政泊 まさどまり Masadomari
Suttsu, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Matnaw-tomari, Mata-tomari
Masadomari is the anchorage under Cape Benkei, at the exposed western end of Suttsu Bay.
Location
42.8128, 140.1895 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-10, on 字政泊町. Open in OpenStreetMap
Referents
- settlement The western end of Suttsu, by Cape Benkei; formerly the independent village of Masadomari in Suttsu county. Some six hundred people lived there among the herring sheds; a few houses remain.
- shore The inlet with the small beach where the bathing place was; once Masadomari became the district name and the centre moved towards Cape Benkei, the original spot was distinguished as Sunamasadomari (砂政泊), and the shore to the north as Ishimasadomari (石政泊).
Analyses
mata-tomari
マタトマリ ‘winter anchorage’ received readingProponent: 寿都町文化財展示室
The received reading, glossed as an inlet easy to shelter in even in winter.
Objections
- No old map or record writes マタトマリ; the spellings settle on マツナトマリ. Putting out from the wind-blown Cape Benkei in midwinter is dangerous, and this anchorage was not for winter use alone. Ainu winter life was spent inland in a mata-kotan, living off the autumn salmon, and fishing the winter Japan Sea was not usual. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
Both parts are dictionary words, but the recorded spellings do not give mata, and the winter reading conflicts with what is known of winter settlement.
matnaw-tomari
マッナゥトマリ ‘north-wind anchorage’ proposedProponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
The spellings across the old maps run マツナトマリ, which gives matnaw. The original Masadomari is the inlet where the bathing place was, with a little sand; a pyramid-shaped rocky knoll stands on its north side and takes the north wind off it, and a gap in the rock makes a good place to launch a boat.
Evidence
- topography
The rock knoll on the north side of the inlet shelters it from the north wind, and boats can be put out through the cleft in the rock.
matnaw and tomari are dictionary words in the proposed senses, the compound is ordinary, the map spellings support it, and no source contests it. The shelter argument rests on the author's reading of the ground.
Attestations
- マツナトマリ map Edo period
泰蝦夷島図, 高橋蝦夷図 and 東海参譚 all write マツナトマリ; 今井測量原図 has マシナトマリ, 田草川日誌 マツイトマリ, 伊能大図 マキナヲトマリ, 蝦夷全地 シナマツナイマリ, 松浦山川図 イシ／スナマサトマリ. No record writes マタトマリ.
zenibako_trek… 表「古地図・旧記／政泊（マサトマリ）」
Related names
- 砂政泊 すなまさどまり — The original Masadomari, distinguished by 砂 once the name spread over the district. zenibako_trek…
- 石政泊 いしまさどまり — The shore north of Sunamasadomari. The maps disagree on its position. The route along it is broken by a cleft in the rock. zenibako_trek…