矢追 やおい Yaoi
Suttsu, Shiribeshi region, Hokkaidō
Ainu spellings: Ya-o-i
Yaoi lies on the Suttsu side of the bay, with reef offshore and a fishing station on the beach.
Location
42.8051, 140.2141 · Coordinates: OpenStreetMap Nominatim, 2026-09-10, on 矢追. Open in OpenStreetMap
Referents
- cape The semicircular hill north of Suttsu harbour, also called Yaoi-zaki or the cape of Horotomari. Reef spreads widely off it; the Ōmaru-iso lighthouse marks it.
Analyses
ya-o-i
ヤオイ ‘the thing that is widely attached to the shore’ proposed- ya ‘shore, land’
- o ‘be there in quantity, be widely attached’
- i ‘the thing that’
Proponent: 榊原正文
The reef off Yaoi-zaki is well developed and makes a landform of its own, which the reading takes as the referent.
Objections
- A reef would call for kapar-sirar 'flat reef'; ya 'land' sits oddly here, and no other place name of this shape is known. — zenibako_trek zenibako_trek…
The segmentation is straightforward, and the objection is that the vocabulary does not fit a reef and the pattern has no parallel.
ya-o-i
ヤオイ ‘place where the nets are’ proposed- ya ‘net’
- o ‘be there’
- i ‘place where’
Proponent: zenibako_trek（小樽銭函地名歴史研究会） (zenibako_trek (Otaru Zenibako Place-Name and History Society))
Taking ya as 'net' gives roughly 'fishing ground'. Fishing huts stood at Yaoi from long ago, and there was a landing place there.
Evidence
Tamura carries ya both as a net and as land, so the reading turns on which of the two is meant; the choice rests on the parallel names and on what stood at the place.
Related names
- 浜中 はまなか — The boundary between Suttsu and Otasutsu was fixed at the line where Cape Benkei and Yaoi-zaki come into alignment. zenibako_trek…