Taiki 大樹町

• Tayki-us-i (タイキウシイ), "place with many fleas."
  • This is the reading in the Hokkaido Government's Ainu place-name list, taken from Nagata Hōsei (永田方正) and Yamada Hidezō (山田秀三).²²
  • The list rates it confidence level C, the lowest of its three levels.²²
  • Yamada noted that the spot had long been a resting and overnight stop on the Obihiro–Hiroo road. He suggested that travelers staying there were troubled by fleas.²²
  • JNR's 1973 book on Hokkaido station names gives a similar explanation. People often camped on the gravel bars of the Hikata River (another name for the Rekifune), and for some reason the sand was full of fleas.¹¹
• A legend. The Ainu elder Kuzuno Tatsujirō (葛野辰次郎) told this story:²²
  • Long ago, a band of robbers came to a Tokachi Ainu village. An old woman prayed to the god of fleas for help.
  • The fleas swarmed over the robbers, and they all ran away.
  • After that, the village was named after fleas.
• The town's version: "big trees."
  • The town's official profile says the name comes from Taikiushi, "a place where large trees grow in clusters." The kanji 大樹 ("great tree") reflect this reading.⁷
  • Japanese Wikipedia calls this reading grammatically wrong and doubtful.¹¹
• Other Ainu names in the town.
  • Rekifune River (歴舟川): Perpnei (ペルㇷ゚ネイ), "river with a lot of water."²³ The town adds that the river is also called Hikata-gawa (日方川), after the south-west wind. Yoda Benzō remarked that when the south-west wind blew, the river flooded.¹⁴
  • Kamuikotan (神威古潭): Kamuy-kotan, "village of the gods."²³
  • Tōberi River (当縁川): The list gives several readings, all at level C:²⁴
    • to-puy, "lake mouth" or "hole in the lake"
    • "the lake's marsh marigold" (puy), recorded by Matsuura Takeshirō
    • Yamada's to-puci, "the lake's mouth"
  • Seika (生花) and the Oikamanai River (生花苗川): oika-oma-i, "the thing that (waves) cross over and enter." This describes a coastal lake whose mouth is blocked by sand, so storm waves wash over the bar. The list rates this reading level B.²⁵
  • Nubinai River (ヌビナイ川): nupi-nay, "river of the plain." Level C.²⁶

• Ancient times.
  • People lived here from the Jōmon period. The town's Taiki-style pottery (大樹式土器) was designated a Hokkaido tangible cultural property in fiscal 1968.¹¹⁵
  • The Tokachi Horokayanto pit-dwelling group (十勝ホロカヤントー竪穴群) was a large settlement of more than 130 pits on a terrace above the Bansei coast. Most of the pottery is Satsumon-style, but Okhotsk pottery and iron pieces have also been found. It became a Hokkaido historic site in fiscal 1966.²⁷⁵
• Ainu era. Many Ainu villages (kotan) stood along the rivers of Tokachi, including the Rekifune.²⁸
• Edo period.
  • Gold panning is said to have begun near Aiboshima in 1635.²
  • In the Kanbun era (1661–1673), Tokachi was the fief of the Matsumae clan's chief retainer Kakizaki Kurando, who had his base at Hiroo.²⁸
  • In 1800, the surveyor Inō Tadataka mapped the Rekifune river mouth, Aiboshima, Bansei and Seika.²
  • In 1858, Matsuura Takeshirō explored along the Rekifune.²
• Early Meiji period.
  • In 1869 the area became part of Tōberi District (当縁郡) in the new Tokachi Province.²
  • The American geologist Benjamin Lyman surveyed the Rekifune in 1874.²
  • The town's timeline records gold panning starting at Aiboshima in September 1876.²
  • A post station was set up at Rekifune in 1878.²
  • A plague of locusts in 1880 caused a severe crop failure.²
• Settlement.
  • Tokachi had no tondenhei soldier-farmers. Instead, private groups from the same home region arrived together.¹
  • The Banseisha was a pioneer company from Matsuzaki, Shizuoka. It had settled Obihiro in 1883.²⁹
  • After locusts and cold summers there, its leader Yoda Benzō moved to Oikamanai, now Bansei.¹ In June 1886 he and his brother Bunzaburō opened the Banseisha Tōberi Ranch.²
  • At the ranch the company built a semi-underground silo, made butter and experimented with cheese.¹⁴
  • In 1894, settlers from Toyama led by Kitamori Kozaemon moved to Komonbetsu, and an organized group from Hyōgo settled at Endatara.²
  • From the late 1880s, settlers from Sōma in Fukushima came to Ishizaka.³⁰
• Gold rush.
  • The Hiroo road opened in 1898, and the Taiki town site was laid out.²
  • Around 1900, about 200 gold panners crowded into Oda. At the peak there were said to be more than 1,000.¹⁴
  • Some nuggets weighed 15–20 monme (about 56–75 g).¹⁴
• Village years.
  • Dairy cattle were first raised in 1919.²
  • Taiki Village was created in 1928.²
  • The railway from Obihiro reached Taiki in October 1930. This line was later called the JNR Hiroo Line.²¹¹
  • In July 1945, air raids hit Ishizaka, Asahihama and the town center, killing two people.²
  • Concrete pillboxes (tochka) built at the end of the war still stand on the Asahihama coast.¹⁶
• Town years.
  • Snow Brand's Taiki plant began making cheese in December 1957.²
  • Mini-volleyball was devised in 1972.¹⁹
  • Bansei Onsen opened in 1980.²
  • The space project began in 1985.¹
  • The Hiroo Line closed on 2 February 1987.¹¹
  • The Multipurpose Aviation Park, now part of HOSPO, opened in October 1995.²
• The 2000 Snow Brand food-poisoning incident.
  • On 31 March 2000, falling icicles caused a three-hour power cut at the Taiki plant.³¹
  • Skim milk sat warm in a tank, bacteria multiplied, and toxin formed in the skim-milk powder made on 1 April.³¹
  • That powder was later confirmed as the cause of that year's Snow Brand mass food-poisoning outbreak. The plant was ordered to stop work from August until October 2000.³¹
• Disasters.
  • The magnitude-8.0 Tokachi-oki earthquake of September 2003 toppled the observation tower on the town hall.²
  • In August 2016, Typhoon No. 10 washed away a road near Nubinai Bridge. One person fell into the river and died, and the whole town was without water from 31 August to 7 September.²
• Spaceport era.
  • Interstellar Technologies (IST) launched MOMO for the first time in July 2017. MOMO F3 reached space in May 2019, and F7 and F6 reached space in July 2021.²
  • SPACE COTAN was founded in April 2021 to run the spaceport.²
  • Construction of the LC1 orbital launch site began in September 2022.²
  • In June 2024 the runway was lengthened from 1,000 m to 1,300 m.²
  • In July 2025, jtSPACE, the Japanese arm of a Taiwanese company, launched a suborbital rocket from HOSPO. It was the first such launch in Japan by a foreign-owned company.³² The rocket, VP01, reached an estimated 4 km before falling into the sea.²
• Recent events.
  • Hidaka-sanmyaku Erimo-Tokachi National Park was designated on 25 June 2024.³³
  • Bansei Onsen reopened after renovation in March 2025.²
  • A viewing deck opened on Mt. Moiwa in November 2025.²
  • In December 2025, an earthquake off eastern Aomori shook Taiki at shindo 5-lower, and the coast was ordered to evacuate.²
  • In February 2026, local speed skater Horikawa Momoka won bronze in the women's team pursuit at the Milan–Cortina Olympics.²

Taiki stretches from the crest of the Hidaka Mountains (日高山脈) in the west, across the southern Tokachi Plain, to the Pacific coast in the east. Its land ranges from sea level to 1,794 m.⁷ The town's guide says the area is about 1.3 times the size of Tokyo's 23 wards.¹⁶

• Mountains.
  • The western mountains lie inside Hidaka-sanmyaku Erimo-Tokachi National Park (日高山脈襟裳十勝国立公園).¹¹
  • This park was designated on 25 June 2024. It was Japan's 35th national park and is the largest.³³
  • The highest peaks are Yaoromappu-dake (1,794 m), Petegari-dake (1,736 m), Pirikanupuri (1,631 m), Soematsu-dake (1,625 m) and Kamui-dake (1,600 m).⁴
• Rivers.
  • The Rekifune River (64.7 km) rises on Koikakushu-Satsunai-dake and flows through the town center to the sea.⁴
  • It runs from source to sea entirely inside Taiki.¹¹
  • Its main tributaries are the Nakanokawa (34.5 km) and the Nubinai (27.7 km). The Tōberi (36.6 km) and Monbetsu (30.9 km) rivers also drain the town.⁴
  • The Rekifune was rated "Japan's clearest river" in 13 years between 1987 and 2016. Every year from 2017 to 2024 it was listed as a water body with low BOD or COD.⁵
  • In 1996 it was named one of Japan's "100 Water Villages" (水の郷百選).⁵
• Coastal lakes.
  • Oikamanaitō (生花苗沼) is 1.54 km², Horokayantō (ホロカヤントウ) is 0.62 km² and Kimontō (キモントウ) is 0.42 km².⁴ Kimontō is known for water shield (junsai).⁴
  • All three belong to the Tokachi Coast Lakes (十勝海岸湖沼群). The Ministry of the Environment lists this group as an Important Wetland.³⁴
• Climate. The figures below come from the JMA (AMeDAS) station at Taiki.³⁵³⁶
  • Normals (1991–2020):
    • Annual mean 5.6 °C
    • January mean −8.8 °C, with an average daily low of −16.8 °C
    • August mean 18.8 °C, with an average daily high of 23.3 °C
    • Precipitation 1,146 mm a year
    • Total snowfall 627 cm a year
  • Records: highest 36.3 °C (7 July 2025), lowest −29.8 °C (9 February 2019).³⁶
  • The Hidaka Mountains block snow clouds, so clear, cold winter days are common.¹⁶
  • Diamond dust is often seen over the Rekifune.¹¹

• Jobs. At the 2020 Census, 3,060 people were working.⁵
  • Primary industries: 951 people, including 832 in farming, 82 in fishing and 37 in forestry.
  • Manufacturing: 379 people.
  • Services and other tertiary work: 1,522 people.
• Dairy.
  • In 2020, 86 farms kept 24,045 dairy cattle, and 49 farms kept 5,058 beef cattle.⁵
  • By the 2025 farm census only 143 farms remained, and 87 of them worked 50 ha or more. Farmland totaled about 13,389 ha.⁵
  • Milk output in fiscal 2025 was 142,247 t. JA Taiki handled 124,213 t, and JA Churui handled the rest from the Seika and Bansei districts.⁵
  • Snow Brand Megmilk's Taiki plant makes cheese in the town.²¹⁷
• Fishing.
  • The two fishing districts, Hamataiki and Asahihama, count 49 fishing households (漁家), 77 co-op members and 49 powered boats (2025 port survey).⁵
  • In fiscal 2025 the co-op landed 818 t worth ¥648.5 million.⁵
  • Set-net salmon: 343 t (¥239 million), down from 2,696 t in fiscal 2008.⁵
  • Surf clams (hokki): 361 t (¥268.7 million).⁵
  • Smaller catches: whelks (tsubu) 45 t, shishamo smelt 11 t and hairy crab 7 t.⁵
  • Since 2020 the co-op has been trying to farm cherry salmon, the town's first fish farming.¹⁶
• Forestry.
  • Forest covers about 58,200 ha, roughly 71% of the town (calculated from town figures).⁵
  • About 41,400 ha of this is national forest.⁵
• Space industry.
  • Interstellar Technologies has its head office in Taiki.¹ Its office building and new factory were completed in December 2020.²
  • The town owns Hokkaido Spaceport, and SPACE COTAN Co., Ltd. runs it.³
  • HOSPO has a 1,300 m × 30 m paved runway.³⁷
  • Launch Complex 0 is IST's site for MOMO launches and for engine tests of its ZERO orbital rocket.³⁸
  • Launch Complex 1, with two pads, is being built for satellite launches.³⁸ Its construction and the runway extension are budgeted at ¥2.32 billion. The town is seeking ¥1.16 billion of that in donations from fiscal 2025 to 2028.³
  • Planned for later: Launch Complex 2, for frequent orbital launches.³⁸ Further ahead, HOSPO envisions a new 3,000 m runway.³²
  • In Cabinet Office figures for 2022, published in August 2023, Taiki ranked second in Japan for corporate furusato nozei donations.² In February 2026, the town and SPACE COTAN won the Minister of State for Space Policy Award at the 7th Space Development and Utilization Grand Prize.³²
• Energy.
  • The town declared itself a "Zero Carbon City" in December 2021.²
  • The town guide lists rocket fuel made from liquefied methane from cow manure among Taiki's goals for the future, calling it local energy for local use.¹⁶
• Tourism.
  • Hokkaido counted 62,400 visitors in fiscal 2025, up 28% on the year before. Overnight guests numbered 12,600, and 365 guests from abroad stayed overnight.³⁹
  • Visitor counts at town facilities in fiscal 2025:⁵
    • Bansei Onsen: 58,364
    • Roadside-station checkout customers: 38,482
    • SORA space center: 10,877
• Population.
  • In the year to March 2026 there were 26 births and 103 deaths.⁵
  • The town says openly that it has been named as a municipality "at risk of disappearing."⁴⁰
  • The town guide says more people are moving in, and that the population in 2022 was higher than the year before. It also says engineers are gathering around the new rocket factories.¹⁶

• Mini-volleyball.
  • It was invented in Taiki in 1972 and is the official "town sport."¹⁹
  • The game uses a soft vinyl ball, a 6.1 × 9 m court (often marked out on a badminton court) and a 1.55 m net, so children and older people can play together.¹⁹
  • Its inventor, Kojima Hidetoshi, received a Minister of Education award for lifelong sport in 2023.²
• Shrines and trees. Taiki Shrine (大樹神社) supplies the sacred fire for the Perupune festival.²¹ The larch at Kaishin Shrine (開進神社) was named a Hokkaido Commemorative Protected Tree in 1973.⁵
• Performing arts. The Hikatagawa Taiko (日方川太鼓) drum group plays at both big festivals. It opens the Hakurin Park Festival and performs after the fire festival at the river festival.²¹⁴³
• Museums.
  • The Taiki Folk Museum (大樹町郷土資料館) is in the former Ishizaka Elementary School and opened in 2010.⁴⁷
    • About 2,000 items fill six rooms, from pottery shards thousands of years old to Shōwa-era household goods.⁴⁷
    • It opens only on the fourth Sunday of each month from late April to late October, 10:00–16:00.⁴⁷
  • The town library holds the finds from the Taiki site.¹¹
• Literature. The townspeople's literary magazine Ki (樹) marked 50 years of publication in 2018.²

• Place names and villages.
  • Ainu villages once lined the Rekifune and other Tokachi rivers.²⁸
  • Many local place names come from Ainu: Taiki, Perpnei (the Rekifune), Kamuikotan, Tōberi, Oikamanai and Nubinai (see "Name origin").²³²²
  • The flea-god legend of the town's name was told by the Ainu elder Kuzuno Tatsujirō.²²
• Archaeology.
  • The Horokayanto pit-dwelling site on the Bansei coast has a reconstructed pit house.¹⁶
  • Most finds date from the Satsumon period, which the town's guide places just before the Ainu culture period.²⁷¹⁶ By then people used metal and wooden tools more than stone ones.²⁷
• Wider Tokachi history. The Obihiro Centennial City Museum's Ainu culture center, "Riwka" (リウカ), covers the history of the Tokachi Ainu in detail. Its timeline notes that Matsuura Takeshirō recorded where Ainu lived along the Tokachi coast when he passed through in 1845.²⁸ See Obihiro.
• What is missing. No Ainu cultural facility, preservation society or regular Ainu event in Taiki itself was found.
  • The name of the Perupune Fire Festival matches the Ainu name of the river (Perpnei).²³
  • However, the festival itself is modeled on a fire festival from Noto, not on Ainu ritual.²¹

• Sōma, Fukushima — sister city, 3 March 1983.³⁰
  • The tie goes back to settlers from Sōma who came to Ishizaka from the late 1880s.
  • In 1968 the 33rd head of the former Sōma domain ran a ranch in Takushin.
  • Sōma's famous horseback festival, Sōma Nomaoi, was performed in Taiki in 1970.
  • In 2018, mounted samurai from Sōma joined the carp-streamer event for the town's 90th anniversary.²
• Yoshioka, Gunma — friendship city, formally signed 9 October 2011.⁶¹ The agreement was first signed on stage at the 36th Hakurin Park Festival in September 2011, and a ginkgo was planted to mark it.
• Dashu District (大樹區), Kaohsiung, Taiwan — friendship exchange agreement, 1 September 2015.⁶² The link comes from the shared name 大樹. Dashu is known for pineapples and lychees.
• Galaxy Federation (銀河連邦).¹³
  • A humorous "federation" of towns with JAXA facilities, founded on 8 November 1987.
  • Taiki joined as the "Taiki Republic" on 3 April 2010. The other members are Sagamihara, Noshiro, Ōfunato, Saku, Kimotsuki and Kakuda.
  • The asteroid (68021) Taiki was named in 2013 through the federation.

• Horikawa Momoka (堀川桃香) — speed skater.
  • Competed in the 5,000 m at the Beijing 2022 Olympics.
  • Won bronze in the women's team pursuit at Milan–Cortina 2026.
  • Received the town's Citizen Honor Award in April 2026.²¹¹
• Sugimori Teruhiro (杉森輝大) — speed skater. Taiki's first Olympian, at Turin 2006, and again at Vancouver 2010.²¹¹
• Yoda Benzō (依田勉三) — leader of the Banseisha and "father of Tokachi pioneering." He ran the Banseisha ranch at Bansei from 1886.¹¹⁴
• Noguchi Takeo (野口武雄) — mayor from 1971. He launched Taiki's space project in 1985.²¹
• Kojima Hidetoshi (小島秀俊) — inventor of mini-volleyball.²
• Horie Takafumi (堀江貴文) — entrepreneur linked to IST; the roadside station sells "Horiemon rocket" goods.¹⁷ According to Japanese Wikipedia, he moved his resident registration to Taiki in December 2015 to base his space business here, and announced in April 2020 that he would stop being a Taiki resident.¹¹