Exploring the Origin of "Tsukuba"

EXPLORING THE ORIGIN OF “TSUKUBA,” BY MINA UKAI

Author: Mina Ukai

A first-year student at University of Tsukuba

Permission granted for publication on December 21, 2021.

I learned from reading this text that place names sometimes have an interesting background. I was especially surprised to learn that Nara is of Korean origin. Since the prefecture borders Kyoto, which has been a major city in Japan since ancient times, I thought it was derived from traditional Japanese customs or geography like Kyoto, so I was surprised by the unexpected background and found it interesting.

I have not looked up the origin of the Tsukuba, so I decided to find out what it was. Interestingly, there are were many theories about its origin. Many theories are were about the geographical background. For example, Considering the kanji for Tsukuba is, it used to be 尽端 (tsukiha), not 筑波 (tsukuba). 尽 (tsuki) means “cliff” and 端(hashi) means “edge” in English.  It is said that the combination of “尽” and “端” means the edge of the mountain or land. Mountain Tsukuba was so named because of its steep, protruding ridge. The area around Mountain Tsukuba was also called 尽端, which later became 筑波 [「筑波」の地名の由来]. Another geographical theory is that in the Jomon period, the area around Mt. Tsukuba was an ocean, and Mt. Tsukuba was called “築坡” (Tsuki-ba) because it served as an embankment to prevent the waves from coming in, and later became Tsukuba. (築 means build and 坡means embankment in English) [神話伝説ふしぎ草子].

The other theory is that the origin is due to the shape of Mountain Tsukuba, which was used to be called Mount 菟玖波(tsukuba). The word “菟玖” means “horned owl” and in Japanese, it is pronounced, “mimizuku.” The horned owl has two ears, and the male and female peaks of Mount Tsukuba resemble them, hence the name [つくばスタイル].

I had no idea that there were so many origins for the name Tsukuba. I do not know if any or all of them are true, but they all made sense to me and were interesting. I tried to find out, but I couldn’t figure out which of these was the true origin of the Tsukuba place name. So I tried to figure out which one I think is most likely to be the origin.

I think the second theory, that Tsukuba used to be an ocean, is the true origin because it was formed from the kanji character “築,” meaning build, and the kanji character “坡,” meaning embankment, which was crossed together to form “築坡,” which in turn became “筑波“, is the most plausible. In Tsukuba City, there are still shell mounds, such as the Takura shell mound, indicating that there used to be a shallow sea in the middle of the Jomon period. I thought that if the sea has been closely connected with people’s lives since ancient times, it would be easy to name a place after it [つくば市].

In conclusion, I learned that a place name can have many origins, just like Tsukuba. I feel like I have gained more knowledge about Tsukuba. I would like to look into other place names as well.

References:

• 「筑波」の地名の由来. 日付不明. 2021年10月19日.

• つくばスタイル. 名の由来に関するあれこれ. 日付不明. 2021年10月19日

• つくば市. 郷土の歴史. 日付不明. 2021年11月30日.

• 神話伝説ふしぎ草子. 茨城の伝説「筑波山の名前の由来」. 日付不明. 2021年10月19日.