Toyako 洞爺湖町

• Tōya (洞爺). The name comes from Ainu to-ya, "lake–shore." The place-name scholar Yamada Hidezō thought to-ya was a general word that could mean any lakeshore. The Ainu probably called the lake itself just to ("lake"). Japanese settlers took the name of the shore and gave it to the whole lake.¹⁷ The shore in question was the north shore, today's Tōya-chō area. The Ainu are also recorded as calling the lake Kimun-to, "the lake in the mountains."¹⁸ The present town, formed in 2006, took its name from the lake.⁶
• Abuta (虻田), the name of the district and of the former town, has more than one explanation:
  • The place-name scholar Nagata Hōsei derived it from ap-ta-pet, "the river where fish-hooks are made."
  • Hokkaidō Ekimei no Kigen, a guide to the origins of Hokkaido station names, proposed hap-ta-us-i, "the place where people always dig lily (ubayuri) bulbs."
  • The former Abuta Town told the list's compilers that the fish-hook reading is the one in common use, but the real origin is unknown.
  • The name first belonged to a spot on the east side of the beach. It moved to the present site when the trading-post office moved.¹⁹
• An older name. In 1669 records wrote the settlement as "Okotarape" (おこたらへ).²⁰

• Jomon period. The Irie site (on a bayside terrace) and the Takasago burial site (on the shore lowland) span roughly 3,500–800 BCE. Finds include fish-hooks, harpoons, and the skeleton of an adult paralysed by muscular atrophy who lived for years, probably cared for by others.¹² At Takasago, red ochre was scattered in every pit grave.²¹
• The Ainu settlement of Abuta. Abuta first appears in 1669, the year of Shakushain's War. The Tsugaru domain's chronicle names it "Okotarape." A report from the next year counts 14–15 Ainu houses. Under the Matsumae domain, the Abuta trading post (アブタ場所) traded kombu, herring, dried salmon and dried sea cucumber (iriko). In the late Edo period the iriko was exported to China.²⁰
• 1800–1805: a shogunate horse ranch. While the shogunate ruled Ezo directly, the Usu–Abuta ranch opened in 1805 with 3 stallions and 9 mares. Its head horseman, Murata Ugorō, had settled in Abuta in 1800, and the old town counted 1800 as its founding year. A Batō Kannon stone from that time still stands in Irie and is a Hokkaido-designated cultural property.²⁰
• 1822: the Bunsei eruption. Pyroclastic flows from Mt. Usu burned the Abuta settlement. Many Ainu died, along with Japanese including Murata. The survivors moved toward today's town centre.²⁰
• 1857. On his way back from Lake Toya, the explorer Matsuura Takeshirō praised the view of the lake. The slope where he stopped is still called Takeshiro-zaka (武四郎坂).²²
• Meiji-era settlement.
  • 1880: a joint village office for Abuta District opens in Abuta.²
  • 1887: 22 households (76 people) of former Marugame-domain samurai from Kagawa Prefecture, led by Mitsuhashi Masayuki, settle Ōhara (大原). This counts as the founding of Toya.²
  • 1889: a second group of more than 80 households settles along the lakeshore and begins clearing the Kagawa (香川) district.²³
  • 1895: tenant farmers clear 600 ha at Naruka (成香).²
• 1910–1920s: the eruption that made a resort. On 25 July 1910 Mt. Usu erupted and pushed up the new hill Meiji Shinzan (四十三山).² Afterwards a 42 °C spring was found in the lake water at the foot of Nishi-Maruyama. The first inn opened in 1917, and that year counts as the opening of Toyako Onsen.⁷ Toya Village split off from Abuta in 1920 with 3,220 people.²
• Railways and town status. In 1928 the government railway line along the bay opened with Abuta Station, now Tōya Station. From 1929 to 1941 the Tōyako Electric Railway ran from the station up to the lakeshore.²⁰ Abuta became a town in 1938.²
• Mid-20th century.
  • 1944–45: Showa Shinzan forms.
  • 1949: the lake becomes part of Shikotsu-Toya National Park.
  • 1959: a great fire in Abuta.
  • 1964: sister-city ties with Hakone.
  • 1971: the Abuta mine closes.²
• 1977–1982. Mt. Usu erupted on 7 August 1977. A large mudflow in 1978 killed 2 people and left 1 missing. The Long-run Fireworks began in 1982.²
• 2000: an eruption that was forecast. Mt. Usu erupted on 31 March 2000, its first eruption in 23 years. The whole town was evacuated.² Scientists had forecast the eruption from an earthquake swarm, and almost all residents had left by 29 March, so no one was killed or injured.²⁰
• The 2006 merger. In 2004 Toyoura, Abuta and Toya set up a joint merger council. Toyoura left after a 2005 referendum, and Abuta and Toya merged on 27 March 2006.²
• After the merger.
  • 2007: the Visitor Center and Volcano Science Museum opens.
  • July 2008: the G8 summit.
  • 22 August 2009: Global Geopark status.
  • March 2011: the tsunami from the Great East Japan Earthquake badly damages the fishing industry.
  • April 2021: the Nakajima Lake Forest Museum opens.
  • 27 July 2021: World Heritage listing.
  • 2026: the town marks its 20th anniversary.²
• 2026 events. An accommodation tax started in April 2026.²⁴ On 27 August 2026 heavy rain washed out the Muroran Line between Shizukari and Koboro, west of the town. The same night an empty KiHa 261 train running from Tōya to Sapporo hit fallen trees and derailed between Usu and Nagawa, east of the town. No one was hurt.²⁵²⁶ The town announced that Hokuto trains would restart between Sapporo and Tōya on 3 September, with substitute buses between Tōya and Oshamambe.²⁷ JR Hokkaido reopened the whole line from the first train on 10 September.²⁶

• Setting. The town lies in south-central western Hokkaido, between the foothills of Mt. Yōtei, Lake Toya and Uchiura Bay.⁴ The land around the lake is part of Shikotsu-Toya National Park.¹ It spans 20.2 km east–west and 19.9 km north–south.² There are two main areas:
  • Abuta (虻田), on the bay, with the town office, the fishing port and the Irie–Takasago sites.
  • Toya (洞爺), on the north shore, a farming district.
  • The lakeside resort of Toyako Onsen lies between them.
• Lake Toya.
  • The lake covers 70.72 km². Of this, 39.38 km² lies in Toyako and 31.34 km² in Sobetsu.⁵
  • It formed in a huge eruption about 110,000 years ago.
  • The shoreline is about 43 km (about 36 km by road). The surface is 84 m above sea level and the average depth is 117 m.
  • It is Japan's northernmost ice-free lake, though parts now freeze in very cold winters.⁷
  • The deepest point is 180 m, the sixth-deepest lake in Japan.¹⁸
• Nakajima (中島). The lake's central islands, Ōshima, Benten-jima, Kannon-jima and Manjū-jima, are lava domes pushed up by eruptions on the lake bed about 50,000 years ago. Together they are called Nakajima.⁷ The islands total 4.84 km², of which 1.51 km² is in Toyako and 3.33 km² in Sobetsu.⁵
• Mt. Usu (有珠山, 733 m)⁴ rises on the south side of Lake Toya, east of the Abuta town centre.⁷²⁰ Its summit area is described as lying in neighbouring Sobetsu,²⁰ but the craters of 2000 on its western foot are inside Toyako.¹⁰ Since 1663 it has erupted at least nine times, four of them in the 20th century (1910, 1944–45, 1977–78 and 2000).²⁸ The Edo-period eruptions of 1663, 1769, 1822 and 1853 all produced pyroclastic flows.²⁰ The Geopark covers about 1,064 km² and faces the Pacific.²⁸
• Rivers. Small rivers such as the Itaya (板谷川) and the Aka (赤川) built the coastal plain on Uchiura Bay where the Abuta town centre stands.²⁰
• Climate. The town calls itself one of the mild parts of Hokkaido.¹
  • The Toyako Onsen weather station records only precipitation: 988.9 mm a year on average (1991–2020). August is the wettest month at 152.2 mm.²⁹ Its record day was 119 mm on 23 August 1981.³⁰
  • Snow depth was measured at Toyako Onsen only from 2000 to 2004. The deepest snow in that period was 69 cm on 14 February 2003.³⁰
  • For temperature, the nearest station is Date (伊達), on the coast just east of the town. Its annual mean is 8.9 °C (2008–2020), with January averaging −2.9 °C and August 21.7 °C.³¹ Its records are 33.5 °C (22 August 2023) and −16.7 °C (25 January 2018).³² The lakeside and the Toya uplands are likely somewhat colder in winter (unverified).

• Tourism leads. Because the town is a tourist destination, tertiary industries make up about 70% of the economy.²
  • At the 2020 Census the town had 3,972 workers. The biggest sectors were medical and welfare (710) and accommodation and food service (569). Agriculture had 440 workers and fishing 93.²
  • The town counted 2,135,228 visitors in fiscal 2025, down from 2,345,792 in fiscal 2023. In fiscal 2021, during the pandemic, it had 1,105,885.²
• Fisheries. Fishing centres on scallop farming in the calm waters of Uchiura Bay. Local processors also handle scallops, sea urchin and flounder.²
  • In fiscal 2025 the town landed 3,524 t worth about ¥1.69 billion. Scallops alone were 3,380 t, worth about ¥1.61 billion.²
  • Scallop landings swing from year to year. They were 2,756 t in fiscal 2024 and 3,814 t in fiscal 2022.²
  • The local fishing co-operative is the Iburi Funka-wan Fisheries Cooperative (いぶり噴火湾漁業協同組合).⁴
• Agriculture. Farming is concentrated in the Toya district. It grows vegetables, potatoes, beans and rice, and raises livestock.²
  • Celery and red shiso are among the top crops in Hokkaido by volume.²
  • In fiscal 2025 the town had 2,479 ha of farmland and 2,826 beef cattle on 14 farms. There were 108 farm businesses in 2025, down from 159 in 2015.²
  • The town says its agricultural co-operative group, JA Tōyako (JAとうや湖), was the first co-op group in Japan to earn GLOBALG.A.P. certification.³³
  • Tōyako Wagyu is Japanese Black beef graded A4 or better. Only three farms raise it, and about 90% goes to Tokyo.¹⁴
• Population.
  • The town's area peaked at 16,243 people in the 1965 Census. It fell to 8,442 in 2020 and 7,826 in 2025.²
  • In 2020, 43.7% of residents were 65 or older and 8.4% were under 15.²
  • In 2025 there were 16 births and 173 deaths.²
• Revitalization.
  • A town accommodation tax, collected together with Hokkaido's own, pays for tourism services and disaster preparedness.²⁴
  • A Toyako-style ride-share scheme was recruiting drivers in 2026.³
  • Car-sharing became available in the onsen district in April 2026.³⁴

Traditions, shrines and museums

• Shōtoku Taishi at Ukimidō. A statue of Prince Shōtoku left by a travelling monk is enshrined at Ukimidō (浮見堂) in Tōya.²² The two-storey Ukimidō pagoda was built for it in 1937. Lightning burned the hall and the original statue in October 2003, and both were rebuilt in 2004.²³ The statue is honoured each July during the summer festival.³⁷
• Lion dances. The Tsukiura, Akebono and Kagawa lion dances (獅子舞) are town-designated cultural properties. So is a boar-tusk ornament (猪牙製装身具).⁴
• Hot-spring charms. At the Yakushi Nyorai hall beside the "Yakushi-no-yu" foot bath, you can buy ema-mikuji fortunes that appear when dipped in hot-spring water.⁷
• Museums.
  • The Toyako Visitor Center & Volcano Science Museum (洞爺湖ビジターセンター・火山科学館) explains the 1977 and 2000 eruptions.⁴¹
  • The Irie-Takasago Shell Mound Museum (入江・高砂貝塚館) is free. It shows about 200 finds from the World Heritage sites and a half-scale Jomon pit dwelling.⁴²⁴³
  • The Local History Museum (郷土資料館) stands next door.⁴¹
  • The Toyako Art Museum (洞爺湖芸術館), in the old Toya village office, is open April–November.⁴⁴
  • The Hokkaido Toyako Summit Memorial Hall (北海道洞爺湖サミット記念館) keeps the summit's round table.⁴²

• The Abuta settlement. Before Japanese settlement, Abuta was an Ainu kotan and the centre of the Abuta trading post. The Matsumae-era post also covered the neighbouring settlements of Rebunge, Opukeshi, Benbe and Furenai. The 1822 eruption destroyed Abuta. Its site in today's Irie was left as a tokotan (abandoned village), and the survivors were forced to move.²⁰
• Place names. Tōya (to-ya, "lakeshore") and Abuta (ap-ta-pet, "fish-hook river," though disputed) both come from Ainu.¹⁷¹⁹ Michi-no-Eki Abuta uses the Ainu-style reading "Aputa" for its name.⁴⁵
• Legend of the lake. Ainu tradition tells of Rabushi-oyau (ラブシ・オヤウ), a foul-smelling winged serpent that lived in Lake Toya. Kotan-kor-kamuy (コタンコラカムイ), the god who made Hokkaido, sent two young men to Nakajima to subdue it. After that it took the form of a dragon and became the lake's guardian. The onsen town's dragon mascot draws on this guardian dragon.⁷
• Memorials and art.
  • The History Park (歴史公園) near Michi-no-Eki Abuta has a memorial to the Indigenous Ainu people (先住アイヌ民族慰霊碑).²²
  • The Toyako Art Museum shows work by Bikky Sunazawa (砂澤ビッキ).⁴⁴ Bikky (1931–1989) was an Ainu sculptor born at Chikabumi kotan in Asahikawa.⁴⁶ The museum held a "Bikky Sunazawa introductory lecture" on 20 September 2026.⁴⁴
• Further learning. The town has no dedicated Ainu cultural centre (none found). The national Ainu museum, Upopoy, is in Shiraoi.

• Hakone (箱根町), Kanagawa Prefecture. Sister town since 4 July 1964, first with the former Abuta Town. Junior-high goodwill visits continue. The two towns signed a mutual aid pact for large disasters on 30 June 2012; the town's own chronology dates it June 2013.²
• Mitoyo (三豊市), Kagawa Prefecture. Friendship city since 1 July 2007. Tōya Village, founded by settlers from Kagawa, and Saita Town (財田町) had been sister municipalities since April 1975. The tie was renewed after both towns merged, and a disaster mutual-aid pact followed in 2012.²
• Huangshan City (黄山市), Anhui Province, China. A "friendship lake" memorandum signed in July 2009 pairs Lake Toya with Lake Taiping (太平湖).²⁶⁴

• Mashiro Ayano (綾野ましろ), singer, from Toyako.⁴⁶
• Tadanori Matsuda (松田忠徳), hot-spring scholar and travel writer.⁴