Kutchan [town] - Kutchan

Japanese: 俱知安[町] - くっちゃん

A town in Abuta County, Shiribeshi Subprefecture, southwest Hokkaido. Population 17,078 (1995). The town name comes from the Ainu word "Kuchaunnai" (a valley with a hunter's hut made of tree branches). It is located in a basin surrounded by mountains such as Mt. Yotei and Mt. Niseko Annupuri, and the Shiribetsu River flows through it. Settlement in this area began in 1892 by people from Tokushima Prefecture who had already settled in Yoichi and Niki to the north, and subsequent group migrations, including those by the San'in Emigration Company, followed. In 1904, the Hakodate Main Line was opened, and as development progressed, the town's character gradually changed from a supply base for the development areas to a distribution center for agricultural products.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

北海道南西部，後志（しりべし）支庁虻田郡の町。人口1万7078(1995)。町名はアイヌ語の〈クチャウンナイ(木の枝で作った狩人の小屋のある沢)〉に由来する。羊蹄山，ニセコアンヌプリなどの山々に囲まれた盆地内に位置し，尻別川が流れる。この地への入植は，すでに北方の余市や仁木へ入植していた徳島県人によって1892年に始められ，その後山陰移住会社をはじめとする団体移住があいついだ。1904年函館本線が開通し，開拓の進展につれて，町の性格も開拓地への物資補給基地からしだいに農産物の集散地へと変化した。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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