Hiragana and katakana place names

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

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 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 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 Tokushima
Ukiha うきは市 浮羽 Fukuoka
Uruma うるま市 宇流麻 Okinawa

List of partially Hiragana cities

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

Romanized
Katakana + Kanji
Prefecture
Remarks
Niseko ニセコ町 Hokkaidō from Ainu
Minamiarupusu 南アルプス市 Yamanashi from "Japanese Alps"
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