The origin of the name Cape Erimo comes from the Ainu word “onne enrum”. Onne means “old, big” and enrum means “jutting out point”, or “cape”. Additionally, the word erum means “rat”, and in the “Bogo Tozai Ezo Yamakawa Chiri Torishirabe Nisshi” (a travel journal), Takeshiro Matsuura explains that “Cape Erimo derives its name from the way it's jutting out. When viewed from afar, it looks like a rat lying face down”. Gentan Tani also writes in his “Ezo Kiko” that at the cape “there are large rocks in the water, forming a long and slender shape like a rat’s tail.” As you can see from the origin of the rocks’ names, Ainu culture lives on with us today.
Nationally Designated Cultural Property Pirka Noka / Cape Erimo / Onne Enrum Designated Area
(Takeshiro Matsuura, 1859, Hokkaido University Library collection)
(Takeshiro Matsuura, 1858, Hokkaido University Library collection)