How are the traditional 5 elements in the Chinese doctrine of Five Agents pronounced in Japanese?


How are the [five
elements](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/76561/meaning/m1u/%E4%BA%94%E8%A1%8C/)
木・火・土・金・水 pronounced in Japanese (when referring specifically to 五行, not just
generally any water, fire etc.)?




I get

>
> [[木]{もく}、[火]{か}、[土]{ど}、[金]{ごん}、[水]{すい}](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%99%B0%E9%99%BD%E4%BA%94%E8%A1%8C%E6%80%9D%E6%83%B3)

by googling that phrase and "発音"




> 木{もく}、火{か}、土{ど}、金{ごん}、水{すい}

is correct, as in @virmaior's answer. The reason why these readings are used
rather than standard kan'on readings is historical -- the readings used here
are actually all go'on (呉音) with the sole exception of 土 which now uses
kanyō'on, customary readings from Japan. Below is a bit of history on why
go'on are used, but not directly relevant to answering the ambiguity around 金
discussed in the comments.

* * *

Go'on are based on the readings of Chinese characters from Jiankang, then the
capital of the Eastern Wu state, now Nanjing. Actually, go'on readings are
older than kan'on readings in terms of when they were loaned to Japan, and
they came to Japan as some of the first readings of Chinese characters through
spiritual works via Buddhist and Confucianists who travelled to Japan.

Go'on have a historical relationship with Japanese of being used in religious
and spiritual works, due to the majority of these ideologies coming from Wu
(呉), and because of that are used in these religious texts, including in
buddhist terms and the wuxing (五行{ごぎょう}, the 5 chinese elements).

* * *

More specifically though, on its own as an element of the wuxing, we use 金{ごん}
(as supported by
[this](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%99%B0%E9%99%BD%E4%BA%94%E8%A1%8C%E6%80%9D%E6%83%B3),
[this](http://www.geocities.jp/mishimagoyomi/inyo5gyo/inyo5gyo.htm),
[weblio](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E6%9C%A8%E3%83%BB%E7%81%AB%E3%83%BB%E5%9C%9F%E3%83%BB%E9%87%91%E3%83%BB%E6%B0%B4),
[goo](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/59135/meaning/m0u/%E9%87%91%E5%89%8B%E6%9C%A8/),
[yahoo](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E9%87%91%E5%89%8B%E6%9C%A8-481119#E3.83.87.E3.82.B8.E3.82.BF.E3.83.AB.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.B3.89),
and more). But, in virtually all other contexts it's used as 金{きん}, notably
when describing 相剋 and 相生, which is why the wikipedia picture in
[五行思想](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%94%E8%A1%8C%E6%80%9D%E6%83%B3)
labels it as 金{きん}, because this is what it is referred to when saying, for
instance, 金剋木{きんこくもく} (source
[one](http://kanji.quus.net/jyukugo3325/idiom25076.htm)
[two](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%87%91%E5%89%8B%E6%9C%A8)
[three](http://www.kosyokan.com/aisyou2.htm)).

But there isn't total agreement on that. My IME (google) accepts 金{ごん} and
金{きん} for all xiangxing (相性{あいしょう}) relationships, and
[this](http://homepage1.nifty.com/haruakira/onmyoudou/f_03.html) website gives
金剋木{ごんこくもく} rather than 金{きん}. But it seems this is a minority, and an
incorrect minority according to all the dictionaries cited above.

Alone, 金 is definitely 金{ごん} in the wuxing. This is a result of the go'on
readings that are used for the wuxing elements when they're in isolation and
in the 5 character compound 木火土金水{もくかどごんすい} (though ど is used rather than つ
for 土 as a result of switching to kanyō'on for this character all the time
when discussing it as an element). There seems to be confusion about which
readings to use when amongst native Japanese, but overall the prevailing usage
is:

  * 金{ごン} alone
  * 金{きん} when used in xiangxing (相性) (such as 金剋木)

None of the other elements have this problem, and all stay as they are listed
at the top.

