The Oyabe River (小矢部川 Oyabe-gawa) is a river in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. The river rises from Mount Daimon on the border of Ishikawa Prefecture and enters the sea at Toyama Bay. The kanji that spells Oyabe means "little arrow room", but this may be a case of ateji, in which the kanji spelling was applied to the word, regardless of meaning. The word "oyabe" appears to be an Ainu name, oyaw pet [ojawbet], or "snake river", perhaps due to its serpentine course; there is also a legend of a battle with a monstrous snake, whose death created part of the local landscape.