Tokio and Tokyo | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 1, 1905

Tokio and Tokyo.

The Christian Advocate says: "The name of this great city is in two syllables: (1) To, meaning East, Eastern; and (2) Kyo, which means capital. The divergence in spelling of the last syllable is due to the fact that to some ears it sounds Kee-o, hence in the earlier days men like Satow and others wrote it Kiyo, or Tokiyo; to others, however, the sound is K-yo and it is written Kyo. It is now generally agreed that the latter is correct, but the old error persists. Also it is easier to write Kio than Kyo, so the first is very popular, but the latter is more correct and will finally prevail."