勝納 かつない Katsunai
Katsunai, Otaru, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Katchinay, Katchunay
One of the five names of Otaru that the author calls hard to settle, with Ranshima, Asari, Arihoro and Okobachi. Japanese kachi names exist in Honshū for valleys in the hills, and Matagi speech has katchi for the head of a valley; the article separates the Hokkaidō names from these because katchi there sits inside Ainu compounds.
Location
43.1576, 140.9794 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-10, on 勝納川. Open in OpenStreetMap
Referents
- river The Katsunai River, the largest river in central Otaru, which reaches the sea by Minami-Otaru station
- settlement The Katsunai district of Otaru, with the Katsunai wharf on the harbour
Analyses
katchi-un-nay
カッチウンナイ ‘stream where the rock tower is’ proposedProponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
The rock is Matsukura-iwa, a large rock high in the upper Katsunai valley whose shape is visible from Otaru harbour and is nicknamed rabbit ears or cat ears. It was left standing as a landmark when the Matsukura mine was opened. The author's earlier reading of the name was 'river with flash floods'; the readings in circulation are 'rich valley' and 'headwater valley'.
Evidence
- morphological pattern
A sequence of sounds is often shortened, so that katchi-un-nay can be said as kachinay, katchinnay or katchunay. That covers the whole spread of recorded spellings, Katchinai, Kachinnai and Katsunai.
- parallel place names
The element katchi occurs at places that have a sharp peak or a rock tower on a mountain: Penke and Panke Katchi-nupri and the neighbouring katchi names in the upper Tōbetsu, Genkotsu-yama in Nishiokoppe with its fist-shaped rock tower, Mt. Pishikachinai in Shikaoi, and Katchi and Katchinai at Shikaribetsu in Niki. The author sets ka 'the upper part' beside it as a possible source, and adds chi 'phallus' as another. He also offers Katsuura-yama in Otaru, recorded in an 1859 Hakodate magistrate's journal beside Kawashira-yama, as katchi-or 'place of the katchi', for the rock towers on the slope of Akaiwa-yama.
The reading accounts for all three recorded spellings and points to a rock that is visible from the harbour. Its head element is a word no dictionary carries, and the identification of Matsukura-iwa as that element comes from the author's own survey of the valley, with no record behind it.
Attestations
- カッチナイ / カツナイ document Edo period
The old records give Katsunai and Katchinai, the latter attested earlier.
zenibako_trek… - カチンナイ川 map 19th century 伊能大図zenibako_trek…
Related names
- 勝浦山 かつうらやま — A gold-mine mountain in the Takashima district named in an 1859 journal of the Hakodate magistrate beside Kawashira-yama. Its position is not settled; the author places it among the peaks around Akaiwa-yama and offers katchi-or 'place of the katchi', since the rock towers on the reddish bare slope near the summit stand out from Oshoro and Yoichi. zenibako_trek…
- 十勝 とかち — Read tu-katchi 'two sharp peaks' by the same author, on the same element. zenibako_trek…