Rusutsu 留寿都村

• Ainu ru-sut (ルスッ), "the foot of the path": A Hokkaido Government list of Ainu place names explains that ru means a path. In place names it usually means a well-used route, most often one that crosses a mountain. The old route crossed high ground at the western foot of Mt. Shiribetsu and came down to the Shiribetsu River. Rusan (留産, now in Kimobetsu) was at the northern foot of this crossing and Rusutsu at the southern foot, at the bottom of the slope. This reading comes from the place-name scholar Yamada Hidezō (山田秀三). The list gives it an "A", its highest confidence rating.²⁴ The scale runs A–C, and "A" means an entry meets all four of the list's tests.²⁵
• The village's version: The village translates ru-sutsu as "a path at the foot of the mountains."⁹
• Matsuura Takeshirō's "Rusochi": The explorer Matsuura Takeshirō (松浦武四郎) passed through in 1858. His journal Shiribeshi Nisshi (後方羊蹄日誌) lists a place called Rusochi (ルソチ), and the village says this is thought to be the origin of the name.⁹
• The Makkari mix-up: Until 1925 this village was itself called Makkari (真狩村).⁶ The village that now uses the name Makkari split off in 1922 as Makkaribetsu (真狩別村) and was renamed Makkari in 1941.¹⁰

• Before settlement: Judging from Matsuura's 1858 journal, the area was a hunting ground shared by the Ainu of Iwanai, Abuta and Usu.⁷ Paleolithic stone tools were found in the Kuroda district in 1988.⁶
• The Honganji Road (1870–1894): In 1870 the Higashi Honganji temple began building a road over the mountains toward Usu. Work was led by the priest Gennyo (現如上人). The road, also called the Usu New Road (有珠新道), opened in 1871.⁶ That year Abe Kazaemon (阿部嘉左衛門) and two others settled at present-day Aikawa in Kimobetsu. Abe had come to Hokkaido in April 1870 with Date Kunishige, as a retainer of a branch domain of Sendai. He ran a post station (駅逓) on the road and is the first recorded settler of the village.⁹ The forerunner of Route 230 was built from Abuta through Rusutsu and Nakayama Pass to Sapporo between 1890 and 1894.⁹
• Large farms (1887–1911): In 1887 Hashiguchi Bunzō (橋口文蔵), who had studied farming in the United States, set out to build an American-style large farm. He imported all his machinery from San Francisco. He gave up because of labor shortages and poor transport, and in 1891 Katō Yasuaki (加藤泰秋) took over the land as the Katō Farm.⁹ Settlers built a water mill in Sannohara in 1893 and began growing flax there in 1895. Kuroda Jūbei (黒田重兵衛) opened the Kuroda Farm in 1901. A group from Gunma Prefecture settled at Noboriénkoro (登延頃) in 1911.⁶
• Heiminsha Farm (1905–1907): Supporters of the socialist newspaper Heimin Shimbun started a utopian farm in today's Izumikawa district. It broke up after about two years. Iwasaki Kayo (岩崎かよ), the mother of the girl in "Akai Kutsu," worked there.¹⁷²⁶
• Flax, starch and potatoes (1904–1960): A local farmer built a hand-cranked starch machine in 1904. Nihon Seima opened a flax mill in 1914, and by around 1916 the village had more than 30 eating houses.⁶ Farmers began growing asparagus in 1930 and sugar beet in 1931, and tested the Benimaru potato in 1933. The Katō and Kuroda farms were broken up and their land released to farmers in 1941–42.⁶ The village's farm-practice association of 1932 is recorded as the first in Hokkaido. The flax mill closed in 1960.⁶
• Population peak and decline: The village had 4,149 people when it was renamed in 1925. By the 1970 Census the number had fallen to 2,615, and it reached a low of 2,075 in 1980.⁷
• The resort era (1972–2000s): The Daiwa Rusutsu ski area opened in 1972.⁶ Kamori Kanko (加森観光) was founded on 1 September 1981²⁷ and bought the ski area from its bankrupt owner.¹⁵ It opened the Rusutsu Kōgen Country Land amusement park in 1983.⁶ Hiring at the resort pushed the population back up to 2,388 by 1995.⁷ Other milestones: Akai Kutsu Park (1991), the Rusutsu Tower Hotel (1993), the village's centennial on 1 July 1997, and the village-owned Rusutsu Onsen (2000). In 2008 the resort hosted the international media center for the G8 Hokkaido Tōyako Summit.⁸¹⁰¹⁵
• Recent years: The village bid for a casino resort (IR) in September 2014. It froze the bid after the governor decided on 29 November 2019 not to seek one, and after IR-related bribery cases came to light in December 2019.²⁸ The Tower Hotel reopened as The Westin Rusutsu Resort in 2015.⁸ The Vale Rusutsu condominium hotel opened in 2020.²⁹ Other recent events:
  • 2018: the Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake (intensity 4 here) cut power across the whole village.⁸
  • 2021: the village's first woman mayor took office.²⁹
  • 2022: Rusutsu declared itself a Zero Carbon City, aiming for net-zero CO₂ by 2050.²⁹³⁰
  • 2024: the Rusutsu Wind Farm began commercial operation.²⁹
  • April 2025: the roadside station reopened after renovation.²³
  • Fiscal 2029: Rusutsu Gakuen (ルスツ学園), a combined elementary and junior high school, is due to open.³¹

• Location and landforms: Rusutsu is in southeastern Shiribeshi. The village's plan gives its position as 140°47′E, 42°44′N,⁷ but the village office stands farther east, at about 42°44′N, 140°52.5′E.¹⁰ It is a high plateau surrounded by mountains: Mt. Shiribetsu to the north, Mt. Yōtei to the northwest and Mt. Nukibetsu to the southeast.⁷ Named peaks include Mt. Shiribetsu (尻別岳, 1,107.4 m), Mt. Nukibetsu (貫気別山, 993.5 m), Take-yama (竹山, 940.0 m), Sorioi-yama (橇負山, 715.1 m) and Gunjin-yama (軍人山, 561.8 m).¹⁰

• Rivers and lakes: The main rivers are the Nukibetsu (貫気別川), Pon-Nukibetsu and Onihonai (オニホナイ川). Jūbei-numa (重兵衛沼) is a small lake.¹⁰ Farmland lies above 360 m, on flat land left by the Ohonai River (御保内川, a branch of the Nukibetsu) and the Noboriénkoro River (登延頃川, a branch of the Shiribetsu). About half of it is on slopes.⁷

• Land use: 48.8% of the village lies between 300 and 500 m above sea level. Forest and wild land cover 69% of it, including 7,032 ha of forest.⁷

• Climate: The village describes an inland climate with hot summers, cold winters and heavy snow brought by northwest winter winds. It calls itself one of Hokkaido's snowiest areas. Snow is usually about 150 cm deep and can reach 200 cm. The first snow falls in late October and the snow melts in late April. The yearly mean is about 6 °C and yearly rain and snow about 1,000 mm.⁷

• Nearest weather stations: Rusutsu has no Japan Meteorological Agency station of its own. The nearest are Kimobetsu (264 m above sea level) and Makkari (440 m).³² Kimobetsu's 1991–2020 averages:³³

  • Yearly mean temperature: 5.9 °C.
  • January: mean −7.2 °C, average daily low −14.1 °C.
  • August: mean 19.6 °C, average daily high 24.9 °C.
  • Yearly rain and snow: 1,178 mm.
  • Total snowfall: 954 cm a year. Deepest snow in an average year: 145 cm.

  Kimobetsu's records are 34.5 °C (25 August 2023), −31.9 °C (20 February 1991) and 189 cm of snow on the ground (8 February 1999).³⁴ The Makkari station (440 m) stands in Makkari's Mihara district, about 4 km north of Rusutsu's village office.³⁵³² It averages −6.6 °C in January.³⁶ The village also runs its own weather station, which publishes live readings online.³⁷

• A tourism economy: Rusutsu grew up as a farming village. Since resort companies arrived in 1983, it has become an international holiday destination.⁷ In 1980, 52.0% of workers were in farming and other primary industries and 36.9% in services. By 2020 those shares were 28.5% (354 people) and 64.0% (794), out of 1,241 workers. The village names the arrival of the large resort company as the main reason.⁷

• Visitors: Hokkaido Government figures for fiscal 2025 show 1,100,800 visitors, 0.7% more than in fiscal 2024.²¹ Of these, 928,500 were day visitors and 172,300 stayed overnight, for 348,300 guest-nights. January was the busiest month, with 263,300 visitors.²¹ Foreign overnight guests numbered 46,234, 9% fewer than the year before. The largest groups came from Taiwan (9,317), South Korea (7,813), mainland China (6,775), Australia (4,718) and the United States (3,901).²¹

• Hotels: Rusutsu Resort Hotel & Convention (528 rooms, 1,891 guests), The Westin Rusutsu Resort (210 rooms, 960 guests) and The Vale Rusutsu (182 units, 621 guests). There are also lodges, pensions, chalets and a glamping site.³⁸

• Farming: The 2020 Census of Agriculture counted 91 farming businesses working 1,946 ha, almost all of it upland fields.²⁰ The main crops by planted area were:

  • daikon radish, 279 ha (about 8.6% of the 3,231 ha grown for sale in all of Hokkaido)
  • adzuki beans, 229 ha
  • sugar beet, 227 ha
  • wheat, 96 ha
  • soybeans, 82 ha
  • carrots, 75 ha
  • Chinese yam (nagaimo), 36 ha

  Seventy-five businesses grew potatoes, but the census does not publish their acreage. Livestock farming is small: 2 dairy, 4 beef and 2 pig businesses.²⁰ Farm households fell from 132 in 2000 to 91 in 2020.⁷ The village's daikon growers are certified as "eco-farmers."¹⁹

• Commerce: Shops and businesses line Route 230, which carries nearly 8,000 vehicles a day.³⁹

• Furusato nozei: In fiscal 2025 the village received ¥265.22 million from 1,752 hometown-tax donations. The year before it was ¥255.64 million from 2,243 donations. The budget for fiscal 2026 spends ¥133 million of these funds on promoting local industry.⁴⁰

• Population outlook: 25.8% of residents were 65 or older in 2020. That is below the Hokkaido average of 31.8% but rising.⁷ Since 2015 more people have moved in than out, mainly foreign tourism workers. The village warns that this growth is unstable because work visas expire and tourism rises and falls with the economy.⁷ The village's population strategy projects 1,255 residents in 2040.⁷

• Energy and schools: Rusutsu declared itself a Zero Carbon City in 2022.³⁰ A privately run wind farm has been operating since March 2024. A private company has been surveying geothermal resources around Mt. Shiribetsu since fiscal 2017.⁷ The village-run Rusutsu High School has a daytime part-time course in agriculture and welfare. It was certified to train care workers in 2009 and had 47 students in May 2025.⁷

• Shrines and temples: Rusutsu Shrine (留寿都神社) began as a Hachiman shrine in 1894, and Sannohara had an Izumo shrine from 1895. Buddhist temples grew from early mission halls: Zensō-ji (全宗寺, Rinzai Zen, 1900), Fuki-ji (富貴寺, Jōdo Shinshū, 1903), Hongoku-ji (本国寺, Hokke, 1907) and Henjō-ji (遍照寺, Shingon, 1908).⁶
• Red Shoes heritage: The village board of education publishes a booklet on the song's story. It is careful to say that Kimi herself never came to Rusutsu. The village is called the song's home because her mother's longing for her was strongest here, at the Heiminsha Farm.²⁶ (See Sights & activities.)
• Local history: A local history room opened in the community hall in 2006, and the village history Rusutsu-mura Hyakunen-shi was published in 2001.⁸

Little is written about Ainu life in Rusutsu itself. The main surviving traces are place names: Rusutsu (ru-sut), and the names Matsuura Takeshirō recorded along the route in 1858, such as Rusochi and Soriōi (ソリヲイ), which Matsuura placed at the foot of the "male peak" (雄岳).⁹²⁴ Matsuura's journal suggests the plateau was a hunting ground shared by the Ainu of Iwanai, Abuta and Usu.⁷ Paleolithic tools found at Kuroda in 1988 show that people lived here long before that.⁶ The village has no Ainu cultural facility. The nearest major one is Upopoy, the National Ainu Museum and Park, in Shiraoi.

• Yabu, Hyōgo Prefecture (養父市): sister town since July 1981. The tie began when Rusutsu brought in calves from the town of Yabu, in the Tajima region. Yabu merged with three neighboring towns to become a city on 1 April 2004, and the relationship continued. The partnership turned 40 in July 2021, and a 40th-anniversary ceremony was held in 2022.⁷¹²⁹ Every summer a children's goodwill delegation from Yabu visits Rusutsu.⁷¹

• Namikoshi Tokujirō (浪越徳治郎, 1905–2000): founder of shiatsu. He was born in Kagawa Prefecture and moved to Rusutsu at age 7.⁷² In 1940 he founded the Japan Shiatsu Institute (日本指圧学院) in Tokyo. It was recognized as the Japan Shiatsu School in 1955 and took its present name, Japan Shiatsu College (日本指圧専門学校), in 1981.⁷³ A bust of him stands in Akai Kutsu Furusato Park.¹⁸
• Kitanohana Katsutoshi (北の花勝利, b. 1944): sumo wrestler from Rusutsu. He reached the top division in 1968, rising as high as maegashira 6.⁷⁴