Keep in mind that the Japanese assigned kanji to foreign names and words prior to their loss in WW2. America, Italy, etc. all have kanji associated with them, but these days no-one bothers. However, given that Gensokyo never went through WW2 and the post-war Americanization, I think that Keine's reasoning is valid.
Keep in mind that the Japanese assigned kanji to foreign names and words prior to their loss in WW2. America, Italy, etc. all have kanji associated with them, but these days no-one bothers.
Not true! While it's certainly the case that the country names themselves aren't used in isolation, in compounds they're found all the time! This is especially prevalent in terms referencing international relations, such as 日米 /nichibei/, Japan-US, where the /bei/ (rice) comes from the kanji used before katakana became standard - 亜米利加. Similarly, 英 for the UK (and the English language), 仏 for France, and 独 for Germany. These are hardly ever found outside of compound words, and function much in the same way as using a two- or three- letter country code would in English.
While the vast majority of the kanji country names outside of the sinosphere are purely phonetic, there exist exceptions - case in point, New Zealand is 新西蘭, meaning literally New West Holland.
Not true! While it's certainly the case that the country names themselves aren't used in isolation, in compounds they're found all the time! This is especially prevalent in terms referencing international relations, such as 日米 /nichibei/, Japan-US, where the /bei/ (rice) comes from the kanji used before katakana became standard - 亜米利加. Similarly, 英 for the UK (and the English language), 仏 for France, and 独 for Germany. These are hardly ever found outside of compound words, and function much in the same way as using a two- or three- letter country code would in English.
While the vast majority of the kanji country names outside of the sinosphere are purely phonetic, there exist exceptions - case in point, New Zealand is 新西蘭, meaning literally New West Holland.
I thought New Zealand is "紐西蘭?"
Anyway, since kanji are basically Chinese characters, their names would be: Cirno - 琪露諾 (Chi-Ru-No) Rumia - 露米婭 (Ru-Mi-Ya) Wriggle - 莉格露 (Ri-Guh-Ru) Mystia - 蜜斯蒂亞 (Mi-Su-Di-Ya)
Anyway, since kanji are basically Chinese characters, their names would be: Cirno - 琪露諾 (Chi-Ru-No) Rumia - 露米婭 (Ru-Mi-Ya) Wriggle - 莉格露 (Ri-Guh-Ru) Mystia - 蜜斯蒂亞 (Mi-Su-Di-Ya)
Kanji pronunciation (On'yomi) ≠ Hanzi pronunciation.
Using the usual Chinese fandom hanzi transliterations would end up with Kirno, Rumaia, Rikyakuru, and Mitsushiteia instead when read in Japanese, and I'm picking the closest possible mix of Go'on/Kan'on pronunciations, at that.
(Go'on/Kan'on are derived from Middle Chinese pronunciations, and not the modern Pekingized Mandarin.)
And let's not mention that some of those traditional hanzi forms don't even exist in Japanese (亞 should be written as 亜 instead).
Kanji pronunciation (On'yomi) ≠ Hanzi pronunciation.
Using the usual Chinese fandom hanzi transliterations would end up with Kirno, Rumaia, Rikyakuru, and Mitsushiteia instead when read in Japanese, and I'm picking the closest possible mix of Go'on/Kan'on pronunciations, at that.
(Go'on/Kan'on are derived from Middle Chinese pronunciations, and not the modern Pekingized Mandarin.)
And let's not mention that some of those traditional hanzi forms don't even exist in Japanese (亞 should be written as 亜 instead).
Late response, but anyway... I know the pronunciations aren't the same, but visually, they look the same for the most part.
