Ainu Morpheme Explorer
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Iwanai and Rankoshi, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō

イセバチ

いせばち Isebachi

Isebachi is the Isoya end of the Raiden coast, where the mountain road came down.

Ainu spellings: Iso-pake, Esohake

Analyses

iso-pake

イソパケ

proposed

head of the rocky shore

Proponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))

Read from Matsuura's エショハケ, perhaps describing the point at Sebachi-bana. The author qualifies it: in his experience iso most often refers to a rock standing in the sea, and no conspicuous offshore rock is to be seen here. The bay being shaped like a mortar, Isebachi-tomari may instead be the stretch between the two points.

zenibako_trek2023 「イセバチトマリ」Batchelor1905 Iso, 磯. Large bare rocks. / Pake, 頭. n. The head.
Analysis details
Confidence: low

Batchelor carries both parts in the proposed senses, iso as bare rocks off the shore and pake as a head. The proponent notes that the offshore rock he would expect is missing at the place, and marks the reading as uncertain.

Attestations

  • エショハケ document Edo period 西蝦夷日誌
    エショハケ（岩崎）、イセハチ泊と誤る。此湾恰も擂盆イセハチの如きより号くと云り。上をエシヨハケ岳と云

    Matsuura takes イセバチ for a Japanese name, a mortar, given for the shape of the bay, and エショハケ for the Ainu name behind it.

Related names

  • シルウトル しるうとる — sir-utur 'between the hills', a name that points directly at the point between the two capes. zenibako_trek2023
  • 浜スマイ はますまい — Tamamushi Sadayū's name for the Isoya-side foot of the Raiden mountain road; the author suggests so-oma-i 'place where there is rocky shore', with a hedge. zenibako_trek2023
  • カムイシリパ かむいしりぱ — A name that turns up repeatedly hereabouts; some sources put it at Cape Raiden and others at Cape Isebachi. Its position, like several others here, is not settled. zenibako_trek2023

Sources