Toponymy with 2 characters

JAPANESE PLACE-NAME WITH 2 CHINESE CHARACTERS, BY NOMA TAIHEI

Author: Noma Taihei

A first-year student at the University of Tsukuba

I learned that place-name represents the history and culture of a place. Then one thing struck me. That is, most of the place names in Japan are written with two Chinese characters. For example, Tokyo(東京), Mito(水戸), and Ibaraki(茨城). So why are so many Japanese place names written in two kanji characters?

The reason behinds this can be traced back to the establishment of for this is the “Kojinikarei” (好字二字化令), issued in 713. This is due to the fact that the names of places in the Tang Dynasty in China, which Japan was using as a model for the country at the time, were written in two Chinese characters. The order was also very useful for managing land and other resources. This has led to the creation of new place names in some places, while in others, the kanji of the original place names have been modified to two characters. Even though the original name of a place had two Chinese characters, if it did not bring good luck, it was necessary to correct them. For example, Awa（粟） was converted to Awa（阿波）, Izumi（泉） to Izumi（和泉）, and Omi（近淡海） to Omi（近江）. However, since the names of places, which had been written with different numbers of letters, were suddenly reduced to two letters, there were some difficulties. For example, there is no doubt that the two-character system became the source of the difficult-to-read place names that remain today. As a result, many of the prefectural names in use today are also conventionally written with two letters.

When it comes to things that are represented by two kanji characters in Japan, it is not only place names but also surnames. Surnames were first used by great men to distinguish themselves from each other. They took as their surname the place where they lived. Later, the general public began to imitate them. I guess the easiest way to introduce themself was to introduce the place where they live. Even though there is no town with the same name as your last name now, a town with that name may have existed in the past. However, if they distinguish only by place names, there will be multiple people with the same name. So, some people took the topography of where they lived as their origin. For example, the name Yamashita（山下）is because he lived at the foot of a mountain, and the name Tanaka（田中） is because he lived in a rice field. A surname, like a place name, represents a place’s character. Perhaps, if the place name determines the local character of a place, as in Aichi in the text, then the surname also represents the character of a person.

In conclusion, the reason why Japanese place names are represented by two Chinese characters was a remnant of past laws and regulations. In addition, researching place names not only provide information about the culture and history of a place but may also help you to understand the origin of your own last name. In Japan, where history and culture are highly valued, place names contain a great deal of meaning.

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