Japanese and Vietnamese Readings of Chinese Characters
found in the main text and notes

The Japanese and Vietnamese have borrowed a great deal from Chinese culture over a long period of time. One result is that Chinese words and Chinese names borrowed by these languages are conventionally read with native versions of the original Chinese pronunciation. The differences between readings in the three languages can be quite large due to (1) regional differences in the source of borrowing, (2) adaptation to the native phonology, and (3) changes in all three languages over the years.

The following table shows the modern Mandarin, Japanese, and Vietnamese pronunciations of some of the Chinese names and concepts that appear in 'Days of the Week in Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese'.

	Characters in Chinese (simplified)	Traditional characters (where different)	Chinese pronunciation	Japanese kanji (where different)	Japanese pronunciation	Vietnamese
'Seven luminaries'			qī yào		shichiyō
'Seven Luminaries calendar'			qī yào lì		shichiyōreki
'28 constellations'			er4 shi2 ba1 xiù		nijuuhasshuku
'Five Elements'			wǔ xíng		gogyō
Fire	火		huǒ		ka
Water	水		shui3		sui
Wood	木		mu4		moku
Metal			jīn		kin
Earth	土		tǔ		do
Yang 'male principle'	陽		yáng		yō
Yin 'female principle'	陰		yīn		in
Lord's Day			zhǔ rì		shujitsu
'Great Peacock Exorcises the King'			Da4 Kong3 Que4 Zhoù wáng Jīng
Xiuyaojing			Xiù yào Jīng		Sukuyōkyō, Shukuyōkyō
Shi Yao			Shǐ Yào		Shi yō
Fan Ning			Fan4 Níng		Han Nei
Yi Jing			Yì Jing4		Gi Joo
Bu Kong			Bù Kōng		Fu Kuu
Matteo Ricci			Lì Ma3 Doù		Ri Ma Too Mateo Ritchi