The Kansai / Kinki region

I'm from Hyogo prefecture, born and brought up there.
In a broader term, Hyogo is one of the prefectures that belongs to the "Kansai" region, or the "Kinki" region.

Let me start from the term "Kansai."

The Kansai region used to be a cultural, historical centre of Japan. "Kan" means "a checking station" (through which people pass into the strange countries) and "sai" means "the west."
Actually, the use of "Kansai" is a recent phenomenon. This is because "Kansai" was created later as opposed to "Kantou."

In the past, "Kantou" (tou="the east") pointed to an area where strange, exotic people dwell. This is the way in which "the west" people perceive it to be, a perspective from the centre tinged with a subjective and slightly derogatory taste.

Shoichi Inoue, a lover of Kansai, sees a growing popularity of the geographical term "Kansai" as an irony. The west people never described themselves as "Kansai" people because they, occupying the central position in Japan, only deemed the east (beyond their territory) as "Kantou," no other way round. He concludes:

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この現状は、関西地方が文化の中心から辺境へ落ちていったことを、物語る。
そう、「関西」という言葉の隆盛そのものが、この地の衰退を示している。（201）
[The present situation speaks volume for the fall of the Kansai from cultural centre to the periphery. Indeed, the flourish of the term Kansai itself indicates the decline of this land.]
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How is the semantic change of terminology related to another way of referring to "Kansai," "Kinki"? It seems another irony that escapes him is now falling onto "Kinki" as well.

To be continued...


Works Cited:
井上章一, 『関西人の正体』朝日新聞出版, 2016.