Karafuto

American  

[kah-rah-foo-taw] / ˈkɑ rɑˈfu tɔ /

noun

History/Historical.

1. a former prefecture of Japan comprising the southern half of Sakhalin during 1907–49: established from territory acquired in the treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War and restored to Russia after World War II.

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Karafuto British  

/ ˌkɑːrɑːˈfuːtɔ /

noun

1. transliteration of the Japanese name for Sakhalin

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Etymology

Origin of Karafuto

First recorded in 1880–85; from Japanese, from Ainu kamuy kar put ya mosir “the island that the god has created on the estuary (of the Amur River),” usually referring only to the southern part of Sakhalin

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Karafuto

Ms. Nisio, 89, said that her mother had brought her from southwestern Korea to Karafuto Prefecture, as southern Sakhalin was once known, where Ms. Nisio’s uncle worked in a coal mine.

From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2021

Now Sakhalin, or Karafuto, is rich in alluvial gold and coal deposits.

From Time Magazine Archive

To non-military readers, an invasion of Japan from the rock-bound coasts of Karafuto may seem a little fantastic.

From Time Magazine Archive

This is a sketch of the reasons which inspire the Japanese Foreign Office to obtain from Russia the northern half of the island known as Sakhalin and Karafuto.

From Time Magazine Archive

Aniwa Bay was seized the same year, and Russians landed on the west coast of what is known as Saghalien, but was known and owned by the Japanese under the name of Karafuto.

From The Story of Russia by Bergen, R. Van