The hiragana cities of Japan are municipalities whose names are written in hiragana rather than kanji as is traditional for Japanese place names. Many hiragana city names have kanji equivalents that are either phonetic manyōgana, or whose kanji are outside of the Joyo kanji.[citation needed] Others, such as Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, are taken from localities or landmarks whose names continue to be written in kanji. Yet another cause is the merger of multiple cities, one of which had the original kanji — in such cases, the hiragana place name is used to create a new identity for the merged city, distinct from the constituent city with the same kanji name.
List of fully Hiragana cities and towns
edit| Romaji |
Hiragana |
Kanji |
Prefecture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ama | あま市 | 海部 | Aichi |
| Awara | あわら市 | 芦原 | Fukui |
| Ebino | えびの市 | 蝦野 | Miyazaki |
| Erimo | えりも町 | 襟裳 | Hokkaidō |
| Hitachinaka | ひたちなか市 | 常陸那珂 | Ibaraki |
| Inabe | いなべ市 | 員弁 | Mie |
| Ino | いの町 | 伊野 | Kōchi |
| Isumi | いすみ市 | 夷隅 | Chiba |
| Iwaki | いわき市 | 磐城 | Fukushima |
| Kahoku | かほく市 | 河北 | Ishikawa |
| Kasumigaura | かすみがうら市 | 霞ヶ浦 | Ibaraki |
| Katsuragi | かつらぎ町 | 葛城 | Wakayama |
| Midori | みどり市 | 緑 | Gunma |
| Minabe | みなべ町 | 南部 | Wakayama |
| Minakami | みなかみ町 | 水上 | Gunma |
| Miyoshi | みよし市 | 三好 | Aichi |
| Mukawa | むかわ町 | 鵡川 | Hokkaidō |
| Mutsu | むつ市 | 陸奥 | Aomori |
| Nikaho | にかほ市 | 仁賀保 | Akita |
| Oirase | おいらせ町 | 奥入瀬 | Aomori |
| Ōi | おおい町 | 大飯 | Fukui |
| Saitama | さいたま市 | 埼玉 | Saitama |
| Sakura | さくら市 | 桜 | Tochigi |
| Sanuki | さぬき市 | 讃岐 | Kagawa |
| Setana | せたな町 | 瀬棚 | Hokkaidō |
| Susami | すさみ町 | 周参見 | Wakayama |
| Tatsuno | たつの市 | 龍野 | Hyōgo |
| Tokigawa | ときがわ町 | 都幾川 | Saitama |
| Tsugaru | つがる市 | 津軽 | Aomori |
| Tsukuba | つくば市 | 筑波 | Ibaraki |
| Tsukubamirai | つくばみらい市 | 筑波未来 | Ibaraki |
| Tsurugi | つるぎ町 | 剣 | Tokushima |
| Ukiha | うきは市 | 浮羽 | Fukuoka |
| Uruma | うるま市 | 宇流麻 | Okinawa |
List of partially Hiragana cities
edit| City / Town |
Hiragana + Kanji |
Full kanji |
Prefecture |
|---|---|---|---|
| Akiruno | あきる野市 | 秋留野、阿伎留野 | Tokyo |
| Ichikikushikino | いちき串木野市 | 市来串木野 | Kagoshima |
| Higashikagawa | 東かがわ市 | 東香川 | Kagawa |
| Higashimiyoshi | 東みよし町 | 東三好 | Tokushima |
| Kinokawa | 紀の川市 | 紀之川 | Wakayama |
| Minamiawaji | 南あわじ市 | 南淡路 | Hyōgo |
| Izunokuni | 伊豆の国市 | 伊豆之国 | Shizuoka |
| Fujimino | ふじみ野市 | 富士見野 | Saitama |
List of Katakana cities
edit| Romanized |
Katakana + Kanji |
Prefecture |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Niseko | ニセコ町 | Hokkaidō | from Ainu |
| Minamiarupusu | 南アルプス市 | Yamanashi | from "Japanese Alps" |