Why go
Hiroshima means 'wide island,' a name tied to Mōri Terumoto's late 16th-century castle on the Ōta River delta. Reading a few district names while crossing the city makes the river landscape easier to picture: Hakushima recalls an island, while Funairi points to an inlet used by boats. It adds context to a walk without turning every name into a firm historical claim.
The full story
Mōri Terumoto named Hiroshima while founding a castle town in 1589. The city grew among the channels and low islands at the mouth of the Ōta River. The precise reasoning behind the name has more than one account, but its two characters mean 'wide' and 'island.' That geography survives in smaller names too. Hakushima was once written as Hakoshima, recalling an island in the delta. Funairi refers to a place where boats entered or moored, while Yokogawa points to a branch of the Ōta River. Kamiya-chō remembers a paper merchant rather than a landform. Look for these names on streetcar stops or maps as a way to read the older city beneath its modern layout. Their meanings are clues to changing waterways, trade and settlement, not a substitute for what can be seen on the ground today.