Matsumae Peninsula

A peninsula in the southwest of Hokkaido, occupying the southwest of the Oshima Peninsula. It faces the Kameda Peninsula in the southeast. It faces the Sea of ​​Japan to the east and the Tsugaru Strait to the south. It is made up of the Oshima Mountains, including Mt. Daisengen, Mt. Maesengen, and Mt. Hakamagoshi, and the Amanoka River, Ishizaki River, Mogusa River, Shiriuchi River, and Kikonai River run through these mountains. The coast is made up of several coastal terraces, with little flat land. Most of the land is made up of Palaeozoic and Neogene layers and andesite, with exposed granite. Broadleaf trees such as beech and silver maple are distributed, and it is also the southern limit of the Sakhalin fir. It was the earliest area to be developed in Hokkaido, and was also known as a place where herring could be caught for a thousand koku of rice. National Route 228 runs along the coast, and the Seikan Tunnel was completed between Yoshioka, Fukushima Town in the southeast, and Tappizaki on Honshu. The coast has been designated as the Matsumae Yagoshi Prefectural Natural Park.

[Hideyoshi Segawa]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

北海道南西部、渡島半島(おしまはんとう)の南西部を占める半島。南東部の亀田(かめだ)半島と対する。東は日本海、南は津軽(つがる)海峡に臨む。渡島山地の大千軒(だいせんげん)岳、前千軒岳、袴腰(はかまごし)岳などからなり、これらの山地を刻んで天(あま)ノ川、石崎川、茂草(もぐさ)川、知内(しりうち)川、木古内(きこない)川などが流れる。沿岸は数段の海岸段丘からなり、平地は少ない。大部分が古生層、新第三紀層、安山岩で、花崗(かこう)岩も露出する。ブナやイタヤカエデの広葉樹が分布し、トドマツの南限地でもある。道内でもっとも早く開けた地で、ニシンの千石場所としても知られた。沿岸を国道228号が通り、南東部の福島町吉岡と本州龍飛(たっぴ)崎間には青函トンネル(せいかんとんねる)が完成した。海岸は松前矢越(やごし)道立自然公園に指定。

［瀬川秀良］

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