The Historical Evolution of Otaru City

The word "ota" comes from Ainu (Hokkaido aborigines) OTA, oru and nai, which means a river in the sand bank. Formerly known as Qianhan, it was once developed into one of the important ports in Hokkaido because it was rich in herring and all the building materials used in Sapporo construction were imported from this port. Today's Otaru Canal began in Meiji 29, when it was the second largest city in Hokkaido after Hakodate. However, due to the distribution of benefits, the project was delayed, and the way of using sampan as a connecting tool was outdated at that time. Therefore, with the rapid development of Sapporo in the future, Otaru gradually declined, and it was not until Showa 6 1 that Otaru was moved to represent the canal.