River
Ishikari River
268 km from source to mouth · Japan.
JapanFlows into Ishikari Bay3rd longest in Japan
In numbers
Length
268km
Average flow
480m³/s
Basin
14,200km²
Drop
834m
from 834 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
268 km of river and 29 stops on the way: 14 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmMount Ishikariat 834 m
- 10 kmTaisetsu Dam
- 19 kmGinga Falls
- 19 kmRyūsei Falls
- 46 kmKamikawa5,294 people
- 80 kmPippu3,845 people
- 90 kmKita Asahikawaohashi Bridge
- 97 kmAsahi Bridge
- 97 kmAsahikawa333,530 people
- 101 kmChūbetsu Rivertributary
- 105 kmEgami Bridge
- 137 kmFukagawa26,152 people
- 145 kmMoseushi2,827 people
- 151 kmUryu Rivertributary
- 168 kmShintotsukawa6,551 people
- 168 kmKikusuichō6,484 people
- 169 kmTakikawa45,131 people
- 172 kmSorachi Rivertributary
- 176 kmSunagawa20,102 people
- 187 kmUrausu1,749 people
- 209 kmTsukigata3,691 people
- 222 kmTappu Bridge
- 238 kmYūbari Rivertributary
- 240 kmEbetsu133,953 people
- 240 kmChitose Rivertributary
- 252 kmToyohira Rivertributary
- 253 kmSapporo1,959,313 people
- 255 kmTōbetsu Rivertributary
- 264 kmBarato Rivertributary
- 266 kmIshikari58,755 people
- 268 kmIshikari Bayat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Japan
At the mouth it carries 481 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.2 seconds. It drops from 834 m to 0 m, 3.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 14,200 km², about the size of ME. 3.0 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to May; lowest: from January to March and July. Its dams hold back little of its water (6.8% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- SapporoLargest city on its banks · 1,959,313 people
- Sapporo Okadama Airport (OKD)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 6 km from the cityCar hire at CTS airport (Sapporo)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to JulyThe best months to visit
Ishikari River, month by month
Highest water: from April to May
Lowest water: from January to March and July. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from January to February. Best months to visit: from June to July.
From about 90 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,300 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Ishikari River: the basin in numbers
14,409 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 3.0millionpeople live in the basin
- 208/km²people per km²
- 388maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,263mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 5.4°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 1.0%covered by lakes
- 1.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 73% Forest
- 11% Cropland
- 6% Pasture
- 7% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Ishikari River: what you find on the way
- 65Weirs
- 4WaterfallsKumoi Waterfall, Ryusei Waterfall, Ginga Waterfall and 1 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Ishikari River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
2waterfalls on the riverCascadyas
0lakes on its wayLakeyas
29mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Waterfalls (2)
On the river, by Cascadyas
- Ginga Fallskm 17
- Ryūsei Fallskm 17
Cascadyas is coming soonOpen Cascadyas ↗
Lakes and reservoirs (0)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (29)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Daisetsuzan Volcanic Group12 km away2,290m
- Mount Hakuun8.5 km away · prominence 180 m2,230m
- Mount Hokuchin12 km away2,244m
- Mount Pippu14 km away · prominence 147 m2,197m
- Mount Koizumi7.9 km away · prominence 38 m2,158m
- Mount Kuma12 km away · prominence 136 m2,210m
- Mount Mamiya11 km away2,185m
- Mount Hokkai10 km away · prominence 99 m2,149m
21 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit


Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (13)
Also: Toyohira River, Chitose River, Yūbari River, Sorachi River, Tōbetsu River, Chūbetsu River, Uryu River, Naibetsu River, Barato River, Ikusyunbetsu River, Osarappe River, Ushubetsu River, Toppu River
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1061515) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Cascadyas, Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.



