Kitahiroshima 北広島市

• Kitahiroshima means "North Hiroshima." It comes from the Hiroshima Prefecture settlers, not from an Ainu word. In 1893 Hokkaido Governor Kitagaki Kunimichi (北垣国道) praised the colony and suggested calling it "Wada Village" after its leader. Wada asked for "Hiroshima Village" instead, because he had set out to build a village together with people from his home prefecture. Hiroshima Village became independent in 1894.⁷
• The "Kita-" came from the railway. When Kitahiroshima Station opened in 1926, "North" was added to keep it apart from Hiroshima Station in Hiroshima Prefecture. The town took the station's name when it became a city in 1996.²¹
• Ainu names within the city. Edo-period explorers' records note the Ainu names Shimamappu (シママップ), Watchi (ワッチ) and Otenebetsu (オテネベツ).¹⁰
  • Shimamatsu (島松): comes from suma-oma-p, "the thing (river) where there are stones." Old maps write it シママフ or シママッフ, which suggests it was worn down to shumamap.²² The city's page on Shimamatsu soft stone gives it as "a place with rocks."²³
  • Wattsu (輪厚): until 1871 the eastern lowlands were called Wattsu or Watchi.⁷ Its Ainu meaning was not found in the sources consulted.
  • Otoebetsu (音江別): comes from o-tene-pet, "the river whose mouth is wet." The Otoebetsu River often flooded, and its mouth was always marshy. Minami-no-sato (南の里) used this name until the district names were revised in 1937.⁷

• Prehistory: As of April 2014 the city had 59 known buried-heritage sites. Most date from the Initial Jōmon to the Epi-Jōmon period. People first lived on the river terraces of the Wattsu and Otoebetsu rivers about 8,000 years ago. No Satsumon-period (from about 1,300 years ago) sites have been found yet.¹⁰
• Ainu period and Edo era: About 300 years ago, two Ainu chashi (fortified enclosures) were built: Nakanosawa Chashi (中の沢チャシ跡) and one on the left bank of the Shimamatsu River.¹⁰ Around 1800, when the shogunate took direct control of Ezo, the Shimamatsu River formed part of the line between East and West Ezo. From 1855 the area was assigned to the Shōnai Domain (庄内藩).¹⁰
• 1871–1873: Nakayama Kyūzō, born in Kawachi Province (now Taishi, Osaka), settled at Shimamatsu in 1871.⁴²⁴ In 1873 the Sapporo Hondō road (now Route 36) opened, and a post station (ekitei) was set up at Shimamatsu. That autumn Nakayama harvested 345 kg of Akage rice per tan. He later gave seed free to settlers, which spread rice farming across Hokkaido.¹⁹⁴
• 1877 and 1881: Clark stopped at Shimamatsu on 16 April 1877 on his way home and said his famous farewell. On 2 September 1881 the post station served as a rest place (行在所) for Emperor Meiji's tour.¹⁸ Nakayama ran the post from 1884 until it closed in 1897.¹⁹
• 1882–1894, Hiroshima settlement: Wada Ichirō (1847–1928), from Danbara in Aki Province (now Minami-ku, Hiroshima City), surveyed Hokkaido in 1882. In 1883 he chose Wattsu in Tsukisamu Village. On his way north that April he prayed at Ise Grand Shrine and received a share of its spirit for a village shrine.⁷²⁵ In 1884, 25 households of 103 people from Hiroshima arrived and cleared a 1-million-tsubo grant along the Wattsu River. English Wikipedia gives 107 people.⁷¹³ By 1893 the colony had 385 households and more than 600 chō (about 6 km²) of fields. Hiroshima Village split from Tsukisamu Village in 1894.⁷ Wada also sent Hiroshima settlers to Nishino (now Nishi-ku, Sapporo) and to the Itsukushima area of Naie.⁷
• Early 20th century: The population reached 5,970 in 1912. It then fell to 3,899 by 1926 and stayed between about 3,900 and 4,500 until 1945.²⁶ Kitahiroshima Station opened on the Hokkaido Railway's Sapporo line on 21 August 1926.²¹ Floods on the low Chitose River plain are recorded in 1898 and in many years between 1950 and 1981.⁷
• Postwar settlement: About 200 households of war evacuees and repatriates were settled around Nishi-no-sato, Higashi-no-sato, Wattsu, Takeyama and Ōmagari. The land was heavy clay, flood-prone lowland, or ground choked with bamboo grass.⁷
• Bedroom-town boom: The village became Hiroshima Town in 1968.¹¹ In March 1969 Hokkaido planned the Kitahiroshima Danchi (道営北広島団地) for 31,000 residents in about 8,000 homes. It was the prefecture's third such estate, after Makomanai and Ōasa.⁷ The city says its development was modeled on Tapiola in Finland.²⁷ The Dōō Expressway's Kitahiroshima IC and Wattsu PA opened on 4 December 1971.²⁸²⁹ The population grew from 9,746 in 1970 to 34,148 in 1980.²⁶
• 1984–1996: The post station became a National Historic Site on 25 July 1984.³⁰ That year the 100th anniversary of settlement was marked with Kaitaku Kinen Park.³¹ On 1 September 1996 the town became Kitahiroshima City, and a flame from Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park was lit at the new Peace Flame Park.³²
• 2000s–2010s: The Elfin Road cycle path to Sapporo opened in October 2004.³³ The population peaked at 61,174 in 2007.²⁶ Hokkaido's first smart interchange opened at Wattsu PA on 29 June 2009.²⁹ Mitsui Outlet Park opened on 22 April 2010 and added a second phase on 18 April 2014.³⁴
• Ballpark era: ES CON FIELD HOKKAIDO opened in March 2023. The first official game was played there on 30 March 2023 against the Rakuten Eagles.⁶ In March 2025 the Tonarie Kitahiroshima (トナリエ北広島) complex and the ES CON FIELD HOKKAIDO Hotel Kitahiroshima Ekimae opened, directly connected to JR Kitahiroshima Station.² The Health Sciences University of Hokkaido plans to move from Tobetsu to F Village in FY2028.³⁵
• 2026: The city marked 30 years of city status on 1 September 2026³⁶ and signed a comprehensive partnership agreement (包括連携協定) with Nippon Ham (日本ハム株式会社) the same day.³⁷ The new station's name was announced on 4 September.¹⁶ The post station reopened with renewed exhibits in FY2026.²

• Location and landforms: Kitahiroshima is in the southern Ishikari Plain.¹⁰ It is about 23 km from Sapporo and 25 km from New Chitose Airport.² The northeast is part of the Ishikari Lowland. The Nopporo Hills (野幌丘陵) run into the city like a peninsula. The southwest is hill country topped by Mt. Shimamatsu (島松山, 492.8 m).¹⁰ The city describes itself as "gentle hills" with homes set among woods and parks.¹¹⁰

• Rivers: The Wattsu (輪厚川), Otoebetsu (音江別川) and Shimamatsu (島松川) rivers drain east into the Chitose River (千歳川), part of the Ishikari River system. The lowlands were once peat bog and marsh and were not farmed until about 1945.⁷

• Protected nature: Three small parcels of the Nopporo Primeval Forest (野幌原始林), about 41.7 ha, lie in the city. The forest became a Natural Monument in March 1921 and a Special Natural Monument on 29 March 1952. The original designation covered about 321 ha across today's Nopporo Forest Park (Sapporo and Ebetsu) and Kitahiroshima. Only these Kitahiroshima parcels remain designated, and about 20.2 ha of adjoining land was added in 2019.³⁸ No national, quasi-national or prefectural natural park was found within the city in the sources consulted.

• Fossils: Finds include a bison fossil and the Kitahiroshima sea cow (キタヒロシマカイギュウ), a Steller's sea cow fossil about 1 million years old.²

• Climate: Winters are cold, with heavy snow brought by northwesterly winds.¹¹ The city's weather records come from the Hokkaido Central Farm of the seed center at Nishi-no-sato and a civil-engineering office.³⁹ Figures for 2024:

  • annual mean temperature 8.7 °C¹
  • high 32.7 °C on 12 August and low −12.3 °C on 21 January
  • about 1,040 mm of precipitation and about 525 cm of snowfall (monthly totals added up for this entry)
  • deepest snow 115 cm on 23 February³⁹

  In 2025 the average July high was 27.5 °C and the average February low was −6.2 °C.²³⁹ Colder winters bring lows such as −16.9 °C (9 February 2020).³⁹

• A Sapporo commuter town turned destination: The five districts are Tōbu (East: city hall, library, arts hall), Seibu (West: eight golf courses, campground, historic post station), Ōmagari (the most populous, with the outlet mall), Nishi-no-sato (natural onsen, Elfin Road) and the Kitahiroshima Danchi estate.²

• Tourism: About 5.38 million visits in FY2024 put the city fourth in Hokkaido. The draws are F Village, the outlet mall, farm experiences and golf.² F Village covers about 32 ha.¹⁵ ES CON FIELD cost about ¥60 billion and was designed by HKS with Obayashi Corporation.⁶

• Retail: Mitsui Outlet Park Sapporo Kitahiroshima has about 30,000 m² of shop floor and 175 stores.²⁰ It was the Mitsui outlet chain's first enclosed mall, a design chosen for Hokkaido's climate.³⁴

• Manufacturing and logistics: The Ōmagari Industrial Park (大曲工業団地) covers 72.8 ha and was developed privately from 1969. Tenants include Kubota (farm machinery), Nippon Sheet Glass Hokkaido (insulated glass) and Edamoto (ice cream), along with food, metal, logistics and auto-repair firms.⁴⁰ The Kitahiroshima Wattsu Industrial Park was completed in December 2014 and sold out in May 2024.⁴¹ The Hokkaido Shimbun's main printing plant (道新総合印刷) is in the Ōmagari park.⁴²

• Agriculture: MAFF estimates farm output at ¥6.97 billion in 2024, of which ¥5.82 billion is livestock. Chickens account for ¥3.04 billion and dairy cattle ¥590 million. Crops earn ¥1.15 billion, led by vegetables (¥770 million) and rice (¥230 million).⁴³ Main harvests:

  • 1,690 t of potatoes (2024)
  • 835 t of summer daikon (2024)
  • 493 t of autumn carrots (2024)
  • 716 t of rice from 145 ha (2025)
  • 252 t of wheat (2025)
  • 207 t of soybeans (2025)⁴³

  The 2020 census counted 1,010 dairy cows.⁴³ Farm households fell from 711 in 1965 to 139 in 2020 (89 of them commercial).⁴⁴ Cultivated land fell from 2,396 ha to 1,235 ha (330 ha paddy, 901 ha upland).⁴⁵

• Population trend: The city's population has fallen since its 2007 peak.²⁶ The 2025 Census preliminary count was 4.01% below 2020.⁸ Current projects include redeveloping the area around the station's west exit, the new F Village Station, the university move and sports-based town building with five professional clubs.²

• Furusato nozei: FY2024 brought 20,817 donations worth ¥534,746,100. The money went to ballpark-area roads, school equipment, street lighting and farm drainage.⁴⁶

• Shrines and temples of the settlement era: These include Hiroshima Shrine (広島神社, Chūō 4-chōme, founded 1884), Mugekō-ji (無碍光寺, Jōdo Shinshū Ōtani-ha, 1894), Kōken-ji (光顕寺, 1892, which grew from a preaching hall and school Wada opened in 1887), Shōfuku-ji (昌福寺, Nichiren, 1899) and the Catholic Kitahiroshima Church (begun in 1890 as a meeting hall on land leased from Wada).⁷
• Museums: The Eco-Museum Center "Chishin no Eki" (エコミュージアムセンター知新の駅) is the hub of a city-wide "museum without a roof." It shows geology, fossils, the three founding figures, and a mammoth parent-and-child model made with residents. Entry is free; it is closed Mondays.⁶¹² The post station also serves as a site museum.¹⁹
• Peace: The city declared itself a peace city in 1988. The Peace Flame (平和の灯) was brought from Hiroshima in 1996.³²
• Sister-city links: The "Kita no Sake Matsuri in Kitahiroshima" (北の酒まつりinきたひろしま) is the city's exchange event with Higashihiroshima.²

Written records of Ainu life in Kitahiroshima are sparse. The land itself keeps the evidence:

• Chashi: Two Ainu-period chashi sites remain: Nakanosawa Chashi (中の沢チャシ跡), which overlaps the Jōmon-period Nakanosawa A site, and one on the left bank of the Shimamatsu River.¹⁰⁷
• Place names: Edo-period maps and explorers' records note Ainu names such as Shimamappu, Watchi and Otenebetsu. One late-Edo map of the Ishikari trading area marks シママフ three times.¹⁰ The Wattsu, Shimamatsu and Otoebetsu rivers keep Ainu-derived names.¹⁰
• Archaeology: Human activity is traced back to the Jōmon period, but no Satsumon-period sites have yet been found.¹⁰

The city has no dedicated Ainu cultural facility. The national center for Ainu culture, Upopoy (ウポポイ, the National Ainu Museum and Park), is in Shiraoi.⁶²

• Higashihiroshima (東広島市), Hiroshima Prefecture: sister city since 19 July 1980.¹¹ Exchange events include the Kita no Sake Matsuri in Kitahiroshima.²
• Hiroshima City (広島市): exchange ties (not listed as a sister city), marked by the Peace Flame, brought from Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park in 1996,³² and the "Wings of Exchange" monument (1996). The monument commemorates youth-baseball exchanges between the two cities.⁷³¹
• Nago (名護市), Okinawa Prefecture: an economic exchange partnership agreement (経済交流パートナーシップ協定) signed on 19 May 2026. The link comes from the Fighters: Kitahiroshima is the team's home town and Nago its spring-camp site.¹⁷⁵
• International: none found.

• Wada Ichirō (和田郁次郎, 1847–1928): founder of the Hiroshima colony and later village mayor (1924–1926).²⁵
• Nakayama Kyūzō (中山久蔵, 1828–1919): pioneer of cold-region rice farming at Shimamatsu.²⁴²
• Noda Satoru (野田サトル): manga artist from Kitahiroshima, creator of Golden Kamuy, which won the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize in 2018.⁷⁶
• Koiwai Sakura (小祝さくら): professional golfer from Kitahiroshima with 12 JLPGA Tour wins, the latest in July 2025.⁷⁷