刀掛岩 かたなかけいわ Etok-us-sirpa
Iwanai, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Etok-us-sirpa, Etu-ko-us-sirpa, Si-etok-us-sirpa
The rock carries a Benkei legend: Yoshitsune's retainer is said to have leant his sword against it while fishing.
Referents
- cape The rock at the point of Cape Raiden, a landmark of Raiden and of Iwanai. It reads as a sword rest seen from the Iwanai side to the east; the western view is now cut off by the closed old road. A cave called the Furaku-no-dōkutsu is said to be at the point.
Analyses
etu-ko-us-sirpa
エトゥコウㇱシㇼパ ‘cape with a nose attached to it’ proposedProponent: 榊原正文
The Ainu name of the rock is given as エトクシシリパ and read this way.
Objections
- Using the prefix ko- this way calls for one more object than the reading supplies. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
etu and us are dictionary words; the applicative prefix leaves a valency slot unfilled on the objection raised.
etok-us-sirpa
エトクㇱシㇼパ ‘cape with a protruding head attached’ proposedProponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
etok is preferred to etu: e-tok gives 'with a head jutting out', which suits the rock at the point without needing an extra object. The reading refers to the sword-rest rock itself.
Variants
- si-etok-us-sirpa ‘cape with a truly protruding head’ — Offered with a hedge for the spellings that begin with セ, セトクウンシレハ in 今井図 and セトコウシシレハ in 松浦図.
etok and us are dictionary words in the proposed senses; sirpa is not carried by either dictionary consulted here.
Attestations
- カタナカケト云フ map Tenpō era 今井八九郎図
The Japanese name is already on the map in the Tenpō years; the cape was also called Katanakake-misaki.
zenibako_trek… - セトクウンシレハ map Edo period 今井測量原図zenibako_trek…
- セトコウシシレハ map Edo period 東西蝦夷山川地理取調図zenibako_trek…