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The Tokoro River has its source on Mount Mikuni, (1541 metres), a peak at the edge of the Taisetsu range of central Hokkaido. It flows into the Okhotsk Sea west of Lake Notoro. At 120 kilometres, it is the fourth longest river in Hokkaido and it drains an area of 1930 square kilometres. |
| The Mukagawa River rises from the same Mount Mikuni and takes a parallel course, separated by a range of hills from the Tokoro River. It flows for 74 kilometres and drains an area of 470 square kilometres before joining the Tokoro River at Nakanoshima in Kitami City. The Tokoro River system has carried down sediment containing ancient organic material formed from decomposition in the forests of the Taisetsu Mountains. From time to time the rivers have altered their courses, forming hills along their banks and eventually the Kitami Basin. | |
| The river silt in the basin was mingled with volcanic ash borne by wind from the mountains of Akan to produce dark, fertile soils whose porous structures retain water well and are easily permeable. They form the basis for the development of agriculture in the Kitami region. | |
| The 142,000 people living in the city of Kitami and the five towns of Oketo, Kunneppu, Rubeshibe, Tanno and Tokoro obtain many benefits from the waters of the Tokoro river system - household water supplies, water for agriculture, for industry and as salmon and trout habitat. | |
| However the Tokoro River is notorious for occasionally becoming violent. When temperatures rise in April and May, rain can suddenly bring about massive thaws in the Taisetsu Mountains, causing floods. In August and September typhoons from the Pacific Ocean bring heavy rain to Japan as they head north. Sometimes they move on towards the Sea of Okhotsk after hitting southern Hokkaido and cause floods in the Kitami region. | |
| In 1898, tonden farmer-soldiers and Hokkosha immigrants had at last been able to plant their first crops of millet and buckwheat. The previous year they had just arrived and barely begun to clear the land. By August they were beginning to feel relieved as harvest time approached. | |
| Heavy rain began on 29 August and turned into a violent storm on 6 September. By 7 September the river had become a muddy sea. Tumultuous waves carried trees, rocks and soil from landslides and collapsing banks as it roared by. At 10 p.m. it overflowed and assaulted the military village at Tanno. The rice store-house, the military headquarters, the Higashi Honganji temple and the post-station were first inundated and then fell down. A boy who had somehow managed to escape from the muddy torrent by climbing up into the branches of a huge tree was finally rescued on 9 September, once the waters had subsided. | |
| Twenty-three people in the Tokoro River catchment area lost their lives in this flood. In Nokkeushi (Kitami) village, material damage alone came to six houses washed away, 22 houses destroyed, 226 houses flooded and 90 percent of cultivated land (214 blocks) inundated. | |
| After the flood waters had receded, people just stood in the autumn sunshine and gazed dumb-struck at the rocks and silt, the trees large and small which were strewn over the desolate river bed that had once been the land they had cleared. The Hokkosha settlers, left with no possessions and no food, headed for fishing stations and farms at Abashiri or made their way to the central districts of the island, hoping to find work there. A few of them came back to embark on relief work and reconstruction, but many disappeared. The tonden farmer-soldiers, not permitted to leave, could only stand around anxiously, listening to words of encouragement from their officers. | |
| In 1898 there were floods all over Hokkaido. The Chief Secretary of the Hokkaido Local Government, Sugita Teiichi knew the Home Minister, Itagaki Taisuke, having worked with him in the Popular Rights Movement and gone on to help him form the Liberal Party. After he had inspected the flood-stricken areas on horseback, Sugita went directly to Tokyo. The head of the Hokkosha immigrants, Sakamoto Naohiro, came from Tosa in Shikoku, Itagaki's birthplace too, and considered him a mentor. Sakamoto also hastened to Tokyo from his home at Urausu near Ishikari. Through their efforts \830,000 was obtained from the government for flood relief. | |
| However nothing was left over from this sum for local flood prevention work. The funds had been allocated for emergency repairs to the banks of rivers all over Hokkaido, including the Ishikari and Tokachi, and for the immediate relief of flood victims. It was not until 1921, twenty three years after this big flood, that work began on controlling the Tokoro River, through the efforts of local people under the enthusiastic leadership of their representative Maeda Komaji and others. In the meantime, there were thirteen other major floods on the Tokoro River, which left at least 77 more people dead or missing. | |
| (from the Kitami City Newsletter, October 1988) | |