Cipangu (cited as ixola de cimpagu on the center-left) on the 1453 Fra Mauro map, the first known Western depiction of the island. Both Nippon and Nihon literally mean "the sun's origin", that is, where the sun originates, [10] and are often translated as the Land of the Rising Sun.

Because of his book, The Travels of Marco Polo, Europeans believed that “Zipangu” was a land of gold, and Columbus later sailed across the Atlantic in search of it. Gold was first discovered in Japan in 749, in river deposits.

2022年6月27日 · Marco Polo, a merchant from Italy (then the Republic of Venice), in his book, “The Book of Eastern Views,” called Japan “Zipangu” and wrote that it was a land of gold. It is said that the origin of this word “Zipangu” changed to “Japan. Since “Zipangu” and “Japan” sound similar, this theory is highly plausible.

2008年6月15日 · The Travels of Marco Polo, published in the 13th century, describes Japan as “Zipangu, the land of gold.” Unfortunately, that was not true then and is not true now. But gold did play a significant role in Japanese history. And today, the country might be starting to show that Polo may have been at least a tiny bit right.

2002年10月1日 · Columbus, a master mariner then in the service of Spain, and an avid reader, was searching for Cipangu (Japan), the island of “endless gold,” about which he had read with great excitement in Marco Polo’s Travels.

Today Japan is generally regarded as a country without its own mineral resources. However, in the late 13th century, Marco Polo, the famous merchant from Venice, portrayed Japan as Cipangu, a country rich in gold.

2018年1月6日 · It’s suspected that the name came from Portuguese, as early Portuguese explorers may have heard ‘日本’ pronounced ‘Cipan’ in northern China and interpreted it as ‘Jipangu’. Similarly, the Dutch may have heard the name ‘Yatbun’ or ‘Yatpun’ in southern China and interpreted it as ‘Ja-pan’, as the letter ‘j’ is pronounced with a ‘y’ sound in Dutch.