Ashoro

Ashoro lies in the upper Tokachi country of southeastern Hokkaido, along the Tobetsu River and the streams that join it. The Ishikari mountains rise to the northwest and the volcano Mount Meakan stands at the eastern edge, with Lake Onneto set among its forests. The climate is severely continental, with deep snow and bitter winters, and forest covers most of the land.

This was Ainu country. Ainu families fished salmon in the rivers, hunted deer and bear in the forest, and travelled by canoe and along river valleys toward the coast at Kushiro and Tokachi. In the Edo period the Matsumae domain held the trade with the Ainu through trading posts on the coast, and goods such as salmon, furs and dried fish passed down these valleys.