Japón.

(a loanword from Spanish)

Headword: 
Japón.
Principal English Translation: 

Japan
(a loanword from Spanish)

Orthographic Variants: 
Sepon, Sebon, Jabun, xapon, Jabon, Jabunti
Attestations from sources in English: 

in zan ce xicali, octli noço çentecontontli, vino ic anquimictlantlaça, in amoyolia, yhuan ipampa anquimaca in tlacatecolotl. Auh in manel Cacatzactin, Chinotin noço Iapontin, mochintin amoca huetzca amoca paqui ic amechtlatzohuilia = for just one gourd vessel of pulque or one little clay pot of wine you cast your souls into hell and because of it you give them to the devil. Even the Blacks, the Chinese or the Japanese all laugh at you and enjoy your misfortunes
Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 93.

Axcan sabado ynic .7. mani metztli de febrero de 1615. años. ihcuac nican mexico onpeuhque matlactin Japon tlaca. ompa hui yn inchã Japon nican Mexico opochtecatico = Today, Saturday the 7th of the month of February of the year 1615, was when ten Japanese set out from Mexico here to go home to Japan; they came here to Mexico to act as merchants (central Mexico, 1614–1615)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 294–5.

1614 años. yhcuac nican Mexico. onpeuhque cequintin Jabun tlaca oyahque in inchan Japon onauhxiuhtico ỹ nican mexico onemico. cequintin oc nican omocauhtiaque motlaecoltia. tiamiqui quinamaca nican yn intlatqui ompa quihualcuique Japon Axcan Jueues ynic 23. mani metztli octubre de 1614. años. yhcuac nican Mexico onmopehualtihque omẽtin Teopixque S. Franco descalҫos mohuica Japon ompa motemachtilizque = 1614, was when some Japanese set out from Mexico here going home to Japan; they lived here in Mexico for four years. Some still remained here; they earn a living trading and selling here the goods they brought with them from Japan. Today, Thursday the 23rd of the month of October of the year 1614, was when two Discalced Franciscan friars set out from Mexico here; they are going to Japan, where they will preach (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 290–1.

Embaxador. chane Japon ynin yc yah ҫan quinxellotehuac yn imacehualhuan yxquich quinhuicac no yxquich nican quincauhtiquiz yn Japonti. ynic nican tiyamiquizque tlanamacazque puchteca = the ambassador from Japan, set out and left for Spain. In going he divided his vassals; he took a certain number of Japanese, and he left an equal number here as merchants to trade and sell things (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 282–3.

yn omoteneuhque tlacpac yn yancuique nican Xptianosme omochihuaco Japon tlaca. in yehuantin in epohualli yhuan ey tlacatl yn confirmacion quicuiq̃ = the above mentioned Japanese who became new Christians here; 63 people received confirmation (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 278–9.

no cenpo huallomome Japon tlaca omocuaatequique yn oncan teopan S. Franco. yehuatzin oncan oquinmocuaatequillico in teoyotica tlahtohuani arҫobispo. Mexico Don Juan Perez de la serna = another 22 Japanese were baptized at the church of San Francisco. The spiritual ruler the archbishop in Mexico, don Juan Pérez de la Serna, came to baptize them (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 278–9.

ỹ oncan teopan S. Franco. mocuaatequique cenpohualli tlacatl yn Japonti (...) auh in yehuatl teuhctitlantli Embaxador amo quinec ỹ nican mocuaatequiz. yuh mihto ye quin ompa yn españa mocuaatequiz = at the church of San Francisco twenty Japanese were baptized (...) But the lordly emissary, the ambassador, did not want to be baptized here; it was said that he will be baptized later in Spain (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 276–7.

chistianosme muchihuaznequi muchtin Japon tlaca = all the Japanese want to become Christians (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 274–5.

macuilpohualli yn imacehual Jabonti quinhualhuica auh yn quinnahuatlahtalhuithuitz ce S. Franco tottatzin descalço = He brought along a hundred Japanese, [the emperor's] subjects, and a Discalced Franciscan friar came along to interpret for them. (central Mexico, 1613)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 236–237.

yc oppa oncan oquiçaco yn Jabon acalli = the Manila galleon landed there for a second time (central Mexico, 1613)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 236–237.

momiquillito deopixque xapon = some friars died in Japan
Here in This Year: Seventeenth-Century Nahuatl Annals of the Tlaxcala-Puebla Valley, ed. and transl. Camilla Townsend, with an essay by James Lockhart (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010), 172–173.

1610 años yquac omachiztico ohualla tlahtolli yn ompa a la china vmpa omomiquilli yn itlaҫotzin tt˚. Dios. Don fr. Pedro de agurdo obispo de Sepon ynin Sant. Augustin teopixqui in yehuatzin in nican mexico motlacatilli nican tePiltzin. quin iceltzin criyoyo momati yn obispo omochiuhtzino quin yehuatzin quimonpehualtilli ỹ nican tepilhuan in ye tleco in ye tlahtocati = the year 1610, was when it became known here and word came from China that the beloved of our lord God, don fray Pedro de Agurto, bishop of Japan, who was an Augustinian friar, passed away there. He was born here in Mexico, a child of people here. He is thought to have been the only criollo made a bishop yet; he started it that children of people here are ascending and ruling (central Mexico, 1610)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 162–3. (The word appears to have been written both Sebon and Sepon, in wht sequence is not clear.)

1610 años. yquac nican mexico callaquico yn Don Rodrigo de vivero vmpa hualla Jabun a la china ynahuac. auh ynic yahca vmpa a la china yn oncan ytocayocan manilla oncan gouortito yn omoteneuh Don Rodrigo = the year 1610, was when don Rodrigo de Vivero entered Mexico here. He came from Japan, close to China [the Philippines]. The reason the said don Rodrigo had gone to China, to the place called Manila, was to be governor there (central Mexico, 1610)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 168–9.

ҫan oc otlipan quinhualcauhtiquiz yhuiantzin yatihuitze ỹ nican huitze Jabun tlaca yn ompa quinhuallehuiti Jabun. yn o yuh atenquiҫaco oncan al puerto acapolco ҫan niman quihualyacatitiquiz yn Don Rodrigo = he left behind on the road the Japanese who were coming here and leaving Japan to come at their leisure after they had landed at the port of Acapulco; don Rodrigo hurried ahead of them (central Mexico, 1610)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 168–9.

ipan huey tlahtocaaltepetl Jabon = in the great royal altepetl of Japan (central Mexico, 1610)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 170–1.

Bartolomé de Alva, in Mexico in 1634, wrote that the Japanese had converted to the Christian faith much more quickly than the Mexicans, even though the Japanese were introduced to Christianity more recently. He called the Japanese the "Nahuas' 'younger brothers in the faith.'" Still, he also pointed to the evangelists who had gone to Japan and became martyred there. A wave of persecution had begun in Japan in 1597, and there was an especially notable case in 1622 in Nagasaki. Sell argues, citing a passage in Chimalpahin, that some Japanese stayed in Mexico City for four years, allowing them to become known to the Nahuas, and not exotic. In Chimalpahin, the are called Jabun tlaca. (central Mexico, 1634)
See Sell's comments in Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 10, 32.

ynin quin ic oppa oncan Acapulco catenquixtico yn imacal Japonti ҫan muchi Tepuztli yn quihualitqui yhuan escriturios. yhuan cequi tilmahtli ỹ nican quinamacazque, no oncan in ohualla yn ihtic omoteneuh Jabon acalli yn Señor Sebastian Vizcayno español vezino Mexico. yn onhuiya otlachiato vmpa Jabun yn queninamican quinhuicaca yn ompa huitza axcan ya yexihuitl oc centlamantin Jabonti yn quinhualhuicaca Don Rodrigo de Viuero yn ompa Gouernadortito. ypan ciudad Manilla china = This is the second time that the Japanese have landed one of their ships on the shore at Acapulco; they are transporting here everything of iron, and writing desks, and some cloth that they are to sell here. On the said Japanese ship came also señor Sebastián Vizcaíno, a Spaniard, citizen of Mexico, who had gone to Japan to look around, [since] he had taken back the other group of Japanese who had come from there three years ago now, whom don Rodrigo de Vivero, who went to be governor in the city of Manila in China, had brought here (central Mexico, 1614)
Annals of His Time: Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, James Lockhart, Susan Schroeder, and Doris Namala, eds. and transl. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006), 274–5.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

in zan ce xicali, octli noço çentecontontli, vino ic anquimictlantlaça, in amoyolia, yhuan ipampa anquimaca in tlacatecolotl. Auh in manel Cacatzactin, Chinotin noço Iapontin, mochintin amoca huetzca amoca paqui ic amechtlatzohuilia = por vna xicara de pulque, ó tecomate de vino, echeys vuestras almas al infierno, y las days al Demonio. Y avn los Negros, Chinos, Y Iapones[es], se admiran, y os lo tienen á mal, viendo quan facil, y mudable sea vuestra condicion
Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 92–93.

"auh xiquimitacan, xiquinmahuiéocan, in tlaneltoquiliztica amote [ic] cahuan Iapon tlaca, yhuan in oc zequintin in quin axcan oquizelique in tlaneltoquiliztli, ca ye tlaneltoquiliztlachihualtica, óamechopanahuique, óamechtlaztiquizque; canel àtle ic quitzotzona quitlacoa in tlaneltoquiliztli ca àmo tlateotoquilizxolopiyotl, ic quineneloa in yuhqui amehuantin ca ye içenmayan toquizentelchiuhque oquiçemixnahuatique in tlateotoquiliztli ipan onenca." "Volved los ojos atras (mejor diria adelante) y mirad a la Nacion de los Iapones, y otras que siendo vuestros hermanos menores en la Fé, y muy modernos, y nuevos en ella, os an dexado muy atras, con actos, y demostraciones que en hecho, siendo muy firmes, y constantes: no tienen vuestras supersticiones, y reçabios; porque de una vez dieron de mano, y desterraron de sus coraçones la idolatria en que andaban siegos."
See Schwaller's comments in Bartolomé de Alva, A Guide to Confession Large and Small in the Mexican Language, 1634, eds. Barry D. Sell and John Frederick Schwaller, with Lu Ann Homza (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999), 10.