浜
Meanings
Only when written 浜
Refers to the sandy or stony edge of the sea or a lake, especially as a place where people walk, swim, fish, or pull up boats.
The children are picking up shells on the beach.
In the evening, I walked along the shore.
captured stones; captured pieces
Only with reading ハマ
Go terminology; an abbreviation of 揚げ浜. This sense is usually written in kana.
See also: 揚げ浜
Captured opponent stones are kept in the lid of the go bowl as prisoners.
Yokohama
Casual abbreviation or nickname for 横浜, often seen in local or colloquial expressions rather than as the formal place name.
See also: 横浜
Locally, Yokohama is sometimes called “Hama.”
Only when written 浜
Archaic Osaka-ben use for the edge of a river. In modern standard Japanese, 川岸 or 川べり is the ordinary wording.
In old Osaka dialect, the riverside was sometimes called hama.
Usage patterns
- 〈物〉が浜に打ち上げられるfor something to wash up onto the shore
After the typhoon, driftwood had washed up onto the shore.
- 浜で貝を拾うto gather shells on the beach
The children played gathering shells on the beach.
Expressions
- 浜の真砂countless grains of sand on the beach
- 浜の真砂は尽きるとも世に盗人の種は尽きまじthe sand on the beach may disappear, but the makings of thieves never shall