It is interesting to study the origin of kanji

The study of the origin of Chinesed words in Japanese is really interesting. The Chinese words in Japanese is known as kanji.They are not pronounced as Chinese words should be but differently. For example, the Chinese 'ben3' is pronounced as 'hon' in Japanese.

The Chinese word 'ri' is formed by adding a dot in the middle of a circle which represents the sun. Later the dot is replaced with a horizontal bar and the circle becomes a rectangle. In Kanji, 'ri' is pronounced as 'ni'. Hence Japan (ri ben)nin in Kanji is 'Nihon' or 'Nippon'.