Shōnan
 |
Shōnan (湘南) is the name of a region along the coast of
Hiratsuka, and Chigasaki
. Because of the bay, the region benefits from a mild climate and long beaches covered with dark volcanic sand.
Overview
The name "Shonan" of this Japanese region already existed in the 17th century, relative to
Ōiso Town
.
During the 1880s, when the custom of swimming in the ocean was introduced into Japan, the "Shonan" region became a resort area for the politicians and rich people from Tokyo.
In postwar times, the Shōnan region gained prominence in
water sports
.
Etymology
There are two theories about the etymology of Shōnan (
poetic). The other theory is that Shōnan comes from Xiangnan County (湘南県) of the old Province/Country of Changsha (長沙国) in southern China
.
In the latter theory, the region's name, Shōnan, derives from a supposedly scenic region in
Yangtze River in Hunan. Often praised in Chinese poetry of the Xiaoxiang genre, the scenery of this area became a stylized and popular subject of paintings in both medieval China and Japan, particularly as to the graphic and poetic series known as the "Eight Views of Xiaoxiang". In Japan, the scenery of the Shōnan area was thought to be similar to the scenery around the Xiao and Xiang rivers in Hunan, China; hence the term "Shōnan" (Chinese pinyin
: "xiāng nán", another name for the southern Hunan region) came to be applied to the area around Enoshima in Japan.
Besides the similarity in scenery, the two areas both had flood-basin lakes. The lake in China, which still exists, is
Katase River
) at Enoshima.
References
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