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I came across this sentence about a traditional festival in Japan:

阿月の神明祭は、阿月地区を東西二つに分けて行われる災厄除けや病気除け、豊作を祈願して行われる。

(link)

The general meaning is clear, but what I don't fully understand is this part: 東西二つに分けて

Its seems to me that 東西二つ is idiomatic for "all over" (judging from what I saw of a Google search of the phrase...I couldn't find a definition of them together), but the I couldn't figure out what に分けて means in this context? I know could mean "separated" (分かる, to separate), but apparently in the て-form it can also mean "particularly" or "above all", which makes even less sense to me..."particularly East and West?"

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    Is it not just "separated into two parts, East and West"?
    – Questioner
    Feb 14 '12 at 3:30
  • 1
    Lol I totally agree
    – user1016
    Feb 14 '12 at 3:45
  • Well, this may be a case of over-thinking ^.^ I couldn't figure out how you could separate East from West, I didn't think about city sections...
    – silvermaple
    Feb 14 '12 at 5:36
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阿月地区を東西二つに分けて means "separate the Azuki district into two parts, east and west".

You could insert a の, making it 東西の二つ, but the adverbial use without it is not uncommon for these "listing"-jukugo like 東西, 優劣, 大小 etc.

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東西二つに分けて just means east and west separated in two.

分ける：to separate/devide

東西: east and west

The festival will take place in the sectors of Azuki separated in two, east and west.

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