}}, preceding the {{nihongo|''[[kan-on]]''|漢音}} readings. Both ''go-on'' and ''kan-on'' exhibit characteristics of [[Middle Chinese]].

== History and uses ==
{{citation needed span|date=March 2023|''Go-on'' readings were introduced into Japan during the 5th and 6th centuries}}, when China was divided into separate [[Northern and Southern dynasties]]. They may have been imported either directly from the Southern dynasty or from the [[Korean Peninsula]]. There was an influx of thinkers from China and [[Korea]] to Japan at that time, including practitioners of both [[Buddhism]] and [[Confucianism]].  However, there is no historical documentation to demonstrate that ''go-on'' readings are actually based on Southern Chinese.

Shibatani has noted that ''go-on'' readings make up the first of three waves of Chinese loans to the Japanese language, the others being ''kan-on'' and ''tou-sou-on'' (meaning Tang Song sound), with ''go-on'' being mainly associated with [[Buddhism]].<ref name="Shibatani">{{cite book|author = Masayoshi Shibatani|title = The Languages of Japan|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sD-MFTUiPYgC&q=go%27on&pg=PA121|date = 2008|publisher = Cambridge University Press|isbn = 978-0521369183|pages = 121–}}</ref>

''Go-on'' readings are particularly common for Buddhist and legal terminology, especially those of the [[Nara period|Nara]] and [[Heian period]]s. These readings were also used for the Chinese characters of the ancient Japanese syllabary used in the ''[[Kojiki]]''.

When ''kan-on'' readings were introduced to Japan, their ''go-on'' equivalents did not disappear entirely. Even today, ''go-on'' and ''kan-on'' readings still both exist. Many characters have both readings. For instance, the name ''[[Prince Shōtoku|Shōtoku]]'' (which is ''go-on'') is pronounced as such in some derived placenames, but as ''[[Seitoku University|Seitoku]]'' (which is ''kan-on'') in others.

However, some ''go-on'' sounds are now lost. Even though monolingual [[Japanese dictionary|Japanese dictionaries]] list a complete inventory of ''go-on'' for all characters, some were actually reconstructed using the ''[[fanqie]]'' method or were inferred to be the same as their modern [[homophone]]s.<ref name='Miyake'>{{cite book|last=Miyake|first=Marc Hideo |authorlink=Marc Hideo Miyake|title=Old Japanese: A Phonetic Reconstruction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1bp_AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-40373-8|page=104}}</ref>

==Names==
''Go-on'' readings were formerly referred to as {{Nihongo|'''''[[Wa (Japan)|Wa]]-on'''''|和音||lit. "Japanese sound"}}.  The term ''''go-on'''' was first introduced in the mid-Heian, likely by people who wished to promote ''kan-on'' readings.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} During the [[Tang dynasty]], people in Chang'an referred to their own way of reading characters as {{Nihongo|''qínyīn''|秦音|shin'on|lit. "[[Shaanxi|Qin]] sound"}} and all other readings, particularly those originating south of the [[Yangtze]], as {{Nihongo|''wúyīn''|呉音|go'on|lit. "[[Wu (region)|Wu]] sound"}} or one of many other similar names.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} It is thought{{By whom|date=January 2023}} that Japanese students studying in China adopted this practice, and, taking the position that the Chang'an-based manner of elocution were the correct ones, they also began to refer to the previously imported, unfashionable kanji readings as "''go-on''".

''Go-on'' readings were also occasionally referred to as {{Nihongo|''[[Tsushima Island|Tsushima]]-on''|対馬音}} and {{Nihongo|''Kudara-on''|百済音||literally "[[Baekje]] sound"}} because of a story that claims a Baekjean [[bhikkhuni|nun]] named {{nihongo|Hōmei|法明|}} had taught Buddhism in Tsushima by reading the ''[[Vimalakirti Sutra|Vimalakīrti Sutra]]'' entirely in ''go-on''.<ref name='Miyake'/>

==Characteristics==
''Go-on'' readings are generally less orderly than ''kan-on'' readings, but can be characterized as follows.
* [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced consonant]]s in [[Middle Chinese]] were distinguished from [[Voicelessness|unvoiced consonant]]s when they occurred in syllable-initial positions.
* Syllable-initial [[nasal consonant]]s are pronounced as nasals (''m-'', ''n-'') in Middle Chinese, but in ''kan-on'', they are interpreted as voiced plosives (''b-'', ''d-'').
* In some characters, ''-o'' and ''-u'' are both acceptable and widespread, e.g., 素 (''so'', ''su''), 奴 (''do'', ''nu'') and 都 (''to'', ''tsu'').

<!-- table is from here -->
{| class="wikitable" align="center"
|+ Examples <small>(rare readings in parentheses)</small>
|-
! ''Kanji''
! Meaning
! ''Go-on''
! ''Kan-on''
! [[Baxter's transcription for Middle Chinese|Middle Chinese]]<ref>{{citation
  | title = A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology
  | first = William H. | last = Baxter | author-link = William H. Baxter
  | location = Berlin | publisher = Mouton de Gruyter | year = 1992
  | isbn = 978-3-11-012324-1
  | postscript =
  }}</ref>
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|明}}
| bright
| ''myō''
| ''mei''
| ''mjaeng''
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|京}}
| capital
| ''kyō''
| ''kei''
| ''kjaeng''
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|上}}
| up
| ''jō''
| ''shō''
| ''dzyangX''
|-
! style="font-weight: normal;" | {{Wikt-lang|ja|下}}
| below
| ''ge''
| ''ka''
| ''haeX'', ''haeH''
|-
|}
<!-- table end -->

==See also==
* ''[[On'yomi]]'': Sino-Japanese readings
** ''[[Kan-on]]'': a later type of reading
** ''[[Tō-on]]'': an even later type of reading
* [[Checked tone]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Japanese language}}

[[Category:Kanji]]
[[Category:Nanjing]]