The suffixes 城, 島, 諸島, 湖, 山, 岳 and 山脈

We continue our journey into the world of Japanese suffixes with seven new suffixes to learn. No need for a long introduction. I give you immediately below all these suffixes with their purely and Sino-Japanese pronunciations :

城 . ジョウ . (suffix for castle names)

島 . しま, -じま . トウ . (suffix for island names)

諸島 . ショトウ . (suffix for archipelago names)

湖 . コ . (suffix for lake names)

山 . やま. サン, -ザン / 岳 . たけ, -だけ . ガク . (suffixes for the names of mountains and volcanoes)

山脈 . サンミャク . (suffix for names of mountain ranges)

So, we start with the castles.

I immediately give you as an example below several names of castles with the kanji 城 . ジョウ as a suffix.

明石(城) . あかし(ジョウ) . Akashi Castle
立花(城) . たちばな(ジョウ) . Tachibana Castle
千葉(城) . ちば(ジョウ) . Chiba Castle
上田(城) . うえだ(ジョウ) . Ueda Castle
千早(城) . ちはや(ジョウ) . Chihaya Castle
高山(城) . たかやま(ジョウ) . Takayama Castle
福山(城) . ふくやま(ジョウ) . Fukuyama Castle
竹田(城) . たけだ(ジョウ) . Takeda Castle
福島(城) . ふくしま(ジョウ) . Fukushima Castle
松江(城) . まつえ(ジョウ) . Matsue Castle
八王子(城) . ハチオウジ(ジョウ) . Hachiôji Castle
西尾(城) . にしお(ジョウ) . Nishio Castle
浜松(城) . はままつ(ジョウ) . Hamamatsu Castle
原(城) . はら(ジョウ) . Hara Castle
丸岡(城) . まるおか(ジョウ) . Maruoka Castle
小丸(城) . こまる(ジョウ) . Komaru Castle
岡崎(城) . おかざき(ジョウ) . Okazaki Castle
岡山(城) . おかやま(ジョウ) . Okayama Castle
七尾(城) . ななお(ジョウ) . Nanao Castle
大阪(城) . おおさか(ジョウ) . Ôsaka Castle
安土(城) . アずち(ジョウ) . Azuchi Castle
松本(城) . まつもと(ジョウ) . Matsumoto Castle
姫路(城) . ひめじ(ジョウ) . Himeji Castle
丸亀(城) . まるがめ(ジョウ) . Marugame Castle
犬山(城) . いぬやま(ジョウ) . Inuyama Castle
熊本(城) . くまもと(ジョウ) . Kumamoto Castle
宇和島(城) . ウハじま(ジョウ) . Uwajima Castle

Good, let’s stop here. I’m not going to give you all the names of castles, there are dozens of them.

Now we’ll get to island names and there is a little more to say on the subject. As with the previous cases, we will use the island kanji (島) as a suffix.

So, we won’t say :

松の島 → incorrect, because 松島 is a proper noun and the kanji 島 . しま is used as a suffix and comes after island names. All the island names that I will give you as examples below are proper names, hence the absence of the particle の. There are some proper nouns with the kanji 島 . しま in it but these are not islands. I will give you more details in the list below.

That being said, I can give you as an example several proper nouns with the kanji 島 . しま as a suffix. Note that for some island names, the purely Japanese pronunciation しま becomes じま.

松島 . まつしま . Matsushima
徳島 . とくしま . Tokushima
広島 . ひろしま . Hiroshima
大島 . おおしま . Ôshima
霧島 . きりしま . Kirishima
新島 . にいじま . Niijima
福島 . ふくしま . Fukushima
佐渡島 . サドじま . Sadojima
八丈島 . ハチジョウじま . Hachijôjima
淡路島 . あわじしま . Awajishima
屋久島 . やくしま . Yakushima
江ノ島 . えのしま . Enoshima

Take a good look at the last proper name. If you know your katakana well, you will recognize the katakana ノ. We have proper names in Japanese that mix kanji and katakana. This is a very rare case, but it can happen that you come across names like this. And, in fact, it is the particle の of possession, written in katakana. If I am not mistaken, literally, 江ノ島 . えのしま means « the island of the great river ». If you don’t remember the meaning, that’s okay, at least remember the name. Sometimes it happens to find « Enoshima » written 江の島 with the hiragana の.

« Matsushima », which is a proper name, is also the name of an archipelago made up of a multitude of islets made up of pines (hence the name) and located in the northeast of Japan, in Miyagi prefecture. It is also considered one of the most beautiful natural sites in the country.

In fact, in rômaji, we will write for example « Matsushima », Matsu-shima, and « Enoshima », Eno-shima with the suffix « shima » separated by a hyphen.

For your general knowledge, you have a volcano named 桜島 . さくらじま, and we are talking about a volcano although we have the kanji 島 . しま. The volcano is located in the south of Kyūshū Island, in Kagoshima Bay.

Okay, so you got it right that island names in Japan all end with 島 . しま -じま . This is how island names were created in Japanese so learn them by heart. Also, in English, it may sound quite natural to say « Matsushima Island » or even « Kirishima Island ». But in Japanese, it might sound a little heavy. Literally it would be like saying 松島の島 . まつしまのしま. You would repeat the kanji of 島 . しま so be careful !

Then we have the Sino-Japanese pronunciation : トウ. We’ll find this pronunciation in the names of foreign islands.

For example, if I mean « the island of Ireland », I will write in Japanese like this :

アイルランド島 . アイルランドトウ .

Ditto if I mean « the island of Martinique » or « the island of Guadeloupe », I will write in Japanese like this :

マルティニーク島 . マルティニークトウ .

グアドループ島 . グアドループトウ .

Attention : please understand that in foreign island names, the kanji 島 in its Sino-Japanese pronunciation トウ is not part of the name of the island itself. When I say :

マルティニーク島 . マルティニークトウ .

It means exactly « the island of Martinique ». But the name of the island itself is : マルティニーク so « Martinique ». While, for all Japanese island names, the kanji 島 is part of the island name itself. Hope this is all clear in your mind.

Of course, don’t forget that we’ve learned since season one that the Japanese language, to katakanize foreign words, most often starts with English words. That said, you have some island names which are proper names separated by a hyphen sign like, for example, Santo Domingo, which we will write like this in katakana :

サン＝ドマング . Saint-Domingue

This is the writing in katakana most common to write « Saint-Domingue » because English speakers also pronounced this island « Saint-Domingue » [sɛ̃.dɔ.mɛ̃ɡ]. And don’t forget the ＝ sign we saw in the first season to signify that the name of the island, in its native language, is in two parts.

However, Spanish speakers call it « Santo-Domingo » and French speakers sometimes call it « Saint-Dominique » or « Saint-Dimanche ». So don’t be surprised if you come across the following writing in katakana :

サント・ドミンゴ . Santo Domingo

サン＝ドミニク . Saint-Dominique

サン＝ディマンシュ . Saint-Dimanche

Note : when it comes to an imaginary island like Koholint Island in the game titled « The Legend Of Zelda : Link’s Awakening », the most common pronunciation will likely be 島 . しま.

I end with a few other examples: the islands of Thailand. Here are a few :

ピーピー・ドーン島 . ピーピー・ドーントウ . Ko Phi Phi Don / Koh Phi Phi Don
ランタ島 . ランタトウ . Ko Lanta / Koh Lanta
タオ島 . タオトウ . Ko Tao / Koh Tao
サムイ島 . サムイトウ . Ko Samui / Koh Samui
リペ島 . リペトウ . Ko Lipe / Koh Lipe
タルタオ島 . タルタオトウ . Ko Tarutao / Koh Tarutao
チャン島 . チャントウ . Ko Chang / Koh Chang
パヤム島 . パヤムトウ . Ko Phayam / Koh Phayam
クラダン島 . クラダントウ . Ko Kradan / Koh Kradan
パイ島 . パイトウ . Ko Phai / Koh Phai
コ・コー・カオ島 . コ・コー・カオトウ . Ko Kho Khao / Koh Kho Khao
アダン島 . アダントウ . Ko Adang / Koh Adang
ポダ島 . ポダトウ . Ko Poda / Koh Poda
ラン島 . ラントウ . Ko Rang / Koh Rang
ワイ島 . ワイトウ . Ko Wai / Koh Wai
プーケット島 . プーケットトウ . Ko Phuket / Koh Phuket

In Thai, « Ko » means « island », so in Japanese we will translate it as the kanji 島 in its Sino-Japanese pronunciation.

« Phuket » is also called « Ko Phuket » although the former is more common. To clearly differentiate the island from the province of the same name, in Japanese we will write プーケット島 . プーケットトウ .

In the names « Ko Chang / Koh Chang », « Ko Adang / Koh Adang » and « Ko Rang / Koh Rang », the final letter « g » is not pronounced.

We will now discuss archipelago names. To begin with, you should know that there are several words in Japanese to say « the archipelago ». We can say :

諸島 . ショトウ . The archipelago

諸島 . ショトウ . The archipelago

諸島 . ショトウ . The archipelago

Despite my research, I don’t know why there are so many different ways of defining the same thing. I don’t know if there is a nuance depending on the writing used. Anyway, this is the last one that interests us :

諸島 . ショトウ . The archipelago

It is this word that we will use as a suffix of proper names to say « the archipelago of ».

That being said, I can give you as an example several proper nouns with the word 諸島 . ショトウ as a suffix.

伊豆(諸島) . いず(ショトウ) . The Izu archipelago
南西(諸島) . ナンセイ(ショトウ) . The Nansei archipelago
日本(諸島) . ニホン(ショトウ) . The Japanese archipelago
キクラデス(諸島) . キクラデス(ショトウ) . Cyclades
フィジー(諸島) . フィジー(ショトウ) . The Fiji Islands
カナリア(諸島) . カナリア(ショトウ) . The Canary Islands
ガラパゴス(諸島) . ガラパゴス(ショトウ) . The Galapagos Islands
クック(諸島) . クック(ショトウ) . The Cook Islands
ソロモン(諸島) . ソロモン(ショトウ) . The Solomon Islands
サントリーニ(諸島) . サントリーニ(ショトウ) . The Santorini archipelago
サンタクルス(諸島) . サンタクルス(ショトウ) . The Santa Cruz Islands

Now on to the lakes. For example, « Yamanakako », literally « lake in the middle of the mountains »).

I immediately give you as an example below several proper nouns with the kanji 湖 . コ as a suffix.

本栖(湖) . モトす(コ) . Motosu Lake
精進(湖) . ショウジン(コ) . Shôjin Lake
西(湖) . サイ(コ) . Sai Lake
河口(湖) . かわぐち(コ) . Kawaguchi Lake
山中(湖) . やまなか(コ) . Yamanaka Lake
浜名(湖) . はまな(コ) . Hamana Lake
野尻(湖) . のじり(コ) . Nojiri Lake
琵琶(湖) . ビワ(コ) . Biwa Lake

For your general knowledge, know that the following lakes: 本栖湖, 精進湖, 西湖, 河口湖 and 山中湖 are called:

富士五湖 . フジゴコ . The Five Fuji Lakes

Because they border Mount Fuji to the north, following an arc.

Of course, there are plenty of other lakes in Japan, I have only given you a few for example. I now give you the five Great Lakes of North America :

スペリオル(湖) . スペリオル(コ) . Lake Superior
ミシガン(湖) . ミシガン(コ) . Lake Michigan
ヒューロン(湖) . ヒューロン(コ) . Lake Huron
エリー(湖) . エリー(コ) . Lake Erie
オンタリオ(湖) . オンタリオ(コ) . Lake Ontario

And now, finally, here are some more lakes in Canada :

マニトバ(湖) . マニトバ(コ) . Lake Manitoba
ウィニペグ(湖) . ウィニペグ(コ) . Lake Winnipeg
ネチリング(湖) . ネチリング(コ) . Lake Nettilling
ニピゴン(湖) . ニピゴン(コ) . Lake Nipigon

Now let’s move on to the mountains and volcanoes. And we will take as an example the most famous mountain in Japan, Mount Fuji which is said in Japanese 富士山 . フジサン.

You already know that there is a specific word in Japanese to say « mountain » → 山 . やま, and a very specific word to say « volcano » → 火山 . カザン. However, when we need to quote a mountain or a volcano by its proper name, we will add the same kanji in its purely and Sino-Japanese pronunciations :

山 . やま. サン, -ザン

Well, arrived here, you will understand, the particle の is missing. We can go directly to examples.

Here is an example of several proper nouns with the kanji 山 . やま. サン, -ザン as a suffix.

富士(山) . フジ(サン) . Mount Fuji
鳥海(山) . チョウカイ(サン) . Mount Chōkai
岩木(山) . いわき(サン) . Mount Iwaki
岩手(山) . いわて(サン) . Mount Iwate
立(山) . たて(サン) . Mount Tate
祖母(山) . ソボ(サン) . Mount Sobo
剣(山) . つるぎ(サン) . Mount Tsurugi
雲取(山) . くもとり(やま) . Mount Kumotori
天城(山) . あまぎ(サン) . Mount Amagi
男体(山) . ナンタイ(サン) . Mount Nantai
日光白根(山) . ニッコウしらね(サン) . Mount Nikkō-Shirane

Note : Mount Nikkō-Shirane is a volcano located in Nikkō National Park.

You will have noticed that, sometimes the kanji 山 is pronounced サン, sometimes it is pronounced やま. There is no particular rule for when to use one or the other, you have no other choice but to learn them by heart.

There is another kanji for « mountain » although this one is much less common than the basic kanji you’ve learned since season one. I put it below with its purely and Sino-Japanese pronunciations :

岳 . たけ, -だけ . ガク

Here is an example of several proper nouns with this kanji as a suffix :

那須(岳) . なす(だけ) . Mount Nasu
谷川(岳) . たにがわ(だけ) . Mount Tanigawa
間ノ(岳) . あいノ(だけ) . Mount Aino
乗鞍(岳) . のりくら(だけ) . Mount Norikura
五竜(岳) . ゴリュウ(だけ) . Mount Goryuu

Note : 五竜岳 . ゴリュウだけ literally means « the mountain of the five dragons ».

And for the names of foreign mountains and volcanoes, how does it work ? According to my research, there seems to be a tendency to simply write the name of the mountain in katakana without adding the kanji of « the mountain ». However, if you come across the name of a foreign mountain with the kanji 山 next to it, just pronounce the kanji サン. This is the most common pronunciation, at least you are unlikely to get it wrong.

I give you some examples of names of mountains and volcanoes located outside of Japan. At least learn how to write these names in katakana :

ヴェスヴィオ山 . ヴェスヴィオサン . Vesuvius
オリンポス山 . オリンポスサン . Olympus / Mount Olympus
キリマンジャロ . Kilimanjaro
エベレスト / エヴェレスト . Everest (two possible writings)
モンブラン . The Mont Blanc
アララト山 . アララトサン . Mount Ararat
ケニア山 . ケニアサン . Mount Kenya
アネト山 . アネトサン . Mount Aneto
ブロード・ピーク . Broad Peak
アルパマーヨ山 . アルパマーヨサン . Alpamayo

Now on to the mountain ranges.

I immediately give you as examples below several proper nouns with the word 山脈 . サンミャク as a suffix :

アンデス(山脈) . アンデス(サンミャク) . The Andes Cordillera
ピレネー(山脈) . ピレネー(サンミャク) . The Pyrenees
アルプス(山脈) . アルプス(サンミャク) . The Alps
ウラル(山脈) . ウラル(サンミャク) . The Urals
ヒマラヤ(山脈) . ヒマラヤ(サンミャク) . The Himalayas

Of course, I hope you remember another example I gave you in an exercise. Here it is below :

タルタル山脈 . タルタルサンミャク . Mount Tartarus

It is high time to recap everything we have just seen in this course. I put below the pattern to follow depending on whether you want to name a castle, an island, an archipelago…

[Castle name] + 城 . ジョウ . (suffix for castle names)

[Island name] + 島 . しま, -じま . トウ . (suffix for island names)

Attention : the Sino-Japanese pronunciation トウ will be used only for foreign island names. Also remember that in the names of foreign islands, the kanji 島 in its Sino-Japanese pronunciation トウ is not part of the name of the island itself.

Note : when it comes to an imaginary island like Koholint Island in the game « The Legend Of Zelda : Link’s Awakening », the most common pronunciation will likely be 島 . しま.

[Archipelago name] + 諸島 . ショトウ . (suffix for archipelago names)

[Lake name] + 湖 . コ . (suffix for lake names)

[Mountain or volcano name] + 山 . やま. サン, -ザン /岳 . たけ, -だけ . ガク . (suffixes for the names of mountains and volcanoes)

Attention : concerning foreign mountains like Everest for example, we will not necessarily use the kanji 山. If you find this kanji attached to a foreign mountain name, the reading will most certainly be サン.

[Mountain range name] + 山脈 . サンミャク . (suffix for names of mountain ranges)

At this point, I would like to discuss a little topic with you. So far, I have explained to you that the kanji (alone or combined) that we have seen above can be used as proper name suffixes. Whether it’s an island, an archipelago, a peninsula, a mountain or a mountain range or more, the use is simple : you take the proper name, and you append to it as a suffix what corresponds to its nature.

But what can we consider a proper noun in Japanese ? Okay, actually, it’s no different from any other language.

Human beings, to begin with, have proper names (first and last names) and we have seen all the suffixes we can attach to them. Animals can also have proper names, especially domestic animals. Then there are the natural sites, monuments, places and other important buildings. To give you a fairly exhaustive list among all these elements that can be given proper names, we have : town halls, temples, churches and other places of worship, schools (primary, college, high school, university), libraries, parks (forest, animal, attraction), zoos, aquariums (building), theaters, ports, airports, sports institutions (stadium, racetrack…), shopping centers… as well as all types shops, businesses, markets of all kinds of which you already know a very long list.

So, if you mean Nara town hall, you’ll say :

奈良市役所 . ならシヤクショ

Another example, if you mean Izumizaki pharmacy, you’ll say :

泉崎薬局 . いずみざきヤッキョク

One last example, if you mean Asahiyama zoo, you’ll say :

旭山動物園 . あさひやまドウブツエン

It is quite natural that all these elements have proper names in order to be able to differentiate them from each other. To all of these elements, we can append to their proper names the nature of what they are. Besides, you’ve had a very large number of examples since the start of season two, especially through the exercises.

To refresh your memory, how do you say the British Library which is located in London ? We take the word 英国 which is a proper noun and we take the word 図書館 which means « the library ». We put the latter as a suffix of 英国. And so we have :

英国図書館 . エイコクトショカン

Another example with Chantilly racecourse :

シャンティイ競馬場 . シャンティイケイバジョウ

And here we might ask ourselves why we wouldn’t use the particle instead の ? It may seem a lot more logical at first.

In fact, you have to understand that when these proper names were created, they became such common terms that it would be quite annoying, both orally and in writing, to put many particles の all over. Imagine, it’s a bit like talking about Mount Fuji, instead of saying 富士山 . フジサン, I said 富士の山 .フジのやま. But in Japanese, this is not what Mount Fuji is called. Moreover, we ourselves, in English, say « Mount Fuji » and never « the Mount of Fuji ». After all, it cannot be « the Mount of Fuji », since Fuji is the name of the mountain itself. It is a fixed proper name.

It is exactly the same for the names of regions, prefectures, departments, cities… When I say in English : Yokohama city, it does not mean that the city belongs to Yokohama. Yokohama is the name of the city itself. And the same goes for everything else. For the names of islands, archipelagos, peninsulas… After all, in English, you don’t put « ’s » when you have a proper name, so in Japanese it’s the same. We don’t use the particle の.

And I want to come to a problem that I have noted with learners, especially French, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian. All those languages where you have the determinants like « of » in English. I know that most of you, when you see sentences like the city of Yamagata with the determinant « of », have this reflex of wanting to translate the « of » by the particle の at all costs.

Now, the particle の induces the idea of possession. So you have to ask yourself the question : « Is there an idea of possession in the sentence to be translated ? ».

In practice, a proper noun cannot contain a particle の, and if this is the case, it is really extremely rare and most often represented with its equivalent in katakana ノ, in order to understand clearly in writing that it is not the possession but that the katakana ノ is indeed part of the proper name.

It is not impossible that the particle の was once present in what are now fixed proper nouns before gradually disappearing to be replaced by suffixes to facilitate pronunciation and to make oral and written language more fluid. I am thinking in particular about 江ノ島 . えのしま that I had already presented to you above.

One more course that is coming to an end, more suffixes to learn and lots of new kanji. Now, there’s nothing particularly complicated to figure out, all you have to do is memorize all these new suffixes and proper nouns. A good exercise that I can advise you to do is grab a map or go to Google Map, and you can try to locate all of those islands, mountains, volcanoes... that we have seen in this lesson. Do it, it will do you good !

And you have exercises to do for this course. As always, some theme and version.

This course is now over, thank you for reading it. Continue to be diligent in your work, do not give up and you will make progress, I guarantee it.

Have a good day everyone and do your homework properly.