Feature Names of the Seashore of Fukushima, Nishisonogi County, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

"Feature name" was conceived as the tenTl for a place name which denotes a "natural feature" in the report of the group of experts on geographical names (U. N. , N.Y. , 1962). There are many SLlch featv,re names among the place names of seashore areas but few of them are noted on geographical maps. Until recently, feature names have been almost completely ignored in geography, although some attention has been paid to them recently in linguistics. In a detailed geographical division and survey of Fukushima, there were found to be 159 seashore feature name~*. There are two settlements, temporarily called A and B. A recognizes 112 such feature names, and B 64, so the number of sh.ared names between the two is only 17. The difference between the two seems to derive not only from a difference in fishing methods, but also thd history of settlement. The characteristic geographical feature terms which predominate in the feature names of the seashore in Fukushima ar.e hama (beach), ura (bay), hana (nose), saki (promontory), she (rapids), ishi (rock), and hai (rocky plate). Hana and she are particularly important. The former is a place projectin*cr into the sea with a shape that is nelther large nor sharp. l~he latter is differentiated into three types. The first is a rock which always rises above the surface of the sea, the second is one which rises above and drops below the surface with the ebb and flow of the tide, and the third is one which always lies under the surface. Both hana and she are such good fishing grounds that the islanders, especially fishermen, have come to observe the seashore carefully and designate specific places according to \'arious characteristic geographical features.