280px, Teshiogawa onsen is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

located in

Kamikawa Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, 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 ...

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 ...

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 village had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 584 in 402 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 2.1 people per km². The total area of the village is . Otoineppu designates itself as the "smallest village in Hokkaido".

Etymology

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 ...

, Otoineppu means "muddy river mouth". The name is probably a reference to muddy appearance of the water at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the

Teshio River The is a river in Hokkaido, Japan. At , it is the second-longest river on the island (after the Ishikari) and the fourth-longest in the country (after the Shinano, Tone, and Ishikari). A Class A river, the Teshio is the northernmost major rive ...

and one of its many tributaries, the Otoineppu River.

Geography

Otoineppu is a landlocked village at the north of Hokkaido. The village sits at the northern tip of the Nayoro Basin, and is flanked by the

Kitami Mountains is a mountain range of Hokkaidō, Japan. Unlike much of the rest of Japan, the Kitami Mountains are not very seismically active. The Kitami Mountains are north of the Ishikari Mountains and east of the Teshio Mountains. A depression separates th ...

to the east and the

Teshio Mountains The Teshio Mountains (天塩山地 ''Teshio-sanchi'') are a mountain range of Hokkaidō, 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 ...

to the west. The village measures from east to west and from north to south, and sits at an elevation of . 80% of the village is covered by forest. The

(), the fourth longest river in Japan, flows north through Otoineppu before turning sharply west near the village center. The

JR Hokkaido The is one of the constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), and is often referred to by its official abbreviation: . It operates intercity and local rail services in Hokkaido, Japan. The company introduced Kitaca, a smart c ...

Sōya Main Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) in Hokkaido. The line connects Asahikawa Station in Asahikawa and Wakkanai Station in Wakkanai, and is the northernmost railway line in Japan. The name c ...

and

Japan National Route 40 is a National highways of Japan, national highway connecting Asahikawa and Wakkanai in Hokkaidō, Japan. Route data *Length: 243.0 km (151.0 mi) *Origin: Asahikawa (originates at the terminus of Japan National Route 12, 12 and the o ...

runs along the Teshio River through Otoineppu.

Neighboring municipalities

Otoineppu borders four towns in Hokkaido: * Bifuka * Esashi (Sōya) * Nakagawa * Nakatonbetsu

Climate

Otoineppu has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfb''). Otoineppu, which sits only from both the

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 ...

and

Japan Sea The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

, is located within a maritime climate. The village is ringed in by mountains from all four directions, and sees significant temperature extremes. The average temperatures from December to March are below , with days as low as ; temperatures from June to September are typically above , with some days reaching above . Otoineppu is noted for its deep snowfalls; some areas of the village have snowfalls as high as . In 1998 the village had Hokkaido's second-deepest snowfall on record.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Otoineppu is as shown below. The village is in a long period of sustained population loss.

History

The name "Otoineppu" first appeared in the 1797 "Matsumae Chi Nami Nishi Ezo Chi Meiseiki", where it was written as "Otoekofu". In 1857 Matsuura Takeshiro visited the Teshio River basin and stayed with an Ainu elder near the current Osashima neighborhood. The construction of a road north of Asahikawa, which began in 1896, finally reached the current Otoineppu village area in 1904. At this time, post office manager Nagamura Hide (a Hokkaido government official from Ishikawa Prefecture) moved to the area, and this marked the founding of Otoineppu village. The following year, 32 tenant farming families settled in the area. By the start of the Taisho period, about 200 families had settled in various parts of the village. In 1916, the village of was established. The area developed as a hub for railway construction and water transport. It was renamed Otoineppu in 1963. The name of the village was changed due to the fact that center of the village is in the Otoineppu district, and Otoineppu Station was widely known as a terminus on the JR Sōya Main Line and the Tenpoku Line. However, the population dropped sharply due to the privatization of the

Japan National Railways The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

in the 1980s, the abolition of the Tenpoku Line in 1989, and the reduction in station operations.

Government

Otoineppu has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

village council of eight members. Otoineppu, collectively with the other municipalities of Kawakami sub-prefecture, contributes three members to the Hokkaidō Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of the

Hokkaidō 6th district is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in the prefecture ''(-dō)'' of Hokkaidō and consists of Hokkaido's Kamikawa Subprefecture. The CDP lost the ...

of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

. In the

2017 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 22 October 2017. Voting took place in all Representatives constituencies of Japan – 289 single-member districts and eleven proportional blocks – in order to appoint all 465 members (down from 475) of t ...

, 55.97% of Otoineppu's proportional ballots were cast for one of the three parties in the pacifist opposition coalition (the

Constitutional Democratic Party The Constitutional Democratic Party (, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of People's Freedom (), was a political party in the Russian Empire that promoted Western constitutional monarchy—among other policies� ...

, the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, and the

Japanese Communist Party The is a communist party in Japan. Founded in 1922, it is the oldest political party in the country. It has 250,000 members as of January 2024, making it one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party is chaired ...

), making it the most left-leaning municipality in the country in this election under that definition.

Economy

The economy of Otoineppu is based on agriculture and forestry.

Buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

is the main crop.

Education

The Otoineppu maintains two schools: Otoineppu Elementary School and Otoineppu Junior High School, operated by the village government The village also maintains a high school, Hokkaido Otoineppu Arts & Craft High School, operated by the Hokkaido Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

: - - - Otoineppu is served by the JR Hokkaido

. The Sōya Main Line is the northernmost train line in Japan, and runs from

Asahikawa Station is a railway station in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). Asahikawa Station is the central train station for the city of Asahikawa, which is the second largest city in Hokkaido by population af ...

Asahikawa is a Cities of Japan, city in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of the subprefecture, and the second-largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. It has been a Core cities of Japan, core city since April 1, 2000. The city i ...

in north-central Hokkaido to

Wakkanai Station is a railway station located in the city of Wakkanai, Hokkaidō, Japan. It is operated by JR Hokkaido. It is the northernmost railway station in Japan. The station is numbered "W80". Lines Wakkanai Station is the northern terminus of the S� ...

Wakkanai file:Wakkanai city office.JPG, 290px, Wakkanai City Hall file:Wakkanai shore.jpg, 290px, Shore of Wakkanai is a Cities of Japan, city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. Wakkanai is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. Situated approx ...

at the very north of the prefecture. The defunct

JNR The , abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

Tenpoku Line once broke off from the Sōya Main Line at Otoineppu Station and ran north to the coast of the

, and again met the Sōya Main Line at Wakkanai Station. The line was discontinued in 1989 and replaced by bus service.

Highways

runs along the Teshio River through Otoineppu, and connects

in central Hokkaido to

at the northern tip of the prefecture.

Japan National Route 275 National Route 275 is a national highway of Japan connecting Chūō-ku, Sapporo is one of the ten wards in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Chūō-ku means "central ward" in Japanese. City administration and entertainment facilities are centred in ...

breaks off from National Route 40 at the village center of Otoineppu and extends on to Hamatonbetsu on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk.

Culture

Mascot

Otoineppu's mascot is . He is a

Picea glehnii ''Picea glehnii'', the Sakhalin spruce or Glehn's spruce, is a species of conifer in the family Pinaceae. It was named after a Russian botanist, taxonomist, Sakhalin and Amur river regions explorer, geographer and hydrographer Peter von Glehn (1 ...

tree who is a friendly park ranger. He sometimes wears a crown as a park ranger hat. He also attends events, especially school-related functions. His design was unveiled on 4 August 2013.

Notable people from Otoineppu

Keishin Yoshida is a Japanese cross-country skier. He competed at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The munici ...

, cross-country skier

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otoineppu, Hokkaido Villages in Hokkaido Otoineppu, Hokkaido