Futoro

Futoro takes its name from an Ainu river name, Futoro-pet, later applied to a settlement and trading district on the western coast of Ezo. The Ainu of Futoro and neighboring Setanai shared salmon fisheries on the Shiribeshi-Toshibetsu River, although access could also be disputed. By 1836 the Matsumae domain had included Futoro among districts where visiting fishermen pursued herring, a catch increasingly valuable as fertilizer for fields farther south.