魯西亜

The spelling is ateji (当て字), current in 1855 when this spelling was used in the title of the 日本国魯西亜国通好条約 (Nippon-koku Roshia-koku Tsūkō Jōyaku, “Treaty of Peace and Amity between the Country of Japan and the Country of Russia”, commonly known as the Treaty of Shimoda).

The spelling was officially discontinued in 1877 after diplomatic pressure from Russia to change the spelling, out of concern that the initial 魯 (ro) character expressed a sense of foolish. However, the newer kanji spelling 露西亜 uses 露 (ro) as the first character, and this was chosen for its sense of dew, from the political metaphor that the morning dew will disappear as the sun rises, wherein "sun" refers to Japan.[1]

The use of 西亜 for the latter portion is likely influenced by Chinese phonetics, and historical use of these characters to spell out the -siya portion of Rossiya in sources such as a bible translated into Chinese in 1864.

• (Irregular reading)
  • (Tokyo) ロ​シア [róꜜshìà] (Atamadaka – [1])[2]
  • IPA^(key): [ɾo̞ɕia̠]

魯西亜 (shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai kanji 魯西亞, katakana ロシア, rōmaji Roshia)

1. Dated spelling of ロシア (“Russia”).

Due to the foolish sense of the initial 魯 character, this spelling is often viewed as pejorative.