Hitach City is located in Hitachi Province and this provincial name has its own story with it; that is, a long time ago this region was said to be 'a road to Hitakami Province (old name for the northern region of Japan; then this 'Hitakami' was shortened to 'Hitachi,' and one day Mitsukuni TOKUGAWA, the domain head of the Mito Domain, saw the rising sun in this region and praised the beautiful scene and he changed the characters which make up the provincial name from 'the province we can see the high sun' to 'the sun rising province' although the sound is the same for both names.
なお、日立市は常陸国に位置するが「常陸」の国名は「日高見国（東北地方の旧称）への道」を表す「ひたかみのくにへのみち」が「ひたち」へ転訛し、徳川光圀が現在の日立市一帯において朝日が昇る様の見事さを讃えて「日立」の当て字をしたことに由来すると言われている。