Japanese Mythology - Spelling of Proper Nouns

Spelling of proper nouns

Many deities appear in Japanese mythology, and many of them have multiple aliases. Furthermore, some of their names are comparatively long. This article therefore lists only the most prominent names, and gives them in one of their abbreviated forms, other abbreviated forms are also in use.

(For instance, Ninigi, or Ame-Nigishikuni-Nigishiamatsuhiko-Hikono-no-Ninigi-no-Mikoto in full, may also be abbreviated as Hikoho-no-Ninigi or Hono-Ninigi.)

In some parts of this article, proper names are written in a historical manner. In this article, underlined h, y, and w denote silent letters; they are omitted from modern spelling. Other syllables are modernized as follows (see also Japanese romanization systems). Note that some blend of these conventions is also often used.

  • hu is modernized as fu.
  • zi and di are modernized as ji. (distinction disappeared)
  • oo is modernized as o or oh.
For instance, various spellings of Ohonamuji include Oonamuji, Ohnamuji, and others.

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