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Hidakasanmyaku Erimo Tokachi NP, Hokkaido
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Local residents surveyed a Hidaka–Tokachi crossing in 1902. In 1934, railway engineers judged a line feasible, but the plan was shelved after the Manchurian Incident; the road link finally opened in 1997.
“Heavenly Horse Highway” (Tenma Kaidō) was chosen through a public naming call. Its image: Hidaka thoroughbreds and Tokachi’s Dōsan-ko horses meeting and soaring skyward together—a flying-horse salute to both regions.
Obihiro’s Ainu Cultural Information Center records the local name Nozuka as Nupka-pet (ヌㇷ゚カペッ), meaning “river of the open land.” That Ainu landscape name lives on in the modern pass and tunnel.
Breaking through the Nozuka Tunnel took about 12 years: excavation began in 1979 and reached the other side in August 1990. Near the Tokachi portal, crews faced waterlogged gravel, boulders up to 2–3 m across, and just 8–20 m of earth overhead.
At 4,232 m, Nozuka was Hokkaido’s longest road tunnel when completed in 1997. Route 236 also shortened the Obihiro–Urakawa journey by about 30 km and 50 minutes compared with the old coastal Route 336.
At Nozuka Pass on March 2, 2015, a dry-snow avalanche raced about 1 km down a ravine, crossed the Toyoni River and reached Route 236 about 100 m beyond. Debris covered 140 m of roadway, averaging 1.2 m deep.
The new road connected people as well as towns: Urakawa and Obihiro’s chambers of commerce deepened their ties, then launched the Shinzancup youth soccer tournament in 1998. Teams came from well beyond the area.
