Etymology of The Name
The beach's name means "Seven Ri Beach", where a ri is an old Japanese unit of measurement equivalent to 3.9 km, and therefore Shichirigahama should be about 27 km long. In fact, it is just over one tenth of that length. The origin of the name is unknown, and many hypothetical etymologies exist. According to a passage of the Shinpen Kamakurashi, it comes from the Shichiri Bikyaku (七里飛脚?) (a term usually shortened into just Shichiri), which was an Edo period messenger service on the Kantōdō highway with a horseman change every seven "ri". However, since the expression shichiri also meant "a long ride", the name could also just mean that the beach is very long. Shichirigahama has also been called Shichirinada (七里灘?), Shichibama (七里浜?) and Shichiriura (七里浦?).
Read more about this topic: Shichirigahama
Famous quotes containing the words the name and/or etymology:
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”
—Bible: Hebrew Exodus, 20:7.
The third commandment.
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)