Tokachi River

Tokachi River (十勝川, Tokachi-gawa) is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan.

Tokachi River Tokachi-gawa, Tokapci
Iwamatsu Dam in Shimizu (September 2007)
Native name	十勝川 (Japanese) トカㇷ゚チ (Ainu)
Location
Country	Japan
State	Hokkaidō
Region	Tokachi
District	Kamikawa, Nakagawa
Municipalities	Shintoku, Toyokoro
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Shintoku, Hokkaidō, Japan
Mouth	Pacific Ocean
• location	Toyokoro, Hokkaidō, Japan
• coordinates	42.6950°N 143.6661°E / 42.6950; 143.6661
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	156 km (97 mi)[1]
Basin size	9,010 km2 (3,480 sq mi)[1]
Discharge
• average	71 m3/s (2,500 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Population	340,000[1]

Etymology

In 1820, the explorer Takeshiro Matsuura (松浦 武四郎) proposed "Tokachi" as the name of the surrounding Tokachi Province, with each character corresponding to a Japanese homophone. The province was named after this river, which in turn was derived from the Ainu language word "tokapci" (トカㇷ゚チ).

Although the exact origins of "tokapci" were unknown, Hidezo Yamada, an Ainu language researcher, proposed these origins:

• tokap-usi ("breast, somewhere")
• toka-o-pci ("swamp, around a place, either")

References

1. 日本の川 - 北海道 - 十勝川 [Rivers of Japan - Hokkaidō - Tokachi River] (in Japanese). Water Management and Land Conservation Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original on 10 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.