hiragana and katakana place names

{{Short description|Japanese municipalities whose names are not written in kanji}}{{Expand Japanese|date=November 2024}}

There are a small number of municipalities in Japan whose names are written in hiragana or katakana, together known as kana, rather than kanji as is traditional for Japanese place names.{{Cite journal |last=Hosokawa |first=Naoko |date=2020 |title=Katakana and Japanese National Identity. The Use of Katakana for Japanese Names and Expressions |journal=Silva Iaponicarum: Problems and Perspectives for Japan in a Changing World |volume=56 |pages=119-136 |doi=10.12775/sijp.2020.56-59.7|doi-access=free }} Many city names written in kana have kanji equivalents that are either phonetic manyōgana, or whose kanji are outside of the jōyō kanji.{{citation needed|date=September 2011}} Others, such as Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, are taken from localities or landmarks whose names continue to be written in kanji. 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.