The reading of 町 for different towns


The following is an excerpt from an article on NHK News Web Easy. [![enter
image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/olh8K.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/olh8K.jpg)

Why is one town called Takamori- **machi** but the other one - Yamato-
**chou**? The kanji for “town” is the same but the reading is different for
the different towns…




Generally it is not possible to predict whether 町 is read as まち or ちょう.

大手町 at the center of Tokyo is read as おおてまち while there is [大手町]{おおてちょう} in
Kishiwada city of Osaka
([source](https://style.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFK01024_R01C11A1000000/)).

As mentioned in the link, ちょう is more common in Western Japan whereas まち is
dominant in Eastern Japan.




Generally it is not possible to predict whether 町 is read as まち or ちょう.

大手町 at the center of Tokyo is read as おおてまち while there is [大手町]{おおてちょう} in
Kishiwada city of Osaka
([source](https://style.nikkei.com/article/DGXNASFK01024_R01C11A1000000/)).

As mentioned in the link, ちょう is more common in Western Japan whereas まち is
dominant in Eastern Japan.

