Chitose River (千歳川, Chitose-gawa) is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. The river is a class A river. In the city of Ebetsu, the river is sometimes known as Ebetsu River (江別川, Ebetsu-gawa). In the Ainu language Chitose was originally called shikot, meaning big depression or hollow, like Lake Shikotsu a caldera lake. To the Japanese, this sounded too much like dead bones (死骨, shikotsu), so it was changed to Chitose.[1] The name of the river was changed in 1805.[2] | ||||||
Source: Lake Shikotsu | ||||||
Mouth: Ishikari River | ||||||
Length: 108 km (67 mi) | ||||||
Basin size: 1,244 km2 (480 sq mi) | ||||||