 is a district located in Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. As of 2010, its population is estimated at 6,069 and its area is 397.88 km2, with a population density of 15.3/km2 (according to the "Basic Resident Register" 住民基本台帳, 31 March 2010.) The origin of the name "Menashi" comes from the Ainu word "menashi", meaning "to the east". The local government in Nemuro, which includes Shiretoko and The Northern Territories, decided to name the whole region "Menashi". Menashi's only town is Rausu. The district was one of the settings of the Menashi-Kunashiri Battle of 1789.
History.
During the Edo period (1603–1868), the ruling Tokugawa "shōgun" allowed the Matsumae clan ("Matsumae han" 松前藩) to settle in the Menashi region, which was then named Nemuro. According to the Matsumae clan's "Chronicles of Shiragi" ("Shiragi no kiroku" 新羅の記録), from the first year of the Genna era to about Genna 7 (1615–1622) the region's inhabitants (referred to as the Ezo-people, or "Ainu") traded with the Matsumae clan, noting that the Matsumae received 100 small boats worth of eagle feathers and sea otter pelts.
In the first year of the Kansei Era (1789) the native inhabitants rebelled in Kunashiri and Menashi resulting in the Kansei-Ezo Uprising ("kansei ezo hōki" 寛政蝦夷蜂起) and the deaths of a large number of Japanese people ("wajin" 和人.) It was during this time that Rausu Onsen was discovered.
Toward the end of the Edo period, Menashi was a part of the general East Ezo ("higashi ezo" 東蝦夷) region. The "shōgun" assumed control and established more of a presence in the Menashi region around 1799 (Kansei 11) due to Russia's menacing southern expansion policies. Menashi was then briefly returned to the jurisdiction of the Matsumae clan in c. 1821 (Bunsei 4.) In c. 1855 (Ansei 2) Menashi fell under the domain of the "shōgun" once again via the Aizu clan, who ruled the area severely. It was during the Ansei era (1854–1860) that Rausu Shrine was established.
References.
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