Yamaguchi's Hard-to-Read Place Names: Five Ways Readings Go Astray
The same two kanji, 緑町, are read Midori-cho in the city of Yamaguchi and Midorimachi in Shunan and Hofu. Across the prefecture, adding up the characters one by one, or borrowing the reading from the next town over, fails again and again.
Yamaguchi was once two provinces, Suo and Nagato, and its place names change character as you move around it: Shimonoseki and Ube in the west, Hagi, Nagato and Abu on the Sea of Japan in the north, Yamaguchi and Hofu in the center, and Shunan, Iwakuni, Yanai and Suo-Oshima in the east. Yet the ways a reading breaks down keep turning up in every one of them.
The readings used here are the ones recorded in Japan Post's town-area data, JR West's station information, Hagi City's list of districts and the prefecture's island guides. They are sorted into five patterns: where a name becomes voiced, where sounds shrink or drop out, unusual native readings, identical spellings that are read differently, and names whose kanji point the wrong way. Origins are mentioned only where a source supports them.
Voiced or not, name by name: the whims of rendaku
Shimonoseki's 才川 is voiced (Saigawa) while 筋川町 is not (Sujikawa-cho); in Shunan, 飯島町 is Iijima but 竹島町 is Takeshima. Whether a sound is voiced is settled name by name.
Saigawa (才川)
In Shimonoseki, the 川 of 才川 is voiced: Sai-gawa. Next door, 筋川町 stays unvoiced as Suji-kawa-cho, so nothing about the character 川 settles the question. Rendaku is the term for a later word's first consonant turning voiced when words are joined, but the conditions for it are not uniform, and the spelling alone cannot decide.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, YamaguchiRendaku (Digital Daijisen / World Encyclopedia)
Iijima-cho / Takeshima-cho (飯島町・竹島町)
In Shunan, the shima of 飯島町 voices to jima, giving Iijima-cho, while 竹島町 does not and stays Takeshima-cho. The same character in the same city goes both ways. Deciding that 島 always voices will fail on Takeshima-cho.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shunan, YamaguchiRendaku (Digital Daijisen / World Encyclopedia)
Okada-cho / Nagata-cho (岡田町・長田町)
The 田 of Shunan's 岡田町 voices to da, but 長田町 is read Nagata without voicing. Anyone who assumes 田 always voices will get one of these two neighboring names wrong.
Takadomari / Takatomari (高泊)
Among the districts that carry the name 高泊 in the same city, 西高泊 is read Nishi-takadomari with the tomari voiced, while 南高泊 is read Minami-takatomari without voicing. Even when names share most of their characters, whether a sound voices is settled district by district.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi
Shrinking and clipping: fewer sounds than characters
Atsu (厚保), Kamono (蒲生野) and Kane (嘉年) are shorter than their characters suggest. A sound drops out, a doubled consonant appears, and reading by character count fails.
Atsu (厚保)
The reading stops once 厚 has been given its sound, atsu, and 保 leaves no trace. Reading by character count as "Atsuho" leaves one sound too many.
Kamono (蒲生野)
蒲生 is well known as a place read Gamo, so "Gamono" in four sounds is the natural guess. This Shimonoseki district shrinks to the three sounds Ka-mo-no, and the voicing disappears.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Kane (嘉年)
Reading the two characters by their Sino-Japanese sounds gives Kanen, but the actual reading is the two-sound Kane, with the final n gone. There are fewer sounds than characters, and no on-yomi reading of the kanji will get you there.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi
Nakaroppa-cho (中六波町)
六波 is not Rokuha. It is read with a doubled consonant and a p sound, Roppa. The k of roku is clipped and the h of ha hardens into p, a two-step change that makes this Chofu street name hard to read.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Nishimi (錦見)
錦 is normally read nishiki, but here the final ki drops out and the name becomes Nishimi. It is neither the on-yomi "Kinken" nor the plain native "Nishikimi." A character whose reading you feel sure of is the one most likely to hide a missing syllable.
Kanji you cannot add up: jukujikun and unusual native readings
富海 is read Tonomi, 南風泊 is Haedomari, and 杢路子 is Mukuroji. Reading the characters one at a time gets you nowhere; you have to learn the whole reading.
Tonomi (富海)
Tonomi in Hofu is also the name of a station on the JR San'yo Line. Adding the characters as "Tomiumi" or reading them by sound misses it, and the string of sounds is one you seldom meet in everyday words.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Hofu, YamaguchiTonomi Station information (JR-Odekake.net)
Haedomari (南風泊)
南風 is read hae, and 泊 voices to domari. It is the name of the Haedomari Market on Hikoshima, Japan's only wholesale market that deals solely in fugu. Anyone who thinks of "Nanpu" or "Minamikaze" will miss it.
Source:Haedomari Market (Hikoshima walking guide)Shimonoseki and fugu (Shimonoseki Fuku Federation)
Mutsurejima (六連島)
It is tempting to read 六連 by its sound as Rokuren, but as an island name it is read Mutsure. Shortening it to "Mure-jima" does not work either. Several explanations for the name are reported, while the reading itself can be checked against public records.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, YamaguchiMutsurejima (Yamaguchi Prefecture island guide)
Mukuroji (杢路子)
Reading 杢 as moku, 路 as ro and 子 as shi gives "Mokuroshi," which is nowhere near the real Mukuroji. Assigning a sound or a native reading to each character does not work, and the name has to be learned as one whole reading.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Tasuki (田耕)
Reading 田 and 耕 one at a time, by native or Sino-Japanese readings, never arrives at the sound tasuki. The two characters have to be learned as one whole reading.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Same spelling, different reading: it changes across towns
緑町 is Midori-cho in Yamaguchi City but Midorimachi in Shunan and Hofu. 黄金町 and 平和町 likewise keep their spelling while the ending changes with the city or district.
Midori-cho / Midorimachi (緑町)
Yamaguchi City's 緑町 is Midori-cho, while the 緑町 of Shunan and Hofu is Midorimachi. Hikoshima's 彦島緑町 in Shimonoseki goes back to cho. Whether a town name ends in cho or machi is registered city by city even when the spelling is identical, and neither the characters nor the sound of the word offers a clue.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Yamaguchi City, YamaguchiJapan Post postal code search: Shunan, YamaguchiJapan Post postal code search: Hofu, YamaguchiJapan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Koganecho / Koganemachi (黄金町)
The 黄金町 in central Yamaguchi City is read Koganecho, but the 黄金町 in the Ogori district of the same city is read Koganemachi. One city holds two places with one name, and the ending differs between the old city center and Ogori.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi
Heiwamachi / Heiwacho (平和町)
Hofu's 平和町 is Heiwamachi, and Sanyo-Onoda's 平和町 is Heiwacho. Both read 平和 by sound, but the ending is the reverse. Even in neighboring cities, a reading cannot be carried over from one to the other.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Hofu, YamaguchiJapan Post postal code search: Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi
When the kanji point the wrong way: meaning and readings at odds
勝谷 is Shoya, 稲光 is Inamitsu, and 夜市 and 八道 are both Yaji. Trusting the meaning of the characters, or expecting sound and native readings not to mix, leads you wrong.
Minori (三徳)
An administrative district in Hagi City's official list, read Minori. The characters can only be built up into 'Santoku', yet the sound is the same as the everyday word minori. Neither guessing from meaning nor adding up sounds gets you there.
Shoya (勝谷)
勝 takes the on-yomi sho, while 谷 is read ya instead of tani. Read entirely by native readings you get "Katsutani"; read entirely by sound you get "Shokoku." Names that mix half and half catch out readers who try to keep to one system.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Ogoso (小古祖)
A district in Tokuji, Yamaguchi City, read Ogoso. Sino-Japanese "Shokoso" and native "Kofuruso" both miss. It is one of the names where assigning a reading to each character one by one does not work.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi
Yaji (夜市 and 八道)
Shunan's 夜市 and Shimonoseki's 八道 in Toyota are spelled completely differently, yet both are read Yaji. Neither "Yoichi" nor "Hachido" gets there, and two unrelated names settle on the same two sounds.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shunan, YamaguchiJapan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Inamitsu / Tarai (稲光・手洗)
Toyota's 稲光 is not inabikari, the everyday word for lightning, but Inamitsu, and its 手洗 is not tearai but Tarai. Everyday vocabulary is exactly what leads a reader into the mistake.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Chinto (椿東)
One of Hagi's city flowers is the camellia, yet the district 椿東 uses the on-yomi chin and is read Chinto, not "Tsubakihigashi." The neighboring district 椿 is read Tsubaki, so a single character splits into sound and native readings inside one city.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Hagi, YamaguchiHagi City overview (emblem, flower, tree)
Zobigasaki (象鼻ヶ岬)
This spit runs north from the east end of the Murozumi peninsula and is described as shaped like an elephant's trunk. "Zohana" is the tempting mistake, but the name uses the sound bi and reads ヶ as ga. It is built from sound and native readings mixed one syllable at a time.
Source:Zobigasaki and Mt. Gabi (Murozumi Kuso Keikakusha)Zobigasaki Cape (Oidemase Yamaguchi)
Tsunoshima (角島)
An island linked to the mainland by a bridge. Many readers say kaku, kado or sumi for 角, but here it is tsuno, "horn," and the shima is not voiced. In another part of the same city, Hikoshima's 角倉町, the same character is read suma, giving Sumakura-cho. Even if you come to the island through the bridge's name, check its reading separately.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
Abu (阿武)
The town is Abu-cho. The characters invite "Amu," but Japan Post's name for the district and town is Abu-gun Abu-cho. One reference work marks the ancient county as Amu, so keep the old reading and the present official reading apart.
Source:Japan Post postal code search: Abu, YamaguchiNagato Province (Historical Place-Name Dictionary / World Encyclopedia / Yamakawa)
FAQ
Which place names in Yamaguchi are considered the hardest to read?
Among stations, 特牛 in Shimonoseki's Hohoku area. Among town and district names, Yamaguchi City's 鋳銭司, Nagato City's Yuya-area 向津具 and Hagi's Asahi-area 釿切 stand out, because neither on-yomi nor native readings can reach them.
How can I tell which reading a repeated spelling takes?
Even with the same spelling, Yamaguchi City's 緑町 (Midori-cho) and Shunan's 緑町 (Midorimachi) are registered as separate places with separate readings, by city or by former town or village. The safest habit is to check the city or town name first.
Are island names, or names with 島, in Yamaguchi more often jima or shima?
There is no count to give; each name is settled individually. Shimonoseki's Mutsurejima voices to jima, while Shunan's Takeshima-cho does not, so the same 島 does not behave alike. The only way is to check each one.
Why does Yamaguchi City contain so many hard names?
Ajisu, Aio, Ogori and Tokuji joined Yamaguchi City in 2005 and Ato in 2010, and each old town or village keeps the readings it handed down in its place names. That is why one city holds readings that sit at different distances from their spelling, such as Aio (秋穂), Yoshiki (吉敷), Niho (仁保) and Ajisu (阿知須).
Is there a knack for reading hard place names?
Start by suspecting three things in the kanji: voicing, shrinking, or a native reading mixed into on-yomi. Then ask whether the same spelling exists in another town and whether the meaning of the characters is pulling you off course, which prepares you for pairs like Midori-cho and Midorimachi or Heiwamachi and Heiwacho. Learning through a station name such as Kawatana Onsen also helps.
Sources & references
- Japan Post postal code search: Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi
- Rendaku (Digital Daijisen / World Encyclopedia)
- Japan Post postal code search: Shunan, Yamaguchi
- Japan Post postal code search: Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi
- Japan Post postal code search: Mine, Yamaguchi
- Japan Post postal code search: Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi
- Japan Post postal code search: Iwakuni, Yamaguchi
- Japan Post postal code search: Hofu, Yamaguchi
- Tonomi Station information (JR-Odekake.net)
- Haedomari Market (Hikoshima walking guide)
- Shimonoseki and fugu (Shimonoseki Fuku Federation)
- Mutsurejima (Yamaguchi Prefecture island guide)
- List of Hagi administrative districts with readings
- Japan Post postal code search: Hagi, Yamaguchi
- Hagi City overview (emblem, flower, tree)
- Zobigasaki and Mt. Gabi (Murozumi Kuso Keikakusha)
- Zobigasaki Cape (Oidemase Yamaguchi)
- Japan Post postal code search: Abu, Yamaguchi
- Nagato Province (Historical Place-Name Dictionary / World Encyclopedia / Yamakawa)