Poronaysk (; ; Ainu: ''Sistukari'' or ''Sisi Tukari'') is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and the

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

Poronaysky District Poronaysky District () is an administrative district (raion) of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia; one of the seventeen in the oblast.Law #25-ZO As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Poronaysky Urban Okrug.Law #524 It is located in the eastern cen ...

Sakhalin Oblast Sakhalin Oblast ( rus, Сахали́нская о́бласть, r=Sakhalinskaya oblastʹ, p=səxɐˈlʲinskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) comprising the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in the Russian ...

, Russia, located on the

Poronay River The Poronay (, ) is the longest river on the island of Sakhalin in Russia. It flows in a southerly direction through Tym, Smirnykhovsky and Poronaysky Districts. Geography The river begins on Mt. Nevel in the East Sakhalin Mountains, flows sout ...

north of

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (, , ) is a city and the administrative center of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East, north of Japan. Gas and oil extraction as well as processing are amongst the main industries on ...

. Population:

History

It was founded in 1869 as a Russian outpost Tikhmenevsky near the

Nivkh Nivkh or Amuric or Gilyak may refer to: * Nivkh people (''Nivkhs'') or Gilyak people (''Gilyaks'') * Nivkh languages or Gilyak languages * Gilyak class gunboat, ''Gilyak'' class gunboat, such as the Russian gunboat Korietz#Second gunboat, second R ...

and Ainu settlements in the area. The

Treaty of Portsmouth The Treaty of Portsmouth is a treaty that formally ended the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War. It was signed on September 5, 1905, after negotiations from August 6 to 30, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, United States. U.S. P ...

transferred it to Japanese control along with the rest of the southern half of the island of

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

. It was renamed , said to mean "Sisi Tukari (in front of the mountain)" or "Siika (big river)" in the Ainu language, remaining under Japanese control until the

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

retook the whole of the island in 1945. After the town had been granted to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, it was named Poronaysk in 1946, after the river on which it stands. The river's name is from Ainu ''poro nay'', meaning "broad river," "big river," or "growing river." Various Japanese place names such as Horonai (幌内) share the same etymology with Poronaysk.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Poronaysk serves as the

and is subordinated to it.Law #25-ZO As a municipal division, the town of Poronaysk, one

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

, and eleven rural localities of Poronaysky District are incorporated as Poronaysky Urban Okrug.Law #524

Economy

Poronaysk has a paper mill, as well as timber and fishing industries. ''Sakhalinskaya GRES'' power station is supplied with coal from an open cut mine close to the town.

Transportation

The town lies on the island's railway network, as well as on the main highway connecting Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk with Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky.

Climate

Poronaysk, owing to the cold

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

surrounding the town, has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

('' Dfc'') with short, mild and very foggy summers and very cold winters.

Sister city

Kitami is a city in Okhotsk Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the most populous city and the commercial center in the subprefecture, although the subprefecture capital is Abashiri. Kitami is physically in the middle of Okhotsk Subprefecture. Th ...

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, JapanThe Russian presence in Japan
/ref>

Notable people

Chiyo Nakamura Chiyo Nakamura (; 1906–1969) was a Japanese Nivkh shaman, craftswoman, performer, and writer of Nivkh folklore and songs. Early life In September 1905, the year before Chiyo was born, Sakhalin island below the 50° north parallel became J ...

, an author of Nivkh origin *

Taihō Kōki was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He became the 48th ''yokozuna'' in 1961 at the age of 21, the youngest ever at the time. Kōki won 32 tournament championships between 1960 and 1971, a record that was unequalled until 2014. His domi ...

, ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Sakhalin Oblast 1869 establishments in the Russian Empire