| Hokkaido | |||||||||||||
| Settlement Type: | Prefecture and region | ||||||||||||
| Translit Lang1: | Japanese | ||||||||||||
| Translit Lang1 Type: | Japanese | ||||||||||||
| Translit Lang1 Info: | Japanese: {{lang|ja|北海道 | ||||||||||||
| Translit Lang1 Type1: | Rōmaji | ||||||||||||
| Translit Lang1 Info1: | Japanese: Hokkaidō | ||||||||||||
| Flag Size: | 100px | ||||||||||||
| Image Blank Emblem: | Emblem of Hokkaido Prefecture.svg | ||||||||||||
| Blank Emblem Size: | 80px | ||||||||||||
| Blank Emblem Type: | Symbol | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 43°N 142°W | ||||||||||||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||||||||||||
| Subdivision Name: | Japan | ||||||||||||
| Subdivision Type1: | Region | ||||||||||||
| Subdivision Name1: | Hokkaido | ||||||||||||
| Subdivision Type2: | Island | ||||||||||||
| Subdivision Name2: | Hokkaido | ||||||||||||
| Seat Type: | Capital | ||||||||||||
| Seat: | Sapporo | ||||||||||||
| Seat1 Type: | Largest city | ||||||||||||
| Seat1: | Sapporo | ||||||||||||
| Parts Type: | Subdivisions | ||||||||||||
| Parts Style: | para | ||||||||||||
| P1: | Districts 74 | ||||||||||||
| P2: | Municipalities 179 | ||||||||||||
| Leader Title: | Governor | ||||||||||||
| Leader Name: | Naomichi Suzuki | ||||||||||||
| Area Total Km2: | 83423.84 | ||||||||||||
| Area Water Percent: | 6.4 | ||||||||||||
| Area Rank: | 1st | ||||||||||||
| Population Total: | 5111691 | ||||||||||||
| Population As Of: | July 31, 2023 | ||||||||||||
| Population Rank: | 8th | ||||||||||||
| Population Density Km2: | auto | ||||||||||||
| Demographics Type2: | GDP | ||||||||||||
| Demographics2 Footnotes: | [1] | ||||||||||||
| Demographics2 Title1: | Total | ||||||||||||
| Demographics2 Info1: | JP¥ 20,465 billion US$ 187.7 billion (2019) | ||||||||||||
| Iso Code: | JP-01 | ||||||||||||
| Module: |
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| Anthem: | Hikari afurete, Mukashi no mukashi and Hokkai bayashi | ||||||||||||
is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region.[2] The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel.
The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city. Sakhalin lies about to the north of Hokkaidō, and to the east and northeast are the Kuril Islands, which are administered by Russia, though the four most southerly are claimed by Japan. The position of the island on the northern end of the archipelago results in colder climate, with the island seeing significant snowfall each winter. Despite the harsher climate, it serves as an agricultural breadbasket for many crops.
Hokkaido was formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso.[3] Although Japanese settlers ruled the southern tip of the island since the 16th century, Hokkaido was primarily inhabited by the Ainu people.[4] In 1869, following the Meiji Restoration, the entire island was annexed, colonized and renamed Hokkaido by Japan.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Japanese settlers dispossessed the Ainu of their land and forced them to assimilate.[4] [8] In the 21st century, the Ainu are almost totally assimilated into Japanese society; as a result, the majority of Japanese of Ainu descent have no knowledge of their heritage and culture.[11] [12] [13]
When establishing the Development Commission, the Meiji government decided to change the name of Ezochi. Matsuura Takeshirō submitted six proposals, including names such as and, to the government. The government eventually decided to use the name Hokkaidō, but decided to write it as, as a compromise between and because of the similarity with names such as . According to Matsuura, the name was thought up because the Ainu called the region Kai. The kai element also strongly resembles the On'yomi, or Sino-Japanese, reading of the characters (on'yomi as [{{IPA|ka.i}}, カイ], kun'yomi as [{{IPA|e.mi.ɕi}}, えみし]) which have been used for over a thousand years in China and Japan as the standard orthographic form to be used when referring to Ainu and related peoples; it is possible that Matsuura's kai was actually an alteration, influenced by the Sino-Japanese reading of Ka-i, of the Nivkh exonym for the Ainu, namely Qoy or pronounced as /kʰuɣɪ/.[14]
In 1947, Hokkaidō became a full-fledged prefecture. The historical suffix 道 (-dō) translates to "prefecture" in English, ambiguously the same as 府 (-fu) for Osaka and Kyoto, and 県 (-ken) for the rest of the "prefectures". Dō, as shorthand, can be used to uniquely identify Hokkaido, for example as in 道道 (dōdō, "Hokkaido road")[15] or 道議会 (Dōgikai, "Hokkaido Assembly"),[16] the same way 都 (-to) is used for Tokyo. The prefecture's government calls itself the "Hokkaidō Government" rather than the "Hokkaidō Prefectural Government".
With the rise of indigenous rights movements, there emerged a notion that Hokkaido should have an Ainu language name. If a decision to change the name is made, however, whichever Ainu phrase is chosen, its original referent is critically different from the large geographical entity. The phrase Ainu: aynumosir (Ainu: アイヌモシㇼ) has been a preferred choice among Japanese activists.[17] Its primary meaning is the "land of humans", as opposed to the "land of gods" (Ainu: kamuymosir). When contrasted with Ainu: sisammosir (the land of the neighbors, often pointing to Honshu or Japanese settlements on the southern tip of Hokkaido), it means the land of the Ainu people, which, depending on context, can refer to Hokkaido,[18] although from a modern ethnolinguistic point of view, the Ainu people have extended their domain to a large part of Sakhalin and the entire Kuril Islands. Another phrase, Ainu: yaunmosir (ヤウンモシㇼ) has gained prominence. It literally means the "onshore land", as opposed to the "offshore land" (Ainu: repunmosir), which, depending on context, can refer to the Kuril Islands, Honshu, or any foreign country. If the speaker is a resident of Hokkaido, Ainu: yaunmosir can refer to Hokkaido.[19] Yet another phrase, Ainu: <nowiki>akor mosir</nowiki>