"Uranihon" is a name of the sections of Honsyu along the Sea of Japan. But it sometimes means the undeveloped part of Japan, too, because the prefix "lira" has a negative nuance in Japanese. This paper analyzes frequence of using and the transition of meaning of the word by using old local newspapers in Niigata Prefecture since mid Meiji era, and investigates the historical background. In result,the periods when the word was frequently used were Showa tens and Showa thirties and in the both periods the meaning of the word deeply reflected the historical background.
