Japanese Place Names - Administrative Level

Administrative Level

Most place names are suffixed with its administrative division. These suffixes are often dropped in common usage when no ambiguation is likely. The suffixes are as follows:

• -ken (県) for a prefecture; e.g., Yamanashi-ken
• -to (都, lit. "capital"), prefecture-level region name unique to the capital Tōkyō-to
• -fu (府, lit. "office" or "area"), prefecture-level region (sometimes translated "urban prefecture") named so for historical reasons. There are now only two: Ōsaka-fu and Kyōto-fu. Tokyo-to was also classified as this before being reorganized.
• dō (道), an "administrative circuit", a semi-archaic administrative division formerly widespread. Modern usage is limited to Hokkaido, but terms like Tōkaidō (southern portion of eastern Japan) remains in common informal usage.

Because of the above four suffixes, the prefectures of Japan are commonly referred to as todōfuken (都道府県). And below the level of prefectures, there are:

• -gun (郡), a district, usually rural. The Japanese postal service and many other sources translate this as county.
• -shi (市), a city
• -ku (区), a ward of a city; e.g., Naka-ku in Hiroshima. The 23 special wards of Tokyo are separate local governments nearly equivalent to cities.
• -machi or -chō (町), a town - this can be a local government or a non-governmental division of a larger city
• -mura or -son (村), a village; e.g., Kamikuishiki-mura - this can also be a local government or a nongovernmental division of a larger city or town