Sankebetsu brown bear incident

The Sankebetsu brown bear incident (三毛別羆事件, Sankebetsu Higuma jiken^?), also referred to as the Rokusensawa bear attack (六線沢熊害事件, Rokusensawa yūgai jiken^?) or the Tomamae brown bear incident (苫前羆事件, Tomamae Higuma jiken^?), was the worst bear attack in Japanese history, killing seven settlers in Rokusensawa, Sankebetsu, Tomamae, Rumoi, Hokkaidō, Japan.

The incident took place between December 9 and 14, 1915 after a large brown bear woke up from hibernation and repeatedly attacked several houses in the area.

At dawn in mid-November in 1915, an Ussuri brown bear appeared at the Ikeda family's house in Sankebetsu Rokusen-sawa, about 30 kilometers inland from the west coast of Hokkaidō. The surprise encounter panicked the family horse, but the bear fled after taking only harvested corn. In those days Sankebetsu was newly settled; encroachment by wild animals was not uncommon.

On November 20, 1915, the bear reappeared. Worrying about the safety of the horse, the head of the Ikeda family called on his second son, Kametarō, and two Matagi from his own village and a neighbouring village.

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