Kasumigaura City (かすみがうら市) is located in the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture and borders Kasumigaura, Japan’s second-largest lake. The city was established in 2005 (Heisei 17) through the merger of Kasumigaura Town and Chiyoda Town of Niihari District, making it one of the municipalities created during the so-called “Great Heisei Merger.”
The city’s name derives from the famous Lake Kasumigaura. However, to ensure fairness between the two former towns, the name was officially written in hiragana as “かすみがうら市” to avoid appearing biased toward the former Kasumigaura Town. At the time, there was also a growing nationwide trend of naming cities in hiragana, which influenced the naming decision. Other city names considered included “かすみ市,” “にいはり市,” and “ちよだ市.”
As the third city in Ibaraki Prefecture to adopt a hiragana name, “かすみがうら市” consists of six hiragana characters, making it one of the longest hiragana city names in Japan—tied with “つくばみらい市” (Ibaraki Prefecture) and “いちき串木野市” (Kagoshima Prefecture).