is a river in Shinhidaka,

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 Shizunai River drains from the

Hidaka Mountains The are a mountain range in southeastern Hokkaido, Japan. It runs from Mount Sahoro or Karikachi Pass in central Hokkaidō south, running into the sea at Cape Erimo. It consists of folded mountains that range from in height. Mount Poroshiri ...

into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Etymology

The Shizunai River was known as Shibuchari and Shibechari. This name was derived from ''Shipe-ichan'', meaning "a salmon spawning place" in Ainu.Nippon-Kichi
静内川　Shizunai-gawa　The Shizunai River, last access 26 May 2008 The name Shizunai is derived from the Ainu language and has three possible sources:, * ''Shiputnai'' – A marsh at the origin of the Ainu. * ''Shuttonai'' – A marsh with many grapes. * ''Shutnai'' – A river at the foot of a mountain.

Course

The Shizunai River flows generally southwest from its headwaters in the Hidaka mountains at the confluence of the Koikakushushibichari and Koibokushushibichari rivers. It flows into , a reservoir created by the

Takami Dam Takami Dam is a dam in Hokkaidō, Japan. It has an electrical generation output of 200MW. History The dam was constructed to control flooding of the Shizunai River and also to generate electricity. It was constructed by Kajima, Aoki Corporation ...

. Past the dam, the Shizunai river flows into . Past the Shizunai Dam, the river encounters Futa Dam before leaving the mountains for the flood plain. The river flows past the outlying communities of Shizunai before entering the Pacific Ocean just northwest of Shizunai harbor.

Natural history

The Shizunai River was designated as a wildlife protection area in 1965.

Whooper swan The whooper swan ( /ˈhuːpə(ɹ) swɒn/ "hooper swan"; ''Cygnus cygnus''), also known as the common swan, is a large northern hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type species for the genu ...

s overwinter on the Shizunai River.

History

The Shizunai River basin was the home of the Ainu leader who led

Shakushain's revolt The was an Ainu rebellion against Japanese authority on Hokkaidō between 1669 and 1672 in the Edo period. It was led by Ainu chieftain Shakushain against the Matsumae clan, who represented Japanese trading and governmental interests in the ...

against the Shogunate-era

Yamato people The or David Blake Willis and Stephen Murphy-Shigematsu''Transcultural Japan: At the Borderlands of Race, Gender and Identity,'' p. 272: "Wajin," which is written with Chinese characters that can also be read "Yamato no hito" (Yamato person). ar ...

, especially the

Matsumae clan The was a Japanese aristocratic family who were daimyo of Matsumae Domain, in present-day Matsumae, Hokkaidō, from the Azuchi–Momoyama period until the Meiji Restoration. They were given the domain as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi ...

, in the 1660s. In the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

the region was used for

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mining.

Lists

List of bridges and dams

From river mouth to source: * * * * * * * * *

List of (named) tributaries

From river mouth to source: # Left — # Right — Perari River # Left — ''charcoal or coal mountain river'' # Left — Shunbetsu River # Right — Poyoppusawa River # Right — Pisenaisawa River # Left — Penkeonikemushi River # Left — Ponpanbetsu Creek # Left — Penkebetsusawa River # Left — Porokaunnai River # Right — Ibetsusawa River # Right — Abeunnai River # Confluence Left — Koibokushuchchari, Right — Koikakushuppichari

References

* Brett L. Walker, The Conquest of Ainu Lands, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2001, * , , , No year of publication.
Nippon-Kichi
静内川　Shizunai-gawa　The Shizunai River, 12 July 2007, last access 26 May 2008 {{Rivers of Japan Rivers of Hokkaido Rivers of Japan