is a river in

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The river is a class A river. In the city of Ebetsu, the river is sometimes known as . In the

Ainu language Ainu (, ), or more precisely Hokkaido Ainu (), is a language spoken by a few elderly members of the Ainu people on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. It is a member of the Ainu language family, itself considered a language family isola ...

Chitose was originally called ''shikot'', meaning big depression or hollow, like

Lake Shikotsu is a caldera lake in Chitose, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is a part of the Shikotsu-Toya National Park. Geography Lake Shikotsu is located in the south-west part of Hokkaidō. It has an average depth of and a maximum depth of , making it the sec ...

caldera lake A volcanic crater lake is a lake in a crater that was formed by explosive activity or a collapse during a volcanic eruption. Formation Lakes in calderas fill large craters formed by the collapse of a volcano during an eruption. Lakes in maars ...

. To the Japanese, this sounded too much like , so it was changed to ''Chitose''. The name of the river was changed in 1805.

Course

The Chitose River is the outflow of Lake Shikotsu. From the lake the river flows through a series of power plants owned by the

Oji Paper Company is a Japanese manufacturer of paper products. In 2012 the company was the third largest company in the global forest, paper and packaging industry. The company's stock is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the stock is constituent of the ...

. The Chitose River flows through the center of the city of Chitose, before entering the

Ishikari Plain Ishikari Plain () is a plain in western Hokkaido. The area of the plain is approximately 3800km. The central city is Sapporo. Rice cultivation The history of rice cultivation is an interdisciplinary subject that studies archaeological and docum ...

. On the plain, the river feeds and is fed by numerous irrigation canals. Here the Chitose River forms part of the border between Ishikari and

Sorachi Subprefecture is a Subprefectures of Hokkaido, subprefecture of Hokkaido, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. As of 2004, its estimated population is 373,736 and its area is 6,558.26 km2. Geography Cities 10 cities are located in Sorachi Subprefecture: Town ...

s. Finally, the river passes through the city of

Ebetsu is a Cities of Japan, city in Ishikari Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. History Ebetsu was settled originally by Japanese people in 1871, who came from the Miyagi Prefecture on Honshu. In 1878, tondenhei began moving into the area. When the M ...

before it flows into the

Ishikari River The , at long, is the third longest in Japan and the longest in Hokkaidō. The river drains an area of , making it the second largest in Japan, with a total discharge of around per year. It originates from Mount Ishikari in the Daisetsuzan ...

Flooding

The Chitose River causes flooding damage about every two years, widening to as many as . The last major flood was in 1981, where the river flooded 2700 homes and of land. National, prefectural, and local governments have been adopting numerous measures to try to reduce the severity of the flooding.

References

External links

Geographical Survey Institute
{{Authority control Rivers of Hokkaido Rivers of Japan