The second theory is that Ashihara no nakatsukuni (described as 葦原中国 in Japanese) is the origin of the word "the Chugoku region" (described as 中国地方 in Japanese) including Shimane, Tottori, Hiroshima, Okayama and Yamaguchi Prefectures.
またそれを拡張した島根、鳥取、広島、岡山、山口県を纏めて指す中国地方の語源と位置付ける説。