Refers to low-lying, waterlogged land, often in a valley. Common in place names and geographical descriptions.
This area used to be a vast marshland long ago.
Reeds grow thickly in the marsh.
Japanese red-backed vole · red-backed vole (genus Myodes)
Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandshurica var. japonica)
Standard kanji spelling; the reading やち is not obvious from the characters, so learners should memorize it.
Compound of 谷 (ya, 'valley') and 地 (chi, 'land'), with rendaku voicing of chi to ji. The reading やち is a kun'yomi compound.