Hokkaido (help·info) (Hokkaidō?, literally "North Sea Circuit"), formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, in Ainu Mosir, is Japan's second largest island and the largest, northernmost of its 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel. The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city.

Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Naming of Hokkaido

2 Geography

2.1 Seismic activity

2.2 National Parks and quasi-national parks

3 Subprefectures

4 Climate

5 Major cities and towns

6 Economy

7 Transportation

8 Education

9 Sports

9.1 Association football

9.2 Baseball

9.3 Ice Hockey

9.4 Basketball

10 Friendship partners

11 See also

12 References

13 External links

[edit]History

Map of Hokkaido

Archeologists theorize that Hokkaido was settled by Ainu, Gilyak, and Oroke 20,000 years ago.[2] The Nihon Shoki, finished in 720, is often said to be the first mention of Hokkaido in recorded history. According to the text, Abe no Hirafu[2] led a large navy and army to northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the Mishihase and Emishi. One of the places Hirafu went to was called Watarishima (渡島), which is often believed to be present-day Hokkaido. However, many theories exist in relation to the details of this event, including the location of Watarishima and the common belief that the Emishi in Watarishima were the ancestors of the present-day Ainu people.

During the Nara and Heian periods (710–1185), people in Hokkaido conducted trade with Dewa Province, an outpost of the Japanese central government. From the medieval ages, the people in Hokkaidō began to be called Ezo. Around the same time Hokkaidō came to be called Ezochi or Ezogashima. The Ezo mainly relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese.

During the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Japanese created a settlement at the south of the Oshima peninsula. As more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into a rebellion. Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain,[2] and defeated the rebellion in 1457. Nobuhiro's descendants became the rulers of the Matsumae-han, which was granted exclusive trading rights with the Ainu in the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods (1568–1868). The Matsumae family's economy relied upon trade with the Ainu. They held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period in 1868.

The Matsumae rule over the Ainu must be understood in the context of the expansion of the Japanese feudal state. Medieval military leaders in northern Honshū maintained only tenuous political and cultural ties to the imperial court and its proxies, the Kamakura Shogunate and Ashikaga Shogunate. Feudal strongmen sometimes located themselves within medieval institutional order, taking shogunal titles, while in other times they assumed titles that seemed to give them a non-Japanese identity. In fact many of the feudal strongmen were descended from Emishi military leaders who had been assimilated into Japanese society.[3]

There were numerous revolts by the Ainu against feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was a rebellion led by the Ainu chieftain Shakushain, in 1669-1672. After that rebellion the terms "Japanese" and "Ainu" referred to clearly distinguished groups, and the Matsumae were uniquivocally Japanese. In 1799-1821 and 1855-1858 the Edo Shogunate took direct control over Hokkaido in response to a perceived threat from Russia.

Leading up to the Meiji Restoration, the Tokugawa Shogunate realized there was a need to prepare northern defenses against a possible Russian invasion and took over control of most of Ezochi. The Shogunate made the plight of the Ainu slightly easier, but did not change the overall form of rule.

Hokkaido was known as Ezochi until the Meiji Restoration. Shortly after the Boshin War in 1868, a group of Tokugawa loyalists led by Enomoto Takeaki proclaimed the island's independence as the Republic of Ezo, but the rebellion was crushed in May 1869. Ezochi was subsequently put under control of Hakodate-fu (箱館府?), Hakodate Prefectural Government). When establishing the Development Commission (開拓使?), the Meiji Government changed the name of Ezochi to Hokkaido.

The primary purpose of the development commission was to secure Hokkaido before the Russians extended their control of the Far East beyond Vladivostok. Kuroda Kiyotaka was put in charge of the venture. His first step was to journey to the United States and recruit Horace Capron, President Grant's Commissioner of Agriculture. From 1871 to 1873 Capron bent his efforts to expounding Western agriculture and mining with mixed results. Capron, frustrated with obstacles to his efforts returned home in 1875. In 1876 William S. Clark arrived to found an agricultural college in Sapporo. Although he only remained a year, Clark left lasting impression on Hokkaido, inspiring the Japanese with his teachings on agriculture as well as Christianity.[4] His parting words, "Boys, be ambitious!" can be found on public buildings in Hokkaido to this day. Whatever the impact these Americans had, the population of Hokkaido boomed from 58,000 to 240,000 during that decade.[5]

In 1882, the Development Commission was abolished, and Hokkaido was separated into three prefectures, Hakodate (Sapporo (and Nemuro (In 1886, the three prefectures were abolished, and Hokkaido was put under the Hokkaido Agency (Hokkaido became equal with other prefectures in 1947, when the revised Local Autonomy Law became effective. The Japanese central government established the Hokkaido Development Agency (as an agency of the Prime Minister's Office in 1949 to maintain its executive power in Hokkaido. The Agency was absorbed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2001. The Hokkaido Bureau and the Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau (of the Ministry still have a strong influence on public construction projects in Hokkaido.

During the last days of World War II, about 1500 bombers, including B-29 Superfortresses, launched from Task Force 38 attacked Hokkaido through firebombing on July 14, and 15, 1945. A total of 78 cities, towns, and villages were raided and the most damaged were Hakodate, Muroran, and Nemuro.[6][7][8][9]

[edit]Naming of Hokkaido

Statue of William S. Clark in Sapporo, with the inscription "Boys, Be Ambitious"

When establishing the Development Commission (the Meiji Government decided to change the name of Ezochi. Matsuura Takeshirō submitted six proposals, including names such as and Hokkaidō (to the government. The government eventually decided to use the name Hokkaidō, but decided to write it as a compromise and because of the similarity with names such as Tōkaidō (According to Matsuura, the name was thought up because the Ainu called the region Kai. Historically, many peoples who had interactions with the ancestors of the Ainu called them and their islands Kuyi, Kuye, Qoy, or some similar name, which may have some connection to the early modern form Kai. The Kai element also strongly resembles the Sino-Japanese reading of the characters (Sino-Japanese Japanese pronunciation: [ka.i], Japanese kun'yomi [emisi]), which have been used for over a thousand years in China and Japan as the standard orthographic form to be used when referring to Ainu and related peoples; it is possible that Matsuura's Kai was actually an alteration, influenced by the Sino-Japanese of the Nivkh exonym for the Ainu, namely Qoy or IPA: [kʰuɣi].[10]

[edit]Geography

Sōunkyō, a gorge in the Daisetsu-zan Volcanic Area.

Satellite image of Hokkaido

The Oyashio Current colliding with the Kuroshio Current off the coast of Hokkaido. When two currents collide, they create eddies. Phytoplankton growing in the surface waters become concentrated along the boundaries of these eddies, tracing out the motions of the water.

The island of Hokkaido is located at the north end of Japan, near Russia, and has coastlines on the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Pacific Ocean. The center of the island has a number of mountains and volcanic plateaus, and there are coastal plains in all directions. Major cities include Sapporo and Asahikawa in the central region and the port of Hakodate facing Honshu.

The governmental jurisdiction of Hokkaido incorporates several smaller islands, including Rishiri, Okushiri Island, and Rebun. (By Japanese reckoning, Hokkaido also incorporates several of the Kuril Islands.) Because the prefectural status of Hokkaido is denoted by the dō in its name, it is rarely referred to as "Hokkaido Prefecture", except when necessary to distinguish the governmental entity from the island.

The island ranks 21st in the world by area. It is 3.6% smaller than the island of Ireland while Hispaniola is 6.1% smaller than Hokkaido. By population it ranks 20th, between Ireland and Sicily. Hokkaido's population is 4.7% less than that of the island of Ireland, and Sicily's is 12% lower than Hokkaido's.

[edit]Seismic activity

Like the rest of Japan, Hokkaido is seismically active. Aside from numerous earthquakes, the following volcanoes are still considered active (at least one eruption since 1850):

Mount Koma

Mount Usu and Showashinzan

Mount Tarumae

Mount Tokachi

Mount Meakan

See also: Category:Volcanoes of Hokkaidō

In 1993, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 generated a tsunami which devastated Okushiri, killing 202. An earthquake of magnitude 8.0 struck near the island on September 25, 2003, at 19:50:07 (UTC).