Toyohira River

I live near the Toyohira river. Today, I’ll introduce its history and interesting movement!

1. Toyohira river

Toyohira river is one of the rivers in Sapporo city. Sapporo built on the alluvial fan (Senjochi in Japanese) formed by this river. It is 72 km in length, and it supplies water to Sapporo. 🚰 So the river is important for our lives. The water source of the Toyohira river is from Oizaridake, which is located between Sapporo and Chitose.

2. History

The Ainu who are original people in Hokkaido knew about the Toyohira river from a long time ago. They had called this river as Sapporo Pet (in Ainu Language). When the Japanese colonized this area, they used Ainu place names. They named the new capital city as Sapporo using the river’s name and after that, the river was named Toyohira river from the Ainu name for a crossing point of the river.

3. Come back salmon campaign🐟

Do you know the Come Back Salmon Campaign? This is one of the civic campaigns in Sapporo. A long time ago there was a lot of wild salmon in the Toyohira river. However, people made the river polluted and salmon disappeared. In 1978 the citizens of Sapporo started this campaign. In this campaign, people release salmon fries into the Toyohira river. Today, 40-odd years after the start of this the number of salmon in Toyohira river is gradually increasing! 

If you are interested in this campaign please visit the Salmon Museum. I can assure you that you can get more information about it. (Sasa)

https://salmon-museum.jp/lang/en

https://hokkaidoguide.com/toyohira-river/

https://www.maruha-nichiro.co.jp/salmon/environment/09.html