Place Name Readings

[Glenn]

Along similar lines as the last thread, does anyone know how to read or where I can find the readings of these place names?

福岡市大字堅○ (looks like 粕, maybe? ふくおかしおおあざかたかす?)
北海道札幌郡広島村字 (ほっかいどうさっぽろぐんひろしまむらあざ?)

They seem to be names that don't exist anymore. At least Google and Wikipedia searches don't turn up anything on them.

[Toritoribe]

I found a recent name 福岡市博多区堅粕[ふくおかし はかたく かたかす]. Probably this?

As for the second one, the followings are my googling results.
西の里[にしのさと]
大曲[おおまがり]
中ノ沢[なかのさわ]
島松[しままつ]
It'a bit tough just only 字[あざ].

[epigene]

Another trap you can fall easily in reading Japanese addresses is the reading for kanjis like 町 and 村 , which is read "machi" for some addresses and "cho" in others. Also, "mura" and "son."

Hiroshima-mura may be Hiroshima-son. I recently found that there is no signficant regional trend in such readings, from doing a search in the Japan Post postal code site. If not found there, the only reliable way is to call the local town hall...

It'a bit tough just only 字[あざ].

Agreed. Doesn't something follow after that?

[Glenn]

Well, everything up to 字 is in type, and then there's handwriting below it that says 廣島八十二 and then it goes back to type for 番地. I figured that all of the typed text would be grouped together, but I suppose I could have been mistaken.

As far as the first one goes, it looks like おおあざかたかす is the reading from everything that I've seen, so I'll go with that.

Thanks for the help, guys.

[undrentide]

字（あざ） is a unit used for grouping certain area (like a village) which dates back to 江戸時代.
大字XX is used for for the area where more than two 字 was combined after 明治. 小字 is smaller area within 字.
Most of such units were replaced by 市区町村 but they are still used where old address remains unchanged (especially in countryside).

It's a bit off-topic-ish and maybe you alread have such info but just a note...

[Glenn]

No, I didn't, actually. That's interesting. Since you brought it up, I just checked and found that Wikipedia has pages for both 大字 and 小字. I'm going to have to read through them later, though. It's pretty late here, and あいにく I have to go to work por la mañana. *ahem*