“Wa” meaning “harmony” was a very important concept in Japan’s formative years. The fact that the Japanese chose this character to name themselves is very telling. 大和魂 ( yamato-damashii) is another term that was coined around the same time to express the concept of “the Japanese spirit” the integral values of the Japanese people and their culture. Written 大和 which literally means “Great Wa” these two kanji together are pronounced “Yamato”. The Japanese also borrowed the same kanji to write the name of the Yamato kingdom from which the nation of Japan is descended. Sometime in the 8 th century they decided to switch 倭 for 和 which had the same pronunciation, but the much more pleasing meaning of “harmony”. Unfortunately, this character also has the rather unflattering meaning of “dwarf”, and not surprisingly the Japanese didn’t like it. However, the Chinese used a different kanji for this name: 倭. “Wa” is the oldest recorded name for Japan, and occurs in several ancient Chinese texts. Its original meaning is “harmony,” and “Japanese” is a secondary meaning that the Japanese chose for themselves. However, “Japanese” is actually not the primary meaning of this character. The use of 和 to confer a very pure and traditional sense of “Japaneseness” is ubiquitous in the Japanese language. 和室 ( washitsu) = a (traditional) Japanese style room 和服 ( wafuku) = Japanese (traditional) clothes Pronounced “ wa” it is frequently used as a prefix in kanji compounds to mean “Japanese” or “Japanese style”. If you ever live in Japan, sooner or later you are going to encounter the kanji character 和.
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