Origin of the city name

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Updated Date: 2025-07-04

We will introduce the origins of city names. Depending on the city, there are multiple theories, so in that case, all the theories are listed.

Morioka City

Origin

  1. In the old days, it was called "Fukurokata" and "Koshigata", then "Morigaoka" and later "Morioka". The feudal lord Nanbu Clan named it "Morioka" with the meaning of "prosperous and flourishing hill".
  2. From the hills with many trees

Miyako City

Origin

  1. The name comes from "miyako" (capital) to mean the economic and cultural center of the Heiwa region.
  2. Import port for Miyako (capital) goods
  3. Miyako (place) is a place where a shrine is located.
  4. Transformation from "Port"
  5. Miya (field) Ko (land)
  6. It means "miyako" (wood used to make shrines and Buddhist temples)
  7. "Miyako" means a member of the shrine
  8. It is an abbreviation of "Miyamako" (dwelling in the mountains).

Ofunato City

Origin

The meaning of "big wharf"

Oshu City

Origin

In 2006, the cities of Mizusawa, Esashi, Maesawa Town, Isawa Town, and Kinugawa Village in Isawa County merged to form the city of Oshu.

Hanamaki City

Origin

In the Middle Ages, it was called "Toriyagasaki."

  1. The name comes from the fact that there was a ranch called "Hana no Maki" that produced famous horses.
  2. The Kitakami River is deep and eddying, and in spring, flower petals float on the water, creating a beautiful sight.
  3. In the Ainu language "Pana", it means land that opens up downstream.
  4. It means "edge pasture" and refers to a pasture in a delta where rivers join together.

Kitakami City

Origin

It is a variation of "Hitakami."

  1. Hida (mountain folds) Ka (place)
  2. Hida (high) Ka (ground)
  3. Hina (Evil) Ka (Place)
  4. Hitakami (frontier)

In 1954, the towns of Kurosawajiri, Iide, Futago, Saraki, Fukuoka, Oniyanagi, and Aikari merged to form the city of Kitakami.

Kuji City

Origin

It is thought to be the name of a county from the Nanboku-cho period.

  1. From the narrow terrain
  2. A place where the land has been gouged out and collapsed by marine erosion.
  3. A wharf built at the mouth of a river, meaning "Kutsu"
  4. A long sandbar lying at the mouth of a river.

Tono City

Origin

(1) The general term "Enhei" meaning the plains beyond Hei or deep within Hei. (2)

A distant mountain field

  • From the Ainu words "to" (swamp) and "nupu" (field)
  • "Eastern Field" meaning "Eastern Field"
  • A corrupted version of "Tawano" (a curved basin).

Ichinoseki City

Origin

  1. It is derived from "Ichinoseki" (first weir), and refers to the construction of the first weir to stop the flooding of the Kitakami River.
  2. Within the city, there are three checkpoints called "Ichinoseki," "Niseki," and "Sanseki," named after the checkpoints in Hiraizumi.

Rikuzentakata City

Origin

"Rikuzen" is the former name of the province.

  1. The name comes from the fact that the Kanda on Mount Hikami, the main shrine of Kesen County, was called "Takada."
  2. "Takada" means "a rice field that is higher than the surrounding plains," but it is also used as a variant of "To (place)" rather than "Takata" as a good place name.
  3. "Takata" means rice fields

In 1955, the towns of Takata, Kesen, Hirota, Otomo, Yonezaki, Yahagi, Takekoma, and Yokota merged. The town of Takata, which was at the center of the merger, was given the name Rikuzentakata, with the word Rikuzen added as the prefix.

Kamaishi City

Origin

  1. Because it produces a lot of stones for making kettles
  2. In Ainu language, it means "Kumaushi" (a place where fish are dried).
  3. "Kamaushi" in Ainu language (the place with flat rocks)
  4. A stone resembling a kettle
  5. Kiln-shaped rocks in the Koshi River that flows from the mine into the city
  6. Kamabuchi Kettle

Hachimantai City

Origin

Ninohe City

Origin

In the Heian period, to protect Nukabe County from the Emishi, fences were erected on all four sides, and gates (mon/kado) were set up on the north, south, east and west sides, and guards were stationed there. Later, in order to raise horses within these enclosures, the gates were numbered from one to nine, and the "nine houses and four gates" system was adopted, with one farm per house. In 1972, Fukuoka Town and Kindaichi Village merged to become a city, and the city was named Ninohe City.