Japanese 1000 years ago

Japan is also pronounced "ni-ppon" and "ni-hon". 

In fact, this difference comes from the transition of the Japanese ha line (ha, hi, hu, he, ho).

Old Japanese is pronounced differently from modern Japanese

The biggest difference between old and modern languages ​​is pronunciation. In particular, the change in pronunciation of "ha line" is remarkable.

Until the Nara period, the Japanese ha line (ha, hi, hu, he, ho) was pronounced "pa, pi, pu, pe, po."

But in the Heian period it was pronounced "fa, fi, fu, fe, fo.” 

And it gradually became the pronunciation of "ha, hi, hu, he, ho" as it is today.

Japanese "ha" used to be sound "pa."

Japan, land of happy kotodama

Japan has been designated as a country where happiness is brought about by the power of Kotodama. 

Kotodama is a spiritual power that is generally believed to reside in words in Japan. 

This is reminiscent of the words of the Bible.

In the beginning was the Word, and 

the Word was with God, and 

the Word was God.

In other words, the word is regarded as the origin of the cosmos or as the cosmos itself.  Therefore, words, sounds, and vibrations are the basis of the world.

Transition of Japanese

The following I found is Lord's Prayer in Old Japanese → Future Japanese language:

 [from Old Japanese]  [to Future Japanese]

0:09 - 5C Pre-Old Japanese

0:59 - 7C Old Japanese

1:52 - 10C Early Middle Japanese

2:44 - 13C High Middle Japanese

3:34 - 16C Late Middle Japanese

4:20 - 19C Early Modern Eastern (Edo downtown) Japanese

5:00 - 21C Modern Japanese

5:33 - 23C Near Future Japanese

6:10 - 27C Future Pidgin Japanese

6:57 - ??C Abh Language

 

 

 I don't know how they discovered the old Japanese pronunciation.  To a certain degree, it’s possible to understand how to do it along with the record of other countries though. Therefore, I am skeptical about  any theory in principle.  But there’s possibility they used to speak Japanese differently.

Will Japanese really be far from the origin from now on?

If words have a spiritual power, I don't think that Japanese will change steadily in the future. 

I remember the poet Li Bai (701-762), a Chinese poet.

"Heaven and earth are the reverse journey of all things, and time is like a traveler who travels forever."　（The original text is more meaningful and tasty.） 

After all, all things return to the perfect cosmos

 of ancient times, traveling like a spiral in the long run. 

Conclusion

Japan has been designated as a country where happiness is brought about by the power of Kotodama.  However, the old Japanese language has changed a lot. Will Japanese continue to change in the future? I want Japanese to return to its original spiritual Japanese.