Geographic Features
Geographic features figure prominently in Japanese place names. Some examples are
- hama(浜) for a beach; e.g. Hamamatsu
- hantō (半島) for a peninsula; e.g., Izu Hanto
- ishi (石) or iwa (岩) for a rock; e.g., Ishikawa Prefecture; Iwate Prefecture
- izumi (泉) for a spring; e.g., Hiraizumi, Iwate
- kaikyō (海峡) for a strait; e.g., Bungo kaikyō
- kawa or -gawa (川 or 河) for a river; e.g., Asakawa
- ko (湖) for a lake; e.g., Biwa-ko, Kizaki-ko
- nada (灘) for a sea
- oka (岡) for a hill; e.g., Fukuoka
- saki (崎) or misaki (岬) for a promontory; e.g., Miyazaki city
- san or -zan (山) for a mountain; e.g., Aso-san
- sawa or -zawa (沢) for a stream; e.g., Mizusawa, Iwate
- shima or -jima (島) or tō for an island; e.g., Ie-shima, Iwo Jima, Okinawa Honto
- tani or -dani (谷) for a valley
- wan (湾) for a headland or bay; e.g., Sagami-wan
- yama (山) for a mountain; e.g., Yamanashi Prefecture
Read more about this topic: Japanese Place Names
Famous quotes containing the word features:
“However much we may differ in the choice of the measures which should guide the administration of the government, there can be but little doubt in the minds of those who are really friendly to the republican features of our system that one of its most important securities consists in the separation of the legislative and executive powers at the same time that each is acknowledged to be supreme, in the will of the people constitutionally expressed.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)