is the collective nickname for the Chūō Line of Osaka Municipal Subway

Osaka Municipal Subway

is the metro network in the city of Osaka, Japan, forming an integral part of the extensive mass transit system of Greater Osaka , having 125 out of the 1,108 rail stations in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto region. In 2010 the greater Osaka region had 13 million rail passengers daily of which the Osaka...

 and the Keihanna Line

Kintetsu Keihanna Line

is a railway line owned by Kintetsu Corporation. There are through trains to the Chūō Line of Osaka Municipal Subway. The line name derives from a kanji acronym formed from Kyoto , Osaka , and Nara , however the line is written in hiragana.The line is the sole Kintetsu line with a third rail...

 of Kintetsu

Kintetsu

, named Kinki Nippon Railway Co., Ltd. in English until June 27, 2003, is a Japanese rail transit corporation commonly known as . It is the largest non-JR railway in Japan. Its complex network of lines connects Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Nagoya, Tsu and Ise...

 in Osaka Prefecture

Osaka Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :...

 and Nara Prefecture

Nara Prefecture

is a prefecture in the Kansai region on Honshū Island, Japan. The capital is the city of Nara.-History:The present-day Nara Prefecture was created in 1887, making it independent of Osaka Prefecture....

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The two lines operate through trains between Cosmosquare Station

Cosmosquare Station

is a train station on the Osaka Municipal Subway Chūō Line and Nankō Port Town Line in Suminoe-ku, Osaka, Japan. This station serves as the starting terminus of both lines...

, the western terminus of the Chūō Line in Suminoe-ku

Suminoe-ku, Osaka

is one of 24 wards of Osaka, Japan. Stretching along the south-west border of Osaka, it is adjacent to Minato-ku, Taisho-ku and Nishinari-ku to the north and Sumiyoshi-ku to the east...

, Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, and Gakken Nara-Tomigaoka Station

Gakken Nara-Tomigaoka Station

is a train station on the Kintetsu Keihanna Line in Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It is the terminus of the line.-Line:*Kintetsu Keihanna Line -Layout:The station has an island platform serving two tracks elevated.-History:...

, the eastern terminus of the Keihanna Line in Nara

Nara, Nara

is the capital city of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. The city occupies the northern part of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering Kyoto Prefecture...

.

History

The name and a logotype was published on October 26, 2005 as a result of public contest.
The use of the name started on March 27, 2006 when the Kintetsu Higashi-Osaka Line was extended to Gakken Nara-Tomigaoka Station and renamed the Keihanna Line.

Etymology

The term "Yumehanna" can be broken into "Yume" and "Hanna"; "Yume" means dream in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

 and "Hanna" (阪奈) is a kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

 abbreviation for Osaka (大阪) and Nara (奈良).

The committee for the name selection explained the reason for the victory of the name as follows: "It successfully expresses the hope for the future of the connection of the Science City

Kansai Science City

is an unincorporated city located in the , a border region between Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara Prefectures of Japan. The name is commonly shortened to or...

 and the Osaka Bay

Osaka Bay

Osaka Bay is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait...

 Area. Also, the use of hiragana

Hiragana

is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...

creates the soft nuance of the word and a friendly image."