美国 びくに Bikuni
Bikuni, Shakotan, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Pikuni, Piuni
The Bikuni post and the Shakotan post were administered separately, and the district covered here is the shore of the former. The Bikuni district holds the town hall of Shakotan today.
Location
43.2983, 140.5989 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-10, on 美国. Open in OpenStreetMap
Referents
- river The Bikuni River. Sand lies along the shore around it, and coarser pebbles collect at the mouth alone.
- settlement The Bikuni district of Shakotan, where the town hall stands, and the former Bikuni post, whose administration was separate from that of the Shakotan post at Hitsukasa.
Analyses
pi-un-i
ピウニ ‘place where there are pebbles’ received readingProponent: 定説
The reading that answers to the sense Matsuura took down, 'place where there are pebbles'. 『永田地名解』 passes over the whole of Bikuni district apart from the district name itself, so many names on this coast have no received reading.
Objections
- Every source writes ビクニ with the k. A stray mishearing of ピウニ as ピクニ is conceivable; ten sources out of ten hearing it that way is not. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
pi 'pebble' is a Tamura headword and the un-i shape is ordinary. The k of every recorded spelling is left unaccounted for.
pik-un-i
ピクニ ‘place where there is gravel’ proposed- pik ‘pebble, gravel’
- un ‘there is’
- i ‘place’
Proponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
The word pik is in no Ainu dictionary; the article's warrant is the Bunka-era word list 『イロハ番付 阿異野事葉』, which has 「ざり石を／ピクン」. The sense matches what Matsuura's informants told him, and the coarse pebbles still lie at the mouth of the Bikuni River, where anyone crossing before there were bridges would have stepped over them.
The reading fits every recorded spelling and the ground at the river mouth. Its first element rests on a single manuscript word list and appears in no dictionary; the article suggests a regional word of the Shakotan area.
pok-un-i
ポクニ ‘place where there is shade’ proposedProponent: 諸説
One of the trial readings the article reports for the k of ビクニ, without naming who put it forward.
The article judges the trial readings possible without being convincing.
pikew-un-i
ピケウニ ‘place where there are fine stones’ proposed- pikew ‘fine-grained stone’
- un ‘there is’
- i ‘place’
Proponent: 諸説
One of the trial readings the article reports for the k of ビクニ, without naming who put it forward.
The article judges the trial readings possible without being convincing.
piwka-un-i
ピゥカウニ ‘place where there is a pebble bed’ proposedProponent: 諸説
One of the trial readings the article reports for the k of ビクニ, without naming who put it forward.
The article judges the trial readings possible without being convincing.
pikke-un-i
ピッケウニ ‘place where there are frogs’ proposed- pikke ‘frog’
- un ‘there is’
- i ‘place’
Proponent: 諸説
One of the trial readings the article reports for the k of ビクニ, without naming who put it forward.
The article judges the trial readings possible without being convincing.
Attestations
- ビクニ／ヒクニ document Edo period 旧図類
The older maps and documents write ビクニ or ヒクニ throughout. Variation this small is rare for an Ainu place name, and every source has the k.
zenibako_trek… - ビクニ document Edo period 竹四郎廻浦日記（松浦武四郎）
ヒクニは川の名にして、小石の有ることを以て号しもの也。此運上屋の有る地は本名ヲタネコロなるべし。ヲタは砂の夷言也。依て其地砂浜なり。
Matsuura's informants gave the sense 'place where there are pebbles' and the river as the referent. The post house stood at what is now the bathing beach on the east bank, called Otanekoro, ota-nikor, roughly 'place enclosed by sand'.
zenibako_trek… - ピクン dictionary Bunka era イロハ番付 阿異野事葉
ざり石を／ピクン
A handmade word list compiled in the Bunka years for Hayashi Chōzaemon, the contractor of the Yoichi post, arranged in iroha order. The article takes pik for 'pebble, gravel' to be a Shakotan-area word, less heard toward eastern Hokkaidō.
zenibako_trek… - pi dictionary 1996
【名】[概](所は piye(he) ピイェ(ヘ)) 小石、(果物など)の種。
The Saru dialect dictionary has no headword pik.
田村1996 s.v. pi - ヲタネコロ document Edo period 竹四郎廻浦日記（松浦武四郎）
The name of the ground where the Bikuni post house stood, on the east bank of the Bikuni River.
zenibako_trek…
Related names
- 小泊（ポントマリ） こどまり — pon-tomari 'small anchorage', translated into Japanese as the sub-district name Kodomari, east of the Bikuni River. zenibako_trek…
- 茶津（チャツナイ） ちゃつ — From chasi-nay 'stockade valley', west of Ōgon-misaki. The article notes that シ in place names often turns into ツ, and that Ainu has no syllable tsu. Ōgon-misaki itself is Chashikotsu, and the top of the cape commands the shore. zenibako_trek…
- 滝の下（チャラツナイ） たきのした — From charse-nay 'sliding waterfall', the cliff-foot beach beyond Chatsu. Matsuura gives the fall as about three jō high and three shaku wide. zenibako_trek…
- 婦美（フミ） ふみ — Cut out of Funbemai, humpe-oma-i 'place where the whale is'. A whale is said to have been stranded here, or Cape Makka seen from Hamafumi to resemble one; the coordinates the name Funbemai carries fall on the point of Cape Makka. zenibako_trek…
- 幌武意（ホロムイ） ほろむい — poro-moy 'large bay'. A small settlement with a working fishing harbour, reached only by the road down the cliff behind it. zenibako_trek…
- レブンコトマリ（浜婦美） はまふみ — The Edo-period name of Hamafumi, where two or three fishing huts stood in 1846; Matsuura writes 「尤も陸道なし」 of it. The settlement, once sixty households with a branch school, was abandoned after the school closed in 1965. zenibako_trek…
- イタギリイシ（板切石） いたぎりいし — Written エタランケウシ on the older maps, read etu-ranke-us-i 'place where the nose comes down'. A settlement stood here, with the large rock Ponmakashuma against the point. zenibako_trek…
- カヤノカ かやのか — kaya-notka-oma-i 'the one shaped like a sail'. zenibako_trek…
- ラモン泊 らもんとまり — A worn form of rawne-tomari 'deep anchorage'. The ground in front of the point dips a little. zenibako_trek…
- オロウェン泊 おろうぇんとまり — oro-wen-tomari 'anchorage whose inside is bad'. The article suggests the landing was poor. zenibako_trek…
- タシコロヲルエトマリ たしころ — taskor-or-un-tomari 'anchorage at the place of the bitter cold'; taskor is the bitter cold of winter. zenibako_trek…
- ノッケウアンナイ のっけう — notkew-un-nay 'valley at the jaw'. zenibako_trek…
- ヘモイ泊 へもいとまり — Written セモエウントマリ on Matsuura's 山川図, read hemoy-un-tomari 'anchorage where the trout are'. The two tall rocks Hemoishima and Fureshima stand there, off the beach beyond Cape Biyano. zenibako_trek…