(tōˈkē-ōˌ, -kyō) Formerly E·do (ĕdˈō)
The capital and largest city of Japan, in east-central Honshu on Tokyo Bay, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean. Founded in the 12th century as Edo, Tokyo became the imperial capital in 1868. Much of the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 1923 and by bombing raids during World War II. Population: 8,540,000.
Word History: The names of Japan's former and current capitals, Kyoto and Tokyo, appear to us to be made up of the same two elements reversed, but in fact they have only one element in common. The elements of
Tō-kyō are old borrowings from Middle Chinese:
tō means “east” and
kyō means “capital,” so together they mean “east(ern) capital.” Chinese has another word for “capital,” pronounced
dū, whose Middle Chinese ancestor was borrowed into Japanese as
to, “capital, large city.” This is found in the name
Kyoto, which was Japan's capital from 794 to 1192. The first part of
Kyōto, kyō, is in fact the same word for “capital” found in
Tokyo. Kyōto thus means “capital city.”
