{"id":7122,"date":"2024-01-11T23:54:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T14:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/photoguide.jp\/log\/?p=7122"},"modified":"2024-02-29T19:08:54","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T10:08:54","slug":"origin-of-saitama-prefectural-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/photoguide.jp\/log\/2024\/01\/origin-of-saitama-prefectural-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Origin of Saitama prefectural name"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SAITAMA – Divine Spirit of Happiness \u57fc\u7389\u770c<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"SAITAMA
Spirit of Happiness over an ancient burial mound. Lower right corner is a magatama<\/em> bead.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Although it is basically known where the name “Saitama” came from (a village named “Sakitama” in present-day Gyoda city), the actual meaning remains a mystery. There are multiple theories regarding the meaning, accompanied by multiple ways of writing it in kanji characters (such as \u524d\u7389, \u4f50\u5409\u591a\u4e07, \u4f50\u4f0a\u592a\u672b, \u524d\u591a\u6469, \u5148\u591a\u6469), each having a different meaning. They were mostly pronounced “Sakitama” before it became “Saitama.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the official website, Saitama Prefecture has decided on \u5e78\u9b42 (sakitama<\/em>) as the original kanji characters. It literally means “Happiness Spirit” referring to a god\/goddess granting happiness and protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say that tama<\/em> can also refer to the comma-shaped, magatama<\/em> (\u307e\u304c\u7389) ancient jewelry beads worn by ancient Japanese and commonly found in kofun<\/em> burial mounds. Saitama has these ancient burial mounds in Gyoda city dating back to the 6th<\/sup> century. Gyoda was where Sakitama Village was located. The prefectural crest is a circle of red magatama<\/em> beads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current kanji characters for Saitama (\u57fc\u7389) are regarded as ateji<\/em>, chosen for phonetic purposes instead of the meaning. In most cases, ateji<\/em> kanji usually doesn’t make sense and the meaning remains a mystery. The current kanji characters for “Saitama” literally means “Cape Jewel” which doesn’t make sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Man’yoshu<\/a><\/em> book of poems dating from the 8th century, “Sakitama” is written as \u524d\u7389 or \u4f50\u5409\u591a\u4e07. In the Wamy\u014d Ruijush\u014d<\/a><\/em> kanji dictionary of Japanese names (\u548c\u540d\u985e\u805a\u6284) from the 10th century, the Sakitama district name had morphed into “Saitama” written as \u57fc\u7389 or \u4f50\u4f0a\u592a\u672b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another theory regarding the meaning says saki<\/em> means “in front of” and tama<\/em> means “to accumulate” (tamaru<\/em> \u6e9c\u307e\u308b), in reference to water since the Sakitama area (now Gyoda) was likely marshland near two rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another possibility is saki<\/em> meaning “in front of” in reference to the Saitama area being in front of the Tama area (\u591a\u6469) in western Tokyo. This is regarded as a long shot theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old province name:<\/strong> Musashi-no-Kuni (\u6b66\u8535\u56fd)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*The AI-generated image is for illustrative purposes only and may not accurately depict any particular place in the prefecture.
*Major reference sources: Official prefectural website, Japanese Wikipedia, other websites.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n