How Did The Islands & Regions Of Japan Get Their Names?
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- Опубліковано 23 кві 2020
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SOURCES AND FURTHER READING
List Of Island Countries: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
Regions On Japan: www.japan-guide.com/list/e100...
How Many Islands Make Up Japan?: www.quora.com/How-many-island...
The Four Islands Of Japan: www.thoughtco.com/four-primar...
Hokkaido: www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201...
Shikoku: www.lonelyplanet.com/japan/sh...
Kyushu: www.britannica.com/place/Kyus...
Cape Definition: dictionary.cambridge.org/dict...
Ryukyuan: www.storyhouse.org/susanf.html
Naha: yabai.com/p/2858
Honshu: www.names.org/n/honshu/about
Tohoku: www.japan-guide.com/list/e110...
Kanto & Kansai: www.tsunagujapan.com/differen...
Chubu: www.japan-guide.com/list/e110...
Chugoku: www.japan-guide.com/list/e110...
Recommend some anime with, err, good plots.
Demon slayer
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
eromanga sensei
JoJo Bizarre Adventure & Transformer Cybertron Trilogy
Action:
Phsyco pass
Darwin's game
Guilty crown
SAO (1st season)
Kimetsu no yaiba
Romance :
Kimi no nawa
Hello world
Your lies in april
I want to eat your pancreas
Koe no katachi
"Kyūshū" is pronounced like "Queue - Shoe"
"Ryūkyū" is "Ryu (like the guy in the Street Fighter) - Queue". Dunno where the dragon etymology came from as the Kanji for the region (琉球) literally means "Precious Stone Ball".
Fun Fact: Most Pokemon regions are based on Japan's regions, hence the Kanto reference.
Chūgoku has the same Kanji for the name China, i.e. 中国
Japan had an ancient system of naming their areas: the "Five Provinces and Seven Circuits". And when Hokkaido was introduced, it became "Five Provinces and Eight Circuits". The most famous of these is Tokaido now usually seen in railway lines like the Tokaido Shinkansen.
Tip: this was explained by a YTer who's kinda inactive nowadays
ua-cam.com/video/Jo9IKHYlSGQ/v-deo.html
Technically only half of the Pokemon regions are based on Japan's regions (generations 1-4) as the more recent Pokemon games have regions based on other parts of the world.
- Gen 5's Unova is based on New York City.
- Gen 6's Kalos is based on France.
- Gen 7's Alola is based on Hawaii.
- Gen 8's Galar (which is the most recent) is based on the UK.
Don't forget the region of Shoo-Boo!
precious stone ball could refer to the precious stone balls dragons often hold in folklore
Came to the comments to ask about Chūgoku, because I had learned that that was the Japanese word for China. Thanks for confirming!
Pokémon regions which based on Japanese regions:
1. Kanto - Just Kanto.
2. Johto - The Kansai region
3. Hoenn - The Kyushu region
4. Sinnoh - The Hokkaido region
8:01
That demonetization joke was golden
Kinki University (近畿大学) changed its name to Kindai in 2016, just to avoid jokes like that.
Kinki ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
--im sorry i hate these jokes but someone had to pwease dont hate :3--
imagine pronouncing "Kyushu" like "Jyushu"
That would mean they gained a province.
surprised so many people are talkin about this, this fellas pronunciation is always off kilter
@@tollutollu I mean, he literally pronounced the K as a J tho 💀
@@luxshokk only people who speak Japanese would understand
ju is ten
kyu is nine
Region starts with the letter K
NameExplain... JOOSHOO
The wikipedia article even gives a pronunciation audio so I don't know what happened there.
Jerald Evans I’ve frequently criticized Patrick’s pronunciations across his content, but THIS is one of the worst.
Not to mention, he pronounced CHUGOKU as SHUGOKU
"don't you know its named that because of all the jewish people on that island"
Jushu would mean "ten provinces"
Kanto = Kanto
Part of Chubu = Johto
Kyushu = Hoenn (rotated)
Hokkaido = Sinnoh
That'd be pretty common knowledge for Pokémon players
Johto is the western part of Chubu, plus Kansai and the Eastern part of Shikoku.
i see japan has taken on the australian method of province naming
At least we dropped the latter part of "The Northern Territory of South Australia". Whoever thought that made sense anyway?
Except region isn't the first-level administrative division.Instead,prefecture is the equivalent of province or state.
Ggdivhjkjl did you smash your keyboard to get that name
And region is not geopolitical.It is just combination of geopolitical prefectures
although Hokkaido is an island,region and its own prefecture
almost nobody in Japan knows this, but your etymology of Hokkaidoo isn't correct. The KAI originally didn't mean 'sea', but rather 'ainu land'; a word that one of the earlier discoverers gave to it. the Japanese government later changed the spelling of KAI to fit the meaning of 'sea'. So the actual meaning was "the way to the northern ainu lands" . It was written as 北加伊道
So how was the "kai" part spelt before?
@@daisybrain9423 the japanese government spelled it as 北加伊道 back then; but the 加伊 part was simply an Ateji, since the original Ainu-wod Kai/Kay wasn't meant to be written in kanji.
@@LodiJP Interesting, thanks for the reply!
"Zhu-shu"?
The "Zhus" own that, too; don't ya know!
I think he got his languages confused. He seems to be attempting the Mandarin word for nine (jiǔ) rather than the Japanese word.
EDIT: I've now heard reeookoo, shubu, fuzhi and shugoku. I think he's just bad at pronouncing things.
Fun fact: Osaka used to be much smaller until they started moving dirt to fill in the bay. Perhaps it was more hilly before that? In fact, neighborhoods like Umeda are 100% man-made. Umeda is written as 梅田 (plum field), but it was originally 埋田 (filled-in field) which is pronounced exactly the same. However, that sense of "fill in" also has the connotation of "burial." They probably changed it to something more pleasant so the area wouldn't seem like one big graveyard.
On a similar note, Kyoto's Toribeno neighborhood actually WAS one big graveyard and its name reflects that. In early times, it was common to leave dead bodies out in the open to be picked apart by birds, hence the name Toribeno essentially meaning "land where birds are." It eventually become a fairly normal residential area, albeit one with a lot of ghost stories. One block is called Rokuro-cho 轆轤町 (potter's wheel town), which seems confusing since there's no connection to pottery. Apparently it used to be Dokuro-cho 髑髏町 (skull town), but they changed it to improve their image. One old temple in Rokuro-cho is famous for performing funeral rites on the bodies left out in the open, while another supposedly has a portal to hell in their garden.
'Chugoku' is also the Japanese word for China if things weren't confusing before
That's what comes to mind when I heard the word Chugoku in this video
And that's the meaning of China's name (central land/country)
@@shibonotenshi 中国
More accurately in romaji, it's "Chūgoku"
The "u" sound is elongated
@Kevinmbt: And yet, Name Explain renders it as “Shoo-goku”
i grew up in Taiwan, and it was only until my teenage years that I found out a lot of the place names in Taiwan also came from Japanese (i.e. 松山, 清水, 桃園, 岡山, 板橋...etc.), which would make sense given the history. I just didn't realize, and my mind was blown.
Colonialism obviously
When you said
"桃園"
I felt that
@@Miguelitojones1 it literally means "Peach Garden"
Formosa...
The0Stroy Aí é português kkkkkkkkkkkkkk
7:18 I'm at the moment living in Sendai, so I thought I could comment on that. It is called the City of Trees, but tbh nowadays it's mostly made of concrete.
And it's weird you haven't found the etymology of the name as it is written in bold letters on Wikipedia.
"At this time Sendai was written as 千代 ("a thousand generations"), because a temple with a thousand Buddha statues (千体, sentai) used to be located in Aobayama. Masamune changed the kanji to "仙臺", which later became "仙台" (literally: "hermit/wizard" plus "platform/plateau" or more figuratively, "hermit on a platform/high ground"). The character came from a Chinese poem that praised a palace created by the Emperor Wen of Han China (reigned 180-157 BCE), comparing it to a mythical palace in the Kunlun Mountains. Tradition says that Masamune chose this kanji so that the castle would prosper as long as a mountain inhabited by an immortal hermit."
From Wikipedia
So sorry about the trees😔
The meaning of 仙 is actually closer to "fairy". Sendai = Fairy Terrace
@@keithkyli In japanese it means mainly a hermit. In chinese it can have a meaning of a fairy, but generally not in japanese.
Japanese for fairy is 妖精
Skip to 2:31 for how the islands and regions of Japan got their names.
Most people in the chugoku region called it san'in san'yo region to avoid confusion
3:43, Yoshinogawa Service Area in Tokushima Prefecture:
An AWESOME place!! 😳😎
I recommend diving off the cliffs into the Yoshinogawa River!
Hokkaido is my favorite of the main islands. So nice during the winter and fall. They have a festival in Sapporo during the winter with awesome ice sculptures. Anime wise, I like Speed Racer, Jojo, Fist of the North Star, Hetalia, and Pokémon
Fun fact: Sinnoh from Diamond and Pearl is based off Hokkaido.
Why do you pronounce Kyushu with a J sound, but the Ky in Kyoto correctly?
"Ezo ... 'Land of barbarians' because it was so untamed"
And maybe because the Japanese viewed the Ainu as barbarians. Although, yeah, you could call that "untamed" as well.
What version of barbarian tho
Since the original term kinda just meant "those that didn't speak our language"
It's not very clear at all to me where he got Ezo = land of barbarians. The meaning of the first kanji is shrimp. Shrimp-Barbarian. Can't seem to find an etymology but suffice to say, neither the contemporary or the original meaning of the term barbarian is applicable to the term that Japanese used for the Ainu people in 1000CE.
"Means hermit and stand" Joseph Joestar noises
oddly enough Sendai is the birthplace of Araki Hirohiko and the model of Morioh!
Each island has it's own railway company, yet they share two letters. JR. Formerly, JNR controlled all Japanese rail bhut after the privatization of some parts, it was split altogether.
8:20 -- BTW, this map is upside down.
You Japanese .
No wonder it looked weird. Even the kanji is upside down and I've yet to realize so until I came across this comment.
I’ve lived in 仙台 (Sendai), 川崎 (Kawasaki), and 横浜 (Yokohama). Sendai was founded by Daimyō (Lord) Date Masamune as his base of operations to govern the region in 1600. It used to be written as 仙臺 and was later simplified (this is the same character as 台北 Taipei and 台湾Taiwan). Nagasaki and Kawasaki are both named for peninsulas (kawa means river). Regions of Japan are informal grouping like the The South or Midwest in the US. The formal divisions are the 47 都道府県 (prefectures), each has a capital city and its own flag.
D-Did you just say "Japan's more Northern Ireland"?
I think you would make huge success if you would do a video explaining the ethimological/cultural origins of the most common names.
Things like Alexander, who came from Macedon, "the protector of man".
"Macedonia is Slavic"
For Chugoku, the Japanese Wikipedia says that it might be a leftover name from the times when all regions were classified depending on how far away they were from the capital. Apparently the closest regions were called 'the near countries', the farthest were called 'the far countries', while the Chugoku regions were somewhere in between, hence they were the 'middle countries' 🤨
In regards to Chugoku, the early Japanese settlement was from Kyushu up to the border of Kanto and Tohoku. At that time, the Chugoku region would have been the central region of Japan.
i'm just commenting to say i'm glad many others have corrected your pronunciation already. romaji is meant to be literal!!!!
You literally didn't mention Nagoya in Chubu
I'm upset about that
Everyone forgets about Nagoya - even tourists
@@nafslee Nagoya Skip ^^
8:50 as opposed to a vertical beach, of course.
In addition to the beer, Sapporo is also famous as the host of the 1972 Winter Olympics.
The people of Okinawa have the longest life span in the world.
Chugoku also means 'China' in Japanese
Congrats on the Crunchyroll sponsorship and secondly, I'm really intrigued about this. Please do more content about Japan in the future.
Like Hentai?
Most of the Japanese place names is very straightforward when translated to Chinese. Shikoku, for example, is translated to “四国” which literally means four countries/regions.
I love how the old map shown in the bit explaining Kyoto and Tokyo is clearly upside down if you look at the writing on it.
I am a Japanese student who lives in Tokyo. And I really enjoyed watching this video. I have learned something new. I thought about this but the names in Japan is based on the Chinese Characters/kanji. So I am interested to know how the other areas of the world got there name which uses the Chinese Characters. I don't know about this but isn't weird to translate the Chinese Characters individually into English words. Like the kanjis 北海道 into northern sea road. Is it only my who thinks about this? Enjoy your day I guess. ;P
Fuck China. Japan should get rid of Chinese characters in their language to distance themselves from the facist state.
@@chrisw5852 I'm sure you also loathe, hate, want to eradicate Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau too.
Ethnicity and culture aren't the same as a government you utter bint
@@chrisw5852 ok lets be honest, China won't be bad if it's government wasn't bad
@@chrisw5852 so don't reticule China reticule it's government
@@dantdma932 bitch, you know that European Colonialism made China into what it is today? We literally fucked their country, twice, then forced shit on them, fucked their country again, broke out many civil wars, we lent the Communist Manifesto to them, and boom. fucking Communist China.
oh yeah, Japanese Imperialism might also have not helped.
It would appear that some people count Okinawa (the largest of the Ryukyu Islands) as one of Japan's main islands. Probably to bring the total to five - in Japan, four is said to be an unlucky number.
I did a double take at 9:20 because that's the exact same photo as my desktop background ever since I was a teenager. So I had a second of "wait did the browser close?? Where are my desktop icons???" lol
Great video. Well done! :) ( I understand, that you live from advertising your sponsors, but near to 1:40 only for advertising? )
In regards to Sendai,
from Wikipedia:
[In the 1600s] Sendai was written as 千代 ("a thousand generations"), because a temple with a thousand Buddha statues (千体, sentai) used to be located in Aobayama. Masamune changed the kanji to "仙臺", which later became "仙台" (literally: "hermit/wizard" plus "platform/plateau" or more figuratively, "hermit on a platform/high ground"). The character came from a Chinese poem that praised a palace created by the Emperor Wen of Han China (reigned 180-157 BCE), comparing it to a mythical palace in the Kunlun Mountains. Tradition says that Masamune chose this kanji so that the castle would prosper as long as a mountain inhabited by an immortal hermit.
Glad to see that Crunchyroll sponsored you on the japan video
Chugoku means central country for the very reason you imagined, it was more central to the japanese people from the Yayoi period to the Nara period.
The name Chugoku Region comes from the Heian period when the two centres of power was at Kyoto and Dazaifu in Kyushu. The region in between hence became known as Chugoku... middle regions. Please do some proper research.
This guy has big brains. Putting a Crunchyroll ad on a video about Japan
I'd be keen to see the origins of names of the Channel Islands (if you haven't already done so, of course).
Name Explain is answering the real questions.
Turn on the subtitle at 2:06, it says: "however as well as being split geographically by Ireland [...]"
You should do a video about how Battle ships get there names.
6:35 This is really inaccurate. While it's certainly possible to see Mt Fuji from Tokyo, there is a mountain range between the city and mountain itself which means that only the very top is visible.
5:06.
NO CAPES!
I like Okinawa, the origin of karate. And the Stitch anime takes place there
I didnt know kim jongun watch anime
The origin of the place name is interesting.
I live in a place called Goi in Japan.
The commission for the name came from the famous sword maker, Kaji, who used to make
He said that they built five wells because they needed water for their wells.
The reason why we built five wells is because
It was to be delivered to a famous general.
The name "Goi" is said to have come from that.
So the name, Goi, is 五井 (five wells)?
3:19 rip Mr. Iwata
What area is the map at 8:15 of?
He pronounced Nara and Kyushu wrong.He thinks that 'ky' is pronounced as 'j' as in French.
Edit:It was actually Naha,not Nara
Well,that's what he's known for afterall
@@jakubpociecha8819 basically in every video
He's not the best when it comes to pronunciation.
Nicholas Nelson thats okay as long as we understand it I guess
@@Ggdivhjkjl if i was him,i would learn the pronounciation first before editing the video
Kyushu is pronounced like its written, jyu is closer to the number ten rather than nine. Nine in japanese is Kyu.
2:52 what place is this in Hokkaido?
I have a feeling many of these places used to have their own names that are now lost to history, and probably renamed for administrative reasons by newer occupants / rulers. An example is Tokyo which literally mean Eastern Capital. Formerly it was called Edo and this can still be seen in the naming of some landmarks in Tokyo, such as the Toei Oedo line where Oedo and Edo more or less sounds he same.
Chugoku it's kind of awkward because in Japanese chugoku also means china, and is written the same
The best sponsor crunchryroll defo I love to watch anime especially on cr
中国 (ちゅうごく) also means China
The name of Sendai comes from the 1000 buddha statues in the Aksagarbha Hall in Daimanji Temple. 1000 buddhas in Japanese is Sentai-butsu 千體佛. The place was written as Sendai 千代, meaning thousand generations first, but was changed to the current 仙臺 when the Date clan took their seat in the city, and retranscribed the name based on a line from a classical chinese poem that went 仙臺初見五城楼.
Hiroshima is named after the Mori clan's castle with its name, which was coined by taking one letter from the Mori ancestral father Oe-no-Hiromoto, and the local warrior Fukushima Motonaga who helped Mori in subjugating the area. The name Hiroshima (vast islands) was also befitting because the castle was built on one of the many islands that composed the now lost delta.
I checked if someone mentionned it in the comments but it seems you mispronounced the island of Kyushu as Jiushu which change the meaning completely as 九州 meaning nine provinces become 十州 meaning ten provinces. It's not a big deal just had to point it out, otherwise great video as always.
1:38
Japan is a island by the sea filled with volcanoes and it's BEAUTIFUL
7:27 is this the work of an enemy stand???
Game Tutorials Oh no
Fun fact: chūgoku also means china. Not even kidding, exact same kanji and everything. 中国. Although now it's sometimes referred to as the san'in and san'yo regions to avoid confusing tourists
Fun fact: Sendai is the birthplace and hometown of Hirohito Araki, the manga artist who draws JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure. Morioh from Parts 4 and 8 is based on Sendai.
I have found 3 theories for the origin of Sendai's name.
1. Although the current kanjis are 仙台, up to the 17th century, it was called 千代 (pronunciation is sendai or chiyo) which means a long time, or thousand years. It was the name of the war lord Date Masamune's castle there. But actually it was called 千体 Sentai ("thousand bodies") as there were a lot of buddhist statues around. And the t became a d in spoken language quickly, probably on purpose, as the thousand years meaning was more imposant for a castle. After this they chose not so common kanjis as it was a name (this happened a lot in Japan). It became 仙臺 (the kanjis of wizard and kitchen) but in the modern era, there was a huge kanji simplification movement, so it ended up as 仙台. 台 is still the first kanji of the word "kitchen".
2. In Ainu language, Sepu Nai means "wide river". This became Sendai for the Japanese. As Sendai has a big river called Hirosegawa.
3. The district the castle was is called 川内 Kawauchi in Japanese reading, but the Chinese reading of it is Sennai which became Sendai. Usually you read kanjis together with the Chinese reading, but names are exceptions. 川内 means "in the river".
I hope it helped a little, although there's no clear answer.
I'm Brazilian Japanese, and used to be confused about Chugoku, because it's also "China" (the country) in Japanese as well
Chuugoku also means China in Japanese. I wonder how they differentiate it. Do they call it Chuugoku chihou or they use some nickname for the region as to not confuse it with China?
Probably context.
Horizontal beach as opposed to the typical vertical beach
Yokohama (横浜) - 横(よこ) usually means side.
Petition for name explained for all kinds of road
And I just thought Honshu was a nebula class starship 😕
I like how straightforward the names are 😂
1:37 for video start
You sounded like GYU meaning beef, kyushu is like saying key and you, lol
Chuugoku might not be in the center of Japan, but if you zoom out it's kind of in the center of Japan. Also historically it was the center of action.
It's said that Osaka大阪... used to be Osaka小坂...small hill, referring to the shallow slope where Osaka castle stands. (Oh saka and Os aka... there is a difference in pronunciation.) 'Small' was not fitting for a castle, so it was changed to great hill. Osaka.
Would have been great to include the kanji, as most of the names get really obvious once you split them into the kanji
These pronunciations are KILLING me lol!
Regardless, Chugoku region probably traces its name origin to pre Sengoku era where, given how Japan used to be riven in two parts(East and West ; the whole point behind Tokyo and Kyoto), it was probably seen as a middle province of sorts. Even so, Kinki seems more central to me, but...what do I know?
How did the iran/iraq/syria /lebanon (the middle east contries) got their names?
I know im not a patreon but If you find it a good idea for a video you can make it.
Want me to make the Chuugoku region even more confusing? 「中国」(Chuugoku) is also the name for "China" in Japanese as 「国」can also mean "Country".
I remember I was on r/Translator and saw something that had 「中国」on it and commented that it had something to do with China. And that's when I learned about the Chuugoku region as someone with more knowledge of Japanese told me that it wasn't referring to China based on context I was unable to read.
I hope you enjoy your journey into anime man. There’s some good stuff in there. I’ve not seen a ton myself, but I would highly recommend Mushishi. Stay well out there everybody, and Jesus Christ be with you friends.😊
Did you really just ignore Nagoya, the biggest city in Chubu and the 4th most populous city in Japan?
Name explain: *admits he is an anime fan*
Me: NANI?!
I use to live on Okinawa!
7:31 "Hermit", "Stand"?
Obviously this is a Jojo reference, to the Stand named Hermit Purple.
Why did I never realize that shikoku literally just means 4 country. I studied japan studies for 1,5 years and never noticed it
The map at 8L15 is upside-down.
And people complain about English speaking people naming things creatively. Just another thing that brings us all together. :)
Hokkaido is also famous for its dairy products.
chugoku is also the japanese name for china, so i always thought they named it that cause it is closest to china? and maybe the area where they initially met? or traded with them? or it is just a coincidence.
It's wrong...
The northeast area(東北地方) Japan has been Japan from the beginning
Moreover, even if you exclude the northeast, the center of the Honshu would be Kinki region(近畿地方)
The Japan government was in Nara about 1200 years ago. In that time, there was administrative provinces called Ritsuryokoku(律令国). As a laugh division, the provinces near from Nara were called Kingoku(近国=near province), the provinces far from Nara were called Ongoku(遠国=far province) and the provinces between them were called Chuugoku(中国=middle province)
The Chuugoku provinces are the Chuugoku region now(a part of Shikoku were also included in Chuugoku at that time though)
By the way, to avoid to be confused, Japanese people call them different
When they say just "Chuugoku", it means "China" and when they mean "one of the region of Japan", they say "Chuugoku chihou(中国地方)=Chuugoku region"
The other regions usually called without "chihou", but when it comes to Chuugoku, "chihou" is always put
Another fantastic video, and as such you deserve a great thank you!
By the way, Kyushu is pronounced either Queue-shu or Key-u-shu. And the map at 8:20 is also upside down.
Also, Crunchyroll, really? Could you please pick a better sponsor for a Japan related video? Don't toss away your self respect please.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed this and look forward to others in the future.
Toss away self respect? Anime is from Japan, so I don't think it's a bad sponsor. Or do you think anime fans are weird, and cringy, because that's not true.
The center of Hiroshima used to be a delta, so it was named Hiroshima "a large island".
Chyugoku means China in Japanese. In fact in kanji it's written 中国, and Chinese people use the same symbols for the name of China, as far as I'm aware (I don't know that much Chinese)
That region is the closest of all of them to China so it might make sense
Chugoku = 中国 = China
Ironic how the same word is interpreted differently. 'central country' vs 'middle kingdom'
those people share one national flag, whereas united kingdom comprises england, wales, scotland and the northern area of ireland where each region has own national flag. some of japanese cant understand what they are saying about the union jack when they hear it comprises regional flags.
Chugoku likely means central country because in the past Japan didn’t go much further than chubu