Shin-Hidaka, Hidaka region, Hokkaidō
三石
みついし MitsuishiThe Japanese spelling suggests three stones, and the article ties the name instead to the single rock upstream.
Ainu spellings: Nit-us-i
Analyses
nit-us-i
ニツウシ
place where the skewer rock is
- nit skewer, shaft
- us be at
- 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 rock called Imanit is said to be the skewer with which the culture hero Okikurmi speared and roasted a whale, when people did not yet know the use of fire. Traditions in which Okikurmi teaches the roasting skewer and the use of fire are told at Noboribetsu, Biratori and Oshamanbe as well. Tradition says that every plant of Hokkaidō grows on the rock, and the Ainu offered inaw there.
Pit-ushi
The place of pebbles
- Pit pebble
- ushi place of
Proponent: John Batchelor
Sources
- 日高地方の地名の由来
zenibako_trek·2025-05-20
- An Ainu-English-Japanese Dictionary (including A Grammar of the Ainu Language)
Batchelor, John·1905