敷生 しきう Shikiu
Shikiu, Shiraoi, Iburi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Siki, Sikii
The spellings split between a short Shiki and a longer Shikī or Shigui, and the two readings follow that split.
Location
42.5530, 141.1995 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-10, on 敷生川. Open in OpenStreetMap
Referents
- river The Shikiu River. Springs are still known along its course, and the Meppu River, mep 'spring river', once joined it
- settlement Shikiu in Shiraoi. The ground by the river near the paper mill was called Tonkeshi, Numanohata, where a wide marsh lay
Analyses
siki-o-i
シキオイ ‘place where the reed grows’ received reading- siki ‘Miscanthus reed used for arrow shafts’
- o ‘have many of’
- i ‘place’
Proponent: 定説
siki is the reed whose cut stems were used for arrow shafts. The river sign reads 'place where the reed grows thickly'.
The reading covers the spelling Shiki but not the long vowel of Shikī and Shigui that the author weighs.
sik-i
シキー ‘place filled with water’ proposed- sik ‘be full of water’
- 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 form is chosen to satisfy both Shikī and Shigui. The same element sik runs through the author's readings of Shikotsu, Shikabe and Shukutsu. The wet ground at Tonkeshi, the springs along the river and the former junction with the Meppu River are the water the name is taken to describe.
sik 'be full' is a dictionary word in the sense used and the reading covers the longer spellings. Its ground is the wet country of the valley, with no statement about the name behind it, and the author offers it as a possibility.
Shiki-i
‘The place of rushes’ proposed- Shiki ‘rush’
- i ‘place’
Proponent: John Batchelor
Batchelor's reading and gloss as printed in 1905; the segmentation is his, and several of its elements answer to no dictionary headword.
Attestations
- シキ / シキー / シクエ / シグイ map 19th century 伊能図（シキ）; 間宮河川図（シキー）; 松浦図（シクエ）; 今井大河図（シグイ）
Imai Hakkurō records the tributaries of the Shikiu and the distances to its source, which the author treats as making his spelling reliable.
zenibako_trek…