-
Why is “Akihabara” shortened to “Akiba?” The historical reason may surprise you
投稿日 2018年5月26日 02:30:44 (ニュース)
-
続・お知らせ。海外セレブゴシップ&ニュース
-
お知らせ
-
We spot the legendary dekotora Aki Kannon, dedicated to actress and singer Aki Yashiro
-
New Pokémon GU collaboration dresses all the family, including babies for the first time
-
How do European Cup Noodles taste to a Japanese palate?
-
We’ve been doing it wrong – Japanese genius shows us how we should all be making sandwiches【Pics】
-
The future is now with full face sunglasses
-
Natto-infused ramen is a thing — we tried it, we love it【Taste test】
-
Jellyfish and Halloween in perfect harmony at Sumida Aquarium event
-
Japanese toilet paper collection opens our minds as we open our butts
-
Aomori police on the lookout for man shouting unsolicited advice at kids about dating and ramen
-
Former Arashi members Sho Sakurai and Masaki Aiba get married… Wait, that didn’t come out right
-
Creator of Japan’s longest-running manga, Golgo 13, passes away, leaves fans one last gift
-
Crazy cheap cosplay at Daiso? How to transform into Dragon Ball’s Vegeta at the discount shop
-
7 Halloween-themed afternoon teas you won’t want to miss this year
-
Krispy Kreme Japan creates doughnut burgers that are a meal and two desserts all in one【Photos】
-
Get in the damn drift car, Shinji? Evangelion Tomika toy brings D1 machine home in miniature form
-
Demon Slayer Nichiren Blades ready for new duty: Slicing through your sweets as dessert knives
-
Man in Japan arrested for breaking into ex-girlfriend’s apartment to steal her Nintendo Switch
-
The Japanese Internet chooses the top too-sexy-for-their-own-good male voices in anime
-
First-ever Studio Ghibli x Russell Athletic range pays homage to My Neighbour Totoro
-
Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan announces first expansion with new Donkey Kong area
-
Cup Noodle pouch satisfies our never-ending need for instant ramen
-
Retro Japanese train is our new favourite office space
-
How do Japanese fans feel about Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop opening sequence?
-
We try Uniqlo coffee at first-ever cafe inside Ginza flagship store
-
The number of elderly people in Japan this year has yet again smashed multiple records
-
Mr. Sato broadens his home drinking horizons at Kaldi【Japan’s Best Home Senbero】
-
We try Japanese Twitter’s newest trend the Penguin Egg, end up hatching something very disturbing
-
Takoyaki makers surprisingly good at grilling meat for yakiniku too
Sponsored Link
Yeah, wait a minute. Why isn’t it shortened to “Akiha” instead?
We all know and love Tokyo’s Akihabara as the crazy neighborhood that boasts everything from maid cafes where you can lift weights with swole maids, to Internet cafes that look like beautiful Japanese ryokan, to virtual reality wedding experiences with the heart-throb anime husband of your dreams.
But Akihabara wasn’t always about otaku and technology. In fact, if you want to discover the origin of Akihabara’s shortened name (it’s often referred to as “Akiba” by residents and fans alike), then you have to go back more than a hundred years into Japanese history.
▼ It would make more sense it abbreviate it as “Akiha,” right?
…although we can kind of see why they don’t abbreviate it as “Akira.”
Before the 20th century, Japan kind of had a problem with fires, especially in the capital Edo (modern-day Tokyo). With all the buildings made of wood and packed tightly together, it didn’t take much for everything to go up in flames.
There were no less than 14 “great fires” from 1600 to 1855 in Edo that killed anywhere from thousands to hundreds of thousands of people. Fires were so common that a popular saying during the time was: “Fires and quarrels are the flowers of Edo.”
So finally in 1869 the Meiji government had enough. They set up an area in Edo called “Chinkabara” (Akihabara’s modern-day location) as a “fire proof area.” Its name “Chinkabara” even translates to “extinguished-fire field.”
▼ A photo of the Akihabara area from 1889. It doesn’t look a whole lot more
fireproof than other Japanese cities at the time, but I guess it worked?
And, just to be extra safe, they had Akiba Daigongen (the Japanese Buddhist deity/kami of fireproof-ness) transferred from Enshu (modern-day Shizuoka) to be enshrined in the new location.
…did you catch that deity’s name? It’s Akiba Daigongen, with “Akiba” meaning “autumn leaves,” another euphemism for fire. That’s where the name change starts.
Sponsored Link
▼ You know, instead of joking about horrific fires all the time,
maybe they should just invest in a fire department?
Since the location’s name was “Chinkabara,” the shrine set up for the deity was originally called “Chinka Jinja” (Chinka Shrine). But the deity’s name was “Akiba,” so everyone just called it “Akiba Jinja.” Eventually the name of the temple changed from “Chinka” to “Akiba,” so people started calling the area itself “Akiba” instead.
There were a bunch of different names for the location, some of them mixtures of “Chinkabara” and “Akiba,” such as “Akibahara” or “Akibappara.” It wasn’t until 1890 when the location got a railroad station and needed to be officially named that it was dubbed “Akihabara,” though it was still referred to as “Akiba” as well, a name that has stuck around until today.
▼ “Akiba,” once synonymous with fires, temples, and a deity,
is now synonymous with “maid cafes.”
So there you have it! We can all thank the deity of fireproof-ness, Akiba Daigongen himself, for giving us Akihabara’s modern abbreviated name. Would he approve of Akihabra’s modern-day capsule hotels where you can sleep with anime characters? We have to imagine that, as long as the flames of passion don’t actually burn anything down, he’d think they’re a-okay!
Source: Akihabara Denki Machi Shinkokai via My Game News Flash
Top image: Flickr/Dushan Hanuska
Insert images: Wikimedia Commons, Pakutaso, Wikimedia Commons
Source: SORA NEWS24
Sponsored Link
最新情報