Kan-on
is one of the sources of pronunciation of Japanese kanji. They were borrowed during the Tang dynasty (7th to 9th century), introduced by, among others, envoys from Japanese missions to Tang China. This period corresponds with the Japanese Nara period. Not to be confused with Tō-on "Tang sound", which actually refers to later phonetic loans.

"Kan-on" is based on the central Chang'an pronunciation. The name "Kan" could refer to the Han dynasty, which also had Chang'an as its capital city. Furthermore, "Kan" has also become a description for all things Chinese, e.g., Kanji ('Chinese characters').

Kan'on partly displaced the earlier "go'on", which were "just imitations of Korean imitations, but "Kan-on" were imitations of the real things."

A minority of characters never had their "Kan-on" transmitted to Japan; their "Kan-on" are sometimes reconstructed in Japanese dictionaries although not specifically marked as such. A few dictionaries go as far as to discard attested "Kan-on" in favour of more systematic pronunciations.
Q184377
pronunciation
Concept
Q5287
Japanese
ORG
Q82772
kanji
Concept
Q9683
Tang dynasty
Concept
Q262529
Japanese missions to Tang China
ORG
Q189178
Nara period
Concept
Q7862629
Tō-on
Concept
Q6501000
Chang'an
LOC
Q7209
Han dynasty
Concept
Q5119
capital city
Concept
Q82772
Kanji
Concept
Q1024077
go'on
Concept
None
Korean imitations
UNK
Q6158568
Japanese dictionaries
Concept
Q6360011
Kan-on
ORG
Q6360011
Kan-on
ORG
Q6360011
Kan-on
ORG
Q6360011
Kan-on
ORG
Q6360011
Kan-on
ORG
+7^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
7
NUMBER
+9^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
9
NUMBER
follows
writing system
language of work or name