Saru

The Saru River flows from the Hidaka Mountains to Hokkaido's southern coast, through a valley long inhabited by Ainu communities. The river country was also a centre of exchange with Japanese traders under the Matsumae domain. A trading house stood at the mouth by the eighteenth century. In 1799 the shogunate took direct charge of eastern Ezo and replaced the contractor's establishment with an official post, changing the administration of trade along the river.