Ainu Morpheme Explorer
All place names

宇志知島 うししるとう Ushishir

Northern Kuril Islands

Ainu spellings: Ushioshir, Kamui karu moshiri

The head form Ushioshir is not explained.

Location

47.5321, 152.8193 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-11, on острова Ушишир. Open in OpenStreetMap

Referents

  • island The pair of islets south of Rasshua; Russian Ушишир

Analyses

Kamui karu moshiri

カムイカルモシリ ‘the island the god made’ proposed

Proponent: 鳥居龍藏 (Torii Ryūzō)

Torii's gloss of the second name, which the tale of the thunder god motivates.

Confidence: medium

A transparent three-word phrase, kamuy and moshiri being in Torii's own word list; no other source in this database records the name.

鳥居1903 p. 44鳥居1903 第六章 千島地名普通單語集 (pp. 156–172), Kamui鳥居1903 第六章 千島地名普通單語集 (pp. 156–172), Moshiri

Attestations

  • Ushioshir oral record 1903 鳥居龍藏『千島アイヌ』第二章「千島地名解」
    太古にはこの島無かりしが、雷神 Kannan kamui この島を作り、天よりこれを降せりと云ふ、而してこの島を又 Kamui karu moshiri「神の作り給ひし島」と云ふ

    Torii records the tale that the island did not exist of old and was made by the thunder god Kannan kamui and let down from the sky, and the second name Kamui karu moshiri 'the island the god made'.

    鳥居1903 p. 44

Sources

鳥居1903