Ainu people

The Ainu or the Aynu (Ainu: アィヌ, Aynu, Аину; Japanese: アイヌ, Ainu; Russian: Áйны, Áĭny), also known as the Ezo (蝦夷) in historical Japanese texts, are an East Asian ethnic group indigenous to Japan (Hokkaidō and formerly North-Eastern Honshū) and Russia (Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Khabarovsk Krai and the Kamchatka Peninsula).[6][7][8]

For the ethnic group of Western China, see Äynu people.

Ainu

Group of Ainu people, photograph c. 1901
Total population
The Japanese government estimate is 25,000, although this number has been disputed with unofficial estimates of upwards of 200,000.[1]
Regions with significant populations
Japan	25,000–200,000
Russia	109[2]–1,000
incl.  Kamchatka Krai	94–900[2]
Languages
Historically the Ainu languages; today mostly Japanese or Russian[3]
Religion
Animism, Ainu folk beliefs, Russian Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism, Shintōism
Related ethnic groups
Ryukyuans,[4] Jōmon, Nivkh,[5] Kamchadal

Official estimates place the total Ainu population of Japan at 25,000. Unofficial estimates place the total population at 200,000 or higher, as the near-total assimilation of the Ainu into Japanese society has resulted in many individuals with Ainu heritage having no knowledge of their ancestry.[1]

History

Palace reception near Hakodate, Hokkaidō, in 1751. Ainu bringing gifts.

A group of Ainu people, c. 1870

Pre-modern

Recent research suggests that Ainu culture originated from a merger of the Jōmon, Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures.[9] These early inhabitants did not speak the Japanese language and were conquered by the Japanese early in the 9th century.[10] In 1264, the Ainu invaded the land of the Nivkh people. The Ainu also started an expedition into the Amur region, which was then controlled by the Yuan Dynasty, resulting in reprisals by the Mongols who invaded Sakhalin.[11][12] Active contact between the Wa-jin (the ethnically Japanese, also known as Yamato-jin) and the Ainu of Ezogashima (now known as Hokkaidō) began in the 13th century.[13] The Ainu formed a society of hunter-gatherers, surviving mainly by hunting and fishing. They followed a religion which was based on natural phenomena.[14]

During the Muromachi period (1336–1573), disputes between the Japanese and Ainu developed into a war. Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain. Many Ainu were subject to Japanese rule, which led to violent Ainu revolt such as Koshamain's Revolt in 1456.

An Ainu couple in Japan (1914)

During the Edo period (1601–1868) the Ainu, who controlled the northern island which is now named Hokkaidō, became increasingly involved in trade with the Japanese who controlled the southern portion of the island. The Tokugawa bakufu (feudal government) granted the Matsumae clan exclusive rights to trade with the Ainu in the northern part of the island. Later, the Matsumae began to lease out trading rights to Japanese merchants, and contact between Japanese and Ainu became more extensive. Throughout this period Ainu were forced to import goods from the Japanese, and epidemic diseases such as smallpox reduced the population.[15] Although the increased contact created by the trade between the Japanese and the Ainu contributed to increased mutual understanding, it also led to conflict which occasionally intensified into violent Ainu revolts. The most important was Shakushain's Revolt (1669–1672), an Ainu rebellion against Japanese authority. Another large-scale revolt by Ainu against Japanese rule was the Menashi-Kunashir Battle in 1789.

From 1799 to 1806, the shogunate took direct control of southern Hokkaidō. Ainu men were deported to merchant subcontractors for five and ten-year terms of service, and were enticed with rewards of food and clothing if they agreed to drop their native language and culture and become Japanese. Ainu women were separated from their husbands and forcibly married to Japanese merchants and fishermen, who were told that a taboo forbade them from bringing their wives to Hokkaidō. Women were often tortured if they resisted rape by their new Japanese husbands, and frequently ran away into the mountains. These policies of family separation and forcible assimilation, combined with the impact of smallpox, caused the Ainu population to drop significantly in the early 19th century.[16]

Meiji Restoration and later

In the 18th century, there were 80,000 Ainu.[17] In 1868, there were about 15,000 Ainu in Hokkaidō, 2000 in Sakhalin and around 100 in the Kuril islands.[18]

The beginning of the Meiji Restoration in 1868 proved a turning point for Ainu culture. The Japanese government introduced a variety of social, political, and economic reforms in hope of modernizing the country in the Western style. One innovation involved the annexation of Hokkaidō. Sjöberg quotes Baba's (1890) account of the Japanese government's reasoning:[15]

... The development of Japan's large northern island had several objectives: First, it was seen as a means to defend Japan from a rapidly developing and expansionist Russia. Second ... it offered a solution to the unemployment for the former samurai class ... Finally, development promised to yield the needed natural resources for a growing capitalist economy.[19]

In 1899, the Japanese government passed an act labelling the Ainu as "former aborigines", with the idea they would assimilate—this resulted in the Japanese government taking the land where the Ainu people lived and placing it from then on under Japanese control.[20] Also at this time, the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them the status of an indigenous group.

Ainu bear-sacrifice. Japanese scroll painting, c. 1870.

The Ainu were becoming increasingly marginalized on their own land—over a period of only 36 years, the Ainu went from being a relatively isolated group of people to having their land, language, religion and customs assimilated into those of the Japanese.[21] In addition to this, the land the Ainu lived on was distributed to the Wa-Jin who had decided to move to Hokkaidō, encouraged by the Japanese government of the Meiji era to take advantage of the island's abundant natural resources, and to create and maintain farms in the model of Western industrial agriculture. While at the time, the process was openly referred to as colonization (拓殖, takushoku), the notion was later reframed by Japanese elites to the currently common usage kaitaku (開拓), which instead conveys a sense of opening up or reclamation of the Ainu lands.[22] As well as this, factories such as flour mills, beer breweries and mining practices resulted in the creation of infrastructure such as roads and railway lines, during a development period that lasted until 1904.[23] During this time, the Ainu were forced to learn Japanese, required to adopt Japanese names, and ordered to cease religious practices such as animal sacrifice and the custom of tattooing.[24]

Japanese Ainu group in 1904

The 1899 act was replaced in 1997—until then the government had stated there were no ethnic minority groups.[9] It was not until June 6, 2008, that Japan formally recognised the Ainu as an indigenous group (see § Official recognition in Japan).[9]

The vast majority of these Wa-Jin men are believed to have compelled Ainu women to partner with them as local wives.[25] Intermarriage between Japanese and Ainu was actively promoted by the Ainu to lessen the chances of discrimination against their offspring. As a result, many Ainu are indistinguishable from their Japanese neighbors, but some Ainu-Japanese are interested in traditional Ainu culture. For example, Oki, born as a child of an Ainu father and a Japanese mother, became a musician who plays the traditional Ainu instrument tonkori.[26] There are also many small towns in the southeastern or Hidaka region where ethnic Ainu live such as in Nibutani (Ainu: Niputay). Many live in Sambutsu especially, on the eastern coast. In 1966 the number of "pure" Ainu was about 300.[27]

Their most widely known ethnonym is derived from the word ainu, which means "human" (particularly as opposed to kamui, divine beings). Ainu also identify themselves as Utari ("comrade" or "people" in the Ainu language). Official documents use both names.[28]

Official recognition in Japan

Map of the distribution of Ainu in Hokkaidō

On June 6, 2008, the Government of Japan passed a bipartisan, non-binding resolution calling upon the government to recognize the Ainu people as indigenous to Japan, and urging an end to discrimination against the group. The resolution recognized the Ainu people as "an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture". The government immediately followed with a statement acknowledging its recognition, stating, "The government would like to solemnly accept the historical fact that many Ainu were discriminated against and forced into poverty with the advancement of modernization, despite being legally equal to (Japanese) people."[21][29] In February 2019, the Japanese government consolidated the legal status of the Ainu people by passing a bill which officially recognizes the Ainu as an indigenous people, based on Article 14 of the Constitution, "all of the people are equal under the law" and bans discrimination by race. Furthermore, the bill aims at simplifying procedures for getting various permissions from authorities in regards to the traditional lifestyle of the Ainu and nurture the identity and cultures of the Ainu without defining the ethnic group by blood lineage.[30] A bill passed in April 2019 officially recognizes the Ainu of Hokkaidō as the indigenous people of Japan.[31]

According to the Asahi Shimbun,[32] the Ainu were due to participate in the opening ceremony of the Olympic games 2020 in Japan, but due to logistical constraints this was dropped in February 2020.[33]

Upopoy National Ainu Museum and Park opened on July 12, 2020. The space was scheduled to open on April 24, 2020, prior to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games scheduled in the same year, in Shiraoi, Hokkaidō. The park will serve as base for the protection and promotion of Ainu people, culture and language.[34] The museum promotes the culture and habits of the Ainu people who are the original inhabitants of Hokkaido. Upopoy in Ainu language means "singing in a large group". The National Ainu Museum building has images and videos exhibiting the history and daily life of the Ainu.[35]

Official recognition in Russia

Main article: Ainu in Russia

As a result of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875), the Kuril Islands – along with their Ainu inhabitants – came under Japanese administration. A total of 83 North Kuril Ainu arrived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on September 18, 1877, after they decided to remain under Russian rule. They refused the offer by Russian officials to move to new reservations in the Commander Islands. Finally a deal was reached in 1881 and the Ainu decided to settle in the village of Yavin. In March 1881, the group left Petropavlovsk and started the journey towards Yavin on foot. Four months later they arrived at their new homes. Another village, Golygino, was founded later. Under Soviet rule, both the villages were forced to disband and residents were moved to the Russian-dominated Zaporozhye rural settlement in Ust-Bolsheretsky Raion.[36] As a result of intermarriage, the three ethnic groups assimilated to form the Kamchadal community. In 1953, K. Omelchenko, the minister for the protection of military and state secrets in the USSR, banned the press from publishing any more information on the Ainu living in the USSR. This order was revoked after two decades.[37]

Ainu hunters, 19th century

As of 2015, the North Kuril Ainu of Zaporozhye form the largest Ainu subgroup in Russia. The Nakamura clan (South Kuril Ainu on their paternal side), the smallest group, numbers just six people residing in Petropavlovsk. On Sakhalin island, a few dozen people identify themselves as Sakhalin Ainu, but many more with partial Ainu ancestry do not acknowledge it. Most of the 888 Japanese people living in Russia (2010 Census) are of mixed Japanese–Ainu ancestry, although they do not acknowledge it (full Japanese ancestry gives them the right of visa-free entry to Japan.[38]) Similarly, no one identifies themselves as Amur Valley Ainu, although people with partial descent live in Khabarovsk. There is no evidence of living descendants of the Kamchatka Ainu.

In the 2010 Census of Russia, close to 100 people tried to register themselves as ethnic Ainu in the village, but the governing council of Kamchatka Krai rejected their claim and enrolled them as ethnic Kamchadal.[37][39] In 2011, the leader of the Ainu community in Kamchatka, Alexei Vladimirovich Nakamura, requested that Vladimir Ilyukhin (Governor of Kamchatka) and Boris Nevzorov (Chairman of the State Duma) include the Ainu in the central list of the Indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. This request was also turned down.[40]

Ethnic Ainu living in Sakhalin Oblast and Khabarovsk Krai are not organized politically. According to Alexei Nakamura, as of 2012 only 205 Ainu live in Russia (up from just 12 people who self-identified as Ainu in 2008) and they along with the Kurile Kamchadals (Itelmen of Kuril islands) are fighting for official recognition.[41][42] Since the Ainu are not recognized in the official list of the peoples living in Russia, they are counted as people without nationality or as ethnic Russians or Kamchadal.[43]

The Ainu have emphasized that they were the natives of the Kuril islands and that the Japanese and Russians were both invaders.[44] In 2004, the small Ainu community living in Russia in Kamchatka Krai wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin, urging him to reconsider any move to award the Southern Kuril Islands to Japan. In the letter they blamed the Japanese, the Tsarist Russians and the Soviets for crimes against the Ainu such as killings and assimilation, and also urged him to recognize the Japanese genocide against the Ainu people—which was turned down by Putin.[45]

As of 2012 both the Kuril Ainu and Kuril Kamchadal ethnic groups lack the fishing and hunting rights which the Russian government grants to the indigenous tribal communities of the far north.[46][47]

In March 2017, Alexei Nakamura revealed that plans for an Ainu village to be created in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and plans for an Ainu dictionary are underway.[48]

Origins

Distribution of sinodonts and sundadonts in Asia, shown by yellow and red. Also shown are Australoids, indicated by A, and Negritos, indicated by N.[49]

Ainu man, c. 1880

An Ainu man from Hokkaidō, c. 1910

The Ainu have often been considered to descend from the Jōmon people, who lived in northern Japan from the Jōmon period[50] (c. 14,000 to 300 BCE). One of their Yukar Upopo, or legends, tells that "[t]he Ainu lived in this place a hundred thousand years before the Children of the Sun came".[19]

Recent research suggests that the historical Ainu culture originated in a merger of the Okhotsk culture with the Satsumon, one of the ancient archaeological cultures that are considered to have derived from the Jōmon-period cultures of the Japanese archipelago.[51][52] The Ainu economy was based on farming, as well as on hunting, fishing and gathering.[53]

"Full-blooded" Ainu, compared to people of Yamato descent, often have lighter skin and more body hair.[54] Many early investigators proposed a Caucasian ancestry.[55] Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza places the Ainu in his "Northeast and East Asian" genetic cluster.[56]

Omoto has suggested that the Ainu are more closely related to other phenotypically East Asian people (i.e. people previously described using the now-deprecated term "Mongoloid"), than to phenotypically West Eurasian or Caucasoid (previously "Caucasian") people – on the basis of fingerprints and dental morphology.[57]

Anthropologist Joseph Powell (1999) of the University of New Mexico wrote "... we follow Brace and Hunt (1990) and Turner (1990) in viewing the Ainu as a southeast Asian population derived from early Jomon peoples of Japan, who have their closest biological affinity with South Asians rather than western Eurasian peoples". They also suggest morphological similarities to the Kennewick Man. Other anthropologists, such as Jantz and Owsley (1997), considered the Ainu as Caucasoids.[58]

Ainu men often have heavy beards.

Ainu woman with mouth tattoos and live bear.

Mark J. Hudson, Professor of Anthropology at Nishikyushu University, Kanzaki, Saga, Japan, has stated that Japan was settled by a "Proto-Mongoloid" population in the Pleistocene who became the Jōmon and that their features can be seen in the Ainu and Okinawan people.[59] A dental morphology study shows the Jōmon and Ainu have their own dental structure, but are generally closer to the Sundadont groups which is more common in Southeast Asia and Taiwan (Turner, 1990).[60]

In 1893, anthropologist Arnold Henry Savage Landor described the Ainu as having deep-set eyes and an eye shape typical of Europeans, with a large and prominent browridge, large ears, hairy and prone to baldness, slightly hook nose with large and broad nostrils, prominent cheek-bones and a medium mouth.[61]

Ainu men have abundant wavy hair and often have long beards.[62] The book of Ainu Life and Legends by author Kyōsuke Kindaichi (published by the Japanese Tourist Board in 1942) contains a physical description of Ainu: "Many have wavy hair, but some straight black hair. Very few of them have wavy brownish hair. Their skins are generally reported to be light brown. But this is due to the fact that they labor on the sea and in briny winds all day. Old people who have long desisted from their outdoor work are often found to be as white as western men. The Ainu have broad faces, beetling eyebrows, and large sunken eyes, which are generally horizontal and of the so-called European type. Eyes of the Mongolian type are hardly found among them."

A craniometric study by Brace et al. (2001) shows a closer morphological relation of the Ainu and Jōmon people to prehistoric and modern Europeans rather than to other contemporary East Asians. The study concludes that the Jōmon and Ainu people are descendants of a population (dubbed "Eurasians" by Brace et al.) that moved into northern Eurasia (and also the Americas) in the Late Pleistocene, which significantly predates the expansion of the modern core population of East Asia.[63]

Another study (Kura et al. 2014) based on cranial and genetic characteristics suggests a northern origin for the Ainu people. The study results and genetic evidence suggest the Arctic regions of Eurasia as possible original homeland of the ancestral population of the northern Jōmon and Ainu people. The Jōmon people are considered to be a people of northern ancestry and belong mostly to Haplogroup D2 (D-M55 branch) which characterizes the northern people of Asia. Thus, despite their morphological similarities to Caucasoid populations, the Ainu are essentially of North Asiatic origin. Genetic evidence support a relation with Arctic populations, such as the Chukchi people.[64]

John Batchelor took a picture of this Ainu man, who Batchelor said had hair completely covering his body.

Genetics

See also: Genetic history of East Asians and Jōmon people

1843 illustration of Ainu

Paternal lineages

Genetic testing has shown that the Ainu belong mainly to Y-haplogroup D-M55 (D1a2) and C-M217.[65] Y-DNA haplogroup D-M55 is found throughout the Japanese Archipelago, but with very high frequencies among the Ainu of Hokkaidō in the far north, and to a lesser extent among the Ryukyuans in the Ryukyu Islands of the far south.[66] Recently it was confirmed that the Japanese branch of haplogroup D-M55 is distinct and isolated from other D-branches since more than 53,000 years. The split between D1a1 (which is common in Tibet and has a medium distribution in Central Asia) happened likely in Central Asia, while some others suggest an instant split during the origin of haplogroup D itself, as the Japanese branch has five unique mutations not found in any other D-branch.[67]

Several studies (Hammer et al. 2006, Shinoda 2008, Matsumoto 2009, Cabrera et al. 2018) suggest that the paternal lineage of the Ainu and the Paleolithic Jōmon population originated somewhere in Central Asia. According to Hammer et al., the ancestral haplogroup D originated between Tibet and the Altai mountains. He suggests that there were multiple waves into Eastern Eurasia.[68]

1862 illustration of an Ainu man (left) and a Nivkh couple (right)

A study by Tajima et al. (2004) found two out of a sample of sixteen (or 12.5%) Ainu men to belong to Haplogroup C-M217, which is the most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among the indigenous populations of Siberia and Mongolia. Carriers among the Ainu may reflect a certain degree of unidirectional genetic influence from the Nivkhs, a traditionally nomadic people of northern Sakhalin and the adjacent mainland, with whom the Ainu have long-standing cultural interactions.[65] Hammer et al. (2006) tested a sample of four Ainu men and found that one of them belonged to haplogroup C-M217.[69]

Maternal lineages

Based on analysis of one sample of 51 modern Ainus, their mtDNA lineages consist mainly of haplogroup Y (11/51 = 21.6% according to Tanaka et al. 2004, or 10/51 = 19.6% according to Adachi et al. 2009, who have cited Tajima et al. 2004), haplogroup D (9/51 = 17.6%, particularly D4(xD1)), haplogroup M7a (8/51 = 15.7%), and haplogroup G1 (8/51 = 15.7%).[65] Other mtDNA haplogroups detected in this sample include A (2/51), M7b2 (2/51), N9b (1/51), B4f (1/51), F1b (1/51), and M9a (1/51). Most of the remaining individuals in this sample have been classified definitively only as belonging to macro-haplogroup M.[70]

According to Sato et al. (2009), who have studied the mtDNA of the same sample of modern Ainus (n=51), the major haplogroups of the Ainu are N9 (14/51 = 27.5%, including 10/51 Y and 4/51 N9(xY)), D (12/51 = 23.5%, including 8/51 D(xD5) and 4/51 D5), M7 (10/51 = 19.6%), and G (10/51 = 19.6%, including 8/51 G1 and 2/51 G2); the minor haplogroups are A (2/51), B (1/51), F (1/51), and M(xM7, M8, CZ, D, G) (1/51).[71]

Studies published in 2004 and 2007 show the combined frequency of M7a and N9b were observed in Jōmons and which are believed by some to be Jōmon maternal contribution at 28% in Okinawans (7/50 M7a1, 6/50 M7a(xM7a1), 1/50 N9b), 17.6% in Ainus (8/51 M7a(xM7a1), 1/51 N9b), and from 10% (97/1312 M7a(xM7a1), 1/1312 M7a1, 28/1312 N9b) to 17% (15/100 M7a1, 2/100 M7a(xM7a1)) in mainstream Japanese.[70][72]

In addition, haplogroups D4, D5, M7b, M9a, M10, G, A, B, and F have been found in Jōmon people as well.[73][74]

The samurai and the Ainu, Hokkaidō, c. 1775

Autosomal DNA

A 2004 reevaluation of cranial traits suggests that the Ainu resemble the Okhotsk more than they do the Jōmon.[75] This agrees with the references to the Ainu as a merger of Okhotsk and Satsumon referenced above. Nevertheless, a newer genome study shows that the Ainu share most of their genome with the Hokkaidō Jōmon and it is suggested that the Okhotsk received strong Jōmon influence.[76][77]

Hideo Matsumoto (2009) suggested, based on immunoglobulin analyses, that the Ainu (and Jōmon) have a Siberian origin. Compared with other East Asian populations, the Ainu have the highest amount of Siberian (immunoglobulin) components, higher than mainland Japanese people.[78]

A 2012 genetic study has revealed that the closest genetic relatives of the Ainu are the Ryukyuan people, followed by the Yamato people and Nivkh.[4]

A genetic analysis in 2016 showed that although the Ainu have some genetic relations to the Japanese people and Eastern Siberians (especially Itelmens and Chukchis), they are not closely related to any modern ethnic group. Further, the study detected genetic contribution from the Ainu to populations around the Sea of Okhotsk but no genetic influence on the Ainu themselves. According to the study, the Ainu-like genetic contribution in the Ulch people is about 17.8% or 13.5% and about 27.2% in the Nivkhs. The study also disproved the idea about a relation to Andamanese or Tibetans; instead, it presented evidence of gene flow between the Ainu and "lowland East Asian farmer populations" (represented in the study by the Ami and Atayal in Taiwan, and the Dai and Lahu in Mainland East Asia).[79]

A comparison with the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism data of HGDP (Human Genome Diversity Panel) populations also showed the unique status of the Sanganji Jōmon despite being relatively closer to the East Eurasian cluster,[80] they are far apart from all modern East Eurasians. The uniqueness of the Sanganji Jōmon within East Eurasians is consistent with the results including Europeans and Africans. When the Ainu, the mainland Japanese and the Ryukyuans from the Japanese Archipelago and CHB28 (Chinese from Beijing) were compared with Sanganji Jōmon, PC1 separated the Ainu and Sanganji Jōmon from the other populations. The population closest to the Sanganji Jōmon was the Ainu, followed by the Ryukyuan and then the mainland Japanese (Yamato). The study also implies genetic affinity between the Jōmon and Altai-Neanderthals but the degree is not much different than other non-African populations. Compared with other East-Eurasians, the Jōmon lacked similarities with Denisovans.[81]

Genetic analyses of HLA I and HLA II genes as well as HLA-A, -B, and -DRB1 gene frequencies links the Ainu to some Indigenous peoples of the Americas, especially to populations on the Pacific Northwest Coast such as Tlingit. The scientists suggest that the main ancestor of the Ainu and of some Native American groups can be traced back to Paleolithic groups in Southern Siberia.[82]

Military service

Russo-Japanese War

Ainu men were first recruited into the Japanese military in 1898.[83] Sixty-four Ainu served in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), eight of whom died in battle or from illness contracted during military service. Two received the Order of the Golden Kite, granted for bravery, leadership or command in battle.

Second World War

During World War II, Australian troops engaged in the hard-fought Kokoda Track campaign (July–November 1942) in New Guinea, were surprised by the physique and fighting prowess of the first Japanese troops they encountered.

During that day's fighting [30 August 1942] we saw many Japanese of large physique, powerfully built men of six feet and over. These tough assault troops came from Hokkaidō, a northern Japanese island of freezing winters, where the bears roamed freely. They were known in their own country as "Dosanko" a name for horses from Hokkaidō, and they withstood splendidly the harsh climate of the Owen Stanley Range. A 2/14th Battalion officer said to me: "I couldn't believe it when I saw these big bastards bearing down on us. I thought they must be Germans in disguise."[84]

Language

Main article: Ainu language

Map of pre-1945 distribution of Ainu languages and dialects

In 2008 Hohmann gave an estimate of fewer than 100 remaining speakers of the language;[85] other research (Vovin 1993) placed the number at fewer than 15 speakers. Vovin has characterised the language as "almost extinct".[86] As a result of this, the study of the Ainu language is limited and is based largely on historical research.

Despite the small number of native speakers of Ainu, there is an active movement to revitalize the language, mainly in Hokkaidō, but also elsewhere such as Kanto.[87] Ainu oral literature has been documented both in hopes of safeguarding it for future generations, as well as using it as a teaching tool for language learners.[88] As of 2011 there has been an increasing number of second-language learners, especially in Hokkaidō, in large part due to the pioneering efforts of the late Ainu folklorist, activist and former Diet member Shigeru Kayano, himself a native speaker, who first opened an Ainu language school in 1987 funded by Ainu Kyokai.[89]

Although some researchers have attempted to show that the Ainu language and the Japanese language are related, modern scholars have rejected the idea that the relationship goes beyond contact (such as the mutual borrowing of words between Japanese and Ainu). No attempt to show a relationship with Ainu to any other language has gained wide acceptance, and linguists currently classify Ainu as a language isolate.[90] Most Ainu people speak either the Japanese language or the Russian language.

Concepts expressed with prepositions (such as to, from, by, in, and at) in English appear as postpositional forms in Ainu (postpositions come after the word that they modify). A single sentence in Ainu can comprise many added or agglutinated sounds or affixes that represent nouns or ideas.

The Ainu language has had no indigenous system of writing, and has historically been transliterated using the Japanese kana or Russian Cyrillic. As of 2019 it is typically written either in katakana or in the Latin alphabet.

Many of the Ainu dialects, even those from different extremities of Hokkaidō, were not mutually intelligible; however, all Ainu speakers understood the classic Ainu language of the Yukar, or epic stories. Without a writing system, the Ainu were masters of narration, with the Yukar and other forms of narration such as the Uepeker (Uwepeker) tales being committed to memory and related at gatherings which often lasted many hours or even days.[91]

Culture

Main articles: Ainu cuisine, Ainu music, and Yukar

Woman playing a tonkori

Ainu ceremonial dress, British Museum

Traditional Ainu culture was quite different from Japanese culture. Never shaving after a certain age, the men had full beards and moustaches. Men and women alike cut their hair level with the shoulders at the sides of the head, trimmed semicircularly behind. The women tattooed their mouths, and sometimes the forearms. The mouth tattoos were started at a young age with a small spot on the upper lip, gradually increasing with size. The soot deposited on a pot hung over a fire of birch bark was used for colour. Their traditional dress was a robe spun from the inner bark of the elm tree, called attusi or attush. Various styles were made, and consisted generally of a simple short robe with straight sleeves, which was folded around the body, and tied with a band about the waist. The sleeves ended at the wrist or forearm and the length generally was to the calves. Women also wore an undergarment of Japanese cloth.[92]

Modern craftswomen weave and embroider traditional garments that command very high prices. In winter the skins of animals were worn, with leggings of deerskin and in Sakhalin, boots were made from the skin of dogs or salmon.[93] Ainu culture considers earrings, traditionally made from grapevines, to be gender neutral. Women also wear a beaded necklace called a tamasay.[92]

Their traditional cuisine consists of the flesh of bear, fox, wolf, badger, ox, or horse, as well as fish, fowl, millet, vegetables, herbs, and roots. They never ate raw fish or flesh; it was always boiled or roasted.[92]

Their traditional habitations were reed-thatched huts, the largest 20 ft (6 m) square, without partitions and having a fireplace in the center. There was no chimney, only a hole at the angle of the roof; there was one window on the eastern side and there were two doors. The house of the village head was used as a public meeting place when one was needed.[92] Another kind of traditional Ainu house was called chise.[94]

Instead of using furniture, they sat on the floor, which was covered with two layers of mats, one of rush, the other of a water plant with long sword shaped leaves (Iris pseudacorus); and for beds they spread planks, hanging mats around them on poles, and employing skins for coverlets. The men used chopsticks when eating; the women had wooden spoons.[92] Ainu cuisine is not commonly eaten outside Ainu communities; only a few restaurants in Japan serve traditional Ainu dishes, mainly in Tokyo[95] and Hokkaidō.[96]

The functions of judgeship were not entrusted to chiefs; an indefinite number of a community's members sat in judgment upon its criminals. Capital punishment did not exist, nor did the community resort to imprisonment. Beating was considered a sufficient and final penalty. However, in the case of murder, the nose and ears of the culprit were cut off or the tendons of his feet severed.[92]

Hunting

Bear-hunting, 19th century

The Ainu hunted from late autumn to early summer.[97] The reasons for this were, among others, that in late autumn, plant gathering, salmon fishing and other activities of securing food came to an end, and hunters readily found game in fields and mountains in which plants had withered.

A village possessed a hunting ground of its own or several villages used a joint hunting territory (iwor).[98] Heavy penalties were imposed on any outsiders trespassing on such hunting grounds or joint hunting territory.

The Ainu hunted bear, Ezo deer (a subspecies of sika deer), rabbit, fox, raccoon dog, and other animals.[99] Ezo deer were a particularly important food resource for the Ainu, as were salmon.[100] They also hunted sea eagles such as white-tailed sea eagles, raven and other birds.[101] The Ainu hunted eagles to obtain their tail feathers, which they used in trade with the Japanese.[102]

Ainu people, c. 1840

The Ainu hunted with arrows and spears with poison-coated points.[103] They obtained the poison, called surku, from the roots and stalks of aconites.[104] The recipe for this poison was a household secret that differed from family to family. They enhanced the poison with mixtures of roots and stalks of dog's bane, boiled juice of Mekuragumo (a type of harvestman), Matsumomushi (Notonecta triguttata, a species of backswimmer), tobacco and other ingredients. They also used stingray stingers or skin covering stingers.[105]

They hunted in groups with dogs.[106] Before the Ainu went hunting, particularly for bear and similar animals, they prayed to the god of fire, the house guardian god, to convey their wishes for a large catch, and to the god of mountains for safe hunting.[107]

The Ainu usually hunted bear during the spring thaw. At that time, bears were weak because they had not fed at all during their long hibernation. Ainu hunters caught hibernating bears or bears that had just left hibernation dens.[108] When they hunted bear in summer, they used a spring trap loaded with an arrow, called an amappo.[108] The Ainu usually used arrows to hunt deer.[109] Also, they drove deer into a river or sea and shot them with arrows. For a large catch, a whole village would drive a herd of deer off a cliff and club them to death.[110]

Fishing

Fishing was important for the Ainu. They largely caught trout, primarily in summer, and salmon in autumn, as well as "ito" (Japanese huchen), dace and other fish. Spears called "marek" were often used. Other methods were "tesh" fishing, "uray" fishing and "rawomap" fishing. Many villages were built near rivers or along the coast. Each village or individual had a definite river fishing territory. Outsiders could not freely fish there and needed to ask the owner.[111]

Ornaments

Men wore a crown called sapanpe for important ceremonies. Sapanpe was made from wood fibre with bundles of partially shaved wood. This crown had wooden figures of animal gods and other ornaments on its centre.[112] Men carried an emush (ceremonial sword)[113] secured by an emush at strap to their shoulders.[114]

Women wore matanpushi, embroidered headbands, and ninkari, earrings. Ninkari was a metal ring with a ball. Matanpushi and ninkari were originally worn by men. Furthermore, aprons called maidari now are a part of women's formal clothes. However, some old documents say that men wore maidari. Women sometimes wore a bracelet called tekunkani.[115]

Women wore a necklace called rektunpe, a long, narrow strip of cloth with metal plaques.[112] They wore a necklace that reached the breast called a tamasay or shitoki, usually made from glass balls. Some glass balls came from trade with the Asian continent. The Ainu also obtained glass balls secretly made by the Matsumae clan.[116]

Housing

Ainu house

A village is called a kotan in the Ainu language. Kotan were located in river basins and seashores where food was readily available, particularly in the basins of rivers through which salmon went upstream. A village consisted basically of a paternal clan. The average number of families was four to seven, rarely reaching more than ten. In the early modern times, the Ainu people were forced to labor at the fishing grounds of the Japanese. Ainu kotan were also forced to move near fishing grounds so that the Japanese could secure a labor force. When the Japanese moved to other fishing grounds, Ainu kotan were also forced to accompany them. As a result, the traditional kotan disappeared and large villages of several dozen families were formed around the fishing grounds.

Cise or cisey (houses) in a kotan were made of cogon grass, bamboo grass, bark, etc. The length lay east to west or parallel to a river. A house was about seven meters by five with an entrance at the west end that also served as a storeroom. The house had three windows, including the "rorun-puyar," a window located on the side facing the entrance (at the east side), through which gods entered and left and ceremonial tools were taken in and out. The Ainu have regarded this window as sacred and have been told never to look in through it. A house had a fireplace near the entrance. The husband and wife sat on the fireplace's left side (called shiso) . Children and guests sat facing them on the fireplace's right side (called harkiso). The house had a platform for valuables called iyoykir behind the shiso. The Ainu placed sintoko (hokai) and ikayop (quivers) there.

Outbuildings included separate lavatories for men called ashinru and for women called menokoru, a pu (storehouse) for food, a "heper set" (cage for young bear), and drying-racks for fish and wild plants. An altar (nusasan) faced the east side of the house (rorunpuyar). The Ainu held such ceremonies there as Iyomante, a ceremony to send the spirit of a bear to the gods.[117]

• 
  Ainu houses (from Popular Science Monthly Volume 33, 1888).
• 
  Plan of an Ainu house.
• 
  The family would gather around the fireplace.
• 
  Interior of the house of Ainu - Saru River basin.

Traditions

The Ainu people had various types of marriage. A child was promised in marriage by arrangement between his or her parents and the parents of his or her betrothed or by a go-between. When the betrothed reached a marriageable age, they were told who their spouse was to be. There were also marriages based on mutual consent of both sexes.[118] In some areas, when a daughter reached a marriageable age, her parents let her live in a small room called tunpu annexed to the southern wall of her house.[119] The parents chose her spouse from men who visited her.

The age of marriage was 17 to 18 years of age for men and 15 to 16 years of age for women,[112] who were tattooed. At these ages, both sexes were regarded as adults.[120]

When a man proposed to a woman, he visited her house, ate half a full bowl of rice handed to him by her, and returned the rest to her. If the woman ate the rest, she accepted his proposal. If she did not and put it beside her, she rejected his proposal.[112] When a man became engaged to a woman or they learned that their engagement had been arranged, they exchanged gifts. He sent her a small engraved knife, a workbox, a spool, and other gifts. She sent him embroidered clothes, coverings for the back of the hand, leggings and other handmade clothes.[121]

Ainu genre painting

The worn-out fabric of old clothing was used for baby clothes because soft cloth was good for the skin of babies and worn-out material protected babies from gods of illness and demons due to these gods' abhorrence of dirty things. Before a baby was breast-fed, they were given a decoction of the endodermis of alder and the roots of butterburs to discharge impurities.[122] Children were raised almost naked until about the ages of four to five. Even when they wore clothes, they did not wear belts and left the front of their clothes open. Subsequently, they wore bark clothes without patterns, such as attush, until coming of age.

Newborn babies were named ayay (a baby's crying),[123] shipo, poyshi (small excrement), and shion (old excrement). Children were called by these "temporary" names until the ages of two to three. They were not given permanent names when they were born.[123] Their tentative names had a portion meaning "excrement" or "old things" to ward off the demon of ill-health. Some children were named based on their behaviour or habits. Other children were named after impressive events or after parents' wishes for the future of the children. When children were named, they were never given the same names as others.[124]

Men wore loincloths and had their hair dressed properly for the first time at age 15–16. Women were also considered adults at the age of 15–16. They wore underclothes called mour[125] and had their hair dressed properly and wound waistcloths called raunkut and ponkut around their bodies.[126] When women reached age 12–13, the lips, hands and arms were tattooed. When they reached age 15–16, their tattoos were completed. Thus were they qualified for marriage.[120]

Religion

Further information: Ainu creation myth and Ko-Shintō

Ainu traditional ceremony, c. 1930

The Ainu are traditionally animists, believing that everything in nature has a kamuy (spirit or god) on the inside. The most important include Kamuy Fuchi, goddess of the hearth, Kim-un Kamuy, god of bears and mountains, and Repun Kamuy, god of the sea, fishing, and marine animals.[127] Kotan-kar-kamuy is regarded as the creator of the world in the Ainu religion.[128]

The Ainu have no priests by profession; instead the village chief performs whatever religious ceremonies are necessary. Ceremonies are confined to making libations of saké, saying prayers, and offering willow sticks with wooden shavings attached to them.[92] These sticks are called inaw (singular) and nusa (plural).

They are placed on an altar used to "send back" the spirits of killed animals. Ainu ceremonies for sending back bears are called Iyomante. The Ainu people give thanks to the gods before eating and pray to the deity of fire in time of sickness. They believe that their spirits are immortal, and that their spirits will be rewarded hereafter by ascending to kamuy mosir (Land of the Gods).[92]

The Ainu are part of a larger collective of indigenous people who practice "arctolatry" or bear-worship. The Ainu believe that the bear is very special because they think that the bear is Kim-un Kamuy's way of delivering the gift of the bear's hide and meat to humans.

John Batchelor reported that the Ainu view the world as being a spherical ocean on which float many islands, a view based on the fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. He wrote that they believe the world rests on the back of a large fish, which when it moves causes earthquakes.[129]

Ainu assimilated into mainstream Japanese society have adopted Buddhism and Shintō, while some northern Ainu were converted as members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Regarding Ainu communities in Shikotanto（色丹と）and other areas that fall within the Russian sphere of cultural influence, there have been cases of church construction as well as reports that some Ainu have decided to profess their Christian faith.[130] There have also been reports that the Russian Orthodox Church has performed some missionary projects in the Sakhalin Ainu community. However, not many people have converted and there are only reports of several persons who have converted. Converts have been scorned as "Nutsa Ainu" (Russian Ainu) by other members of the Ainu community. Even so, the reports indiciate that many Ainu have kept their faith in the deities of ancient times.[131]

According to a 2012 survey conducted by Hokkaidō University, a high percentage of Ainu are members of their household family religion which is Buddhism (especially Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism). However, it is pointed out that similar to the Japanese religious consciousness, there is not a strong feeling of identification with a particular religion.[132]

Institutions

Ainu cultural promotion centre and museum, in Sapporo (Sapporo Pirka Kotan)

Most Hokkaidō Ainu and some other Ainu are members of an umbrella group called the Hokkaidō Utari Association. It was originally controlled by the government to speed Ainu assimilation and integration into the Japanese nation-state. It now is run exclusively by Ainu and operates mostly independently of the government.

Other key institutions include The Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture (FRPAC), set up by the Japanese government after enactment of the Ainu Culture Law in 1997, the Hokkaidō University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies[133] established in 2007, as well as museums and cultural centers. Ainu people living in Tokyo have also developed a vibrant political and cultural community.[134][135]

Since late 2011, the Ainu have cultural exchange and cultural cooperation with the Sámi people of northern Europe. Both the Sámi and the Ainu participate in the organization for Arctic indigenous peoples and the Sámi research office in Lapland (Finland).[136]

Currently, there are several Ainu museums and cultural parks. The most famous are:[137]

• National Ainu Museum – formerly the Ainu Museum
• Kawamura Kaneto Ainu museum
• Ainu Kotan
• Ainu folklore museum
• Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples

Status

The Oki Dub Ainu Band, led by the Ainu Japanese musician Oki, in Germany in 2007

People wearing traditional Ainu clothes in Hokkaidō

Litigation

On March 27, 1997, the Sapporo District Court decided a landmark case that, for the first time in Japanese history, recognized the right of the Ainu people to enjoy their distinct culture and traditions. The case arose because of a 1978 government plan to build two dams in the Saru River watershed in southern Hokkaidō. The dams were part of a series of development projects under the Second National Development Plan that were intended to industrialize the north of Japan.[138] The planned location for one of the dams was across the valley floor close to Nibutani village,[139] the home of a large community of Ainu people and an important center of Ainu culture and history.[140] In the early 1980s when the government commenced construction on the dam, two Ainu landowners refused to agree to the expropriation of their land. These landowners were Kaizawa Tadashi and Kayano Shigeru—well-known and important leaders in the Ainu community.[141] After Kaizawa and Kayano declined to sell their land, the Hokkaidō Development Bureau applied for and was subsequently granted a Project Authorization, which required the men to vacate their land. When their appeal of the Authorization was denied, Kayano and Kaizawa's son Koichii (Kaizawa died in 1992), filed suit against the Hokkaidō Development Bureau.

The final decision denied the relief sought by the plaintiffs for pragmatic reasons—the dam was already standing—but the decision was nonetheless heralded as a landmark victory for the Ainu people. In short, nearly all of the plaintiffs' claims were recognized. Moreover, the decision marked the first time Japanese case law acknowledged the Ainu as an indigenous people and contemplated the responsibility of the Japanese nation to the indigenous people within its borders.[139]^:442 The decision included broad fact-finding that underscored the long history of the oppression of the Ainu people by Japan's majority, referred to as Wa-Jin in the case and discussions about the case.[139][142] The legal roots of the decision can be found in Article 13 of Japan's Constitution, which protects the rights of the individual, and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.[143][144] The decision was issued on March 27, 1997, and because of the broad implications for Ainu rights, the plaintiffs decided not to appeal the decision, which became final two weeks later. After the decision was issued, on May 8, 1997, the Diet passed the Ainu Culture Law and repealed the Ainu Protection Act—the 1899 law that had been the vehicle of Ainu oppression for almost one hundred years.[145][146] While the Ainu Culture Law has been widely criticized for its shortcomings, the shift that it represents in Japan's view of the Ainu people is a testament to the importance of the Nibutani decision. In 2007 the 'Cultural Landscape along the Sarugawa River resulting from Ainu Tradition and Modern Settlement' was designated an Important Cultural Landscape.[147] A later action seeking restoration of Ainu assets held in trust by the Japanese Government was dismissed in 2008.[148]

Governmental advisory boards

Much national policy in Japan has been developed out of the action of governmental advisory boards, known as shingikai (審議会) in Japanese. One such committee operated in the late 1990s,[149] and its work resulted in the 1997 Ainu Culture Law.[145] This panel's circumstances were criticized for including not even a single Ainu person among its members.[149]

More recently, a panel was established in 2006, which notably was the first time an Ainu person was included. It completed its work in 2008 issuing a major report that included an extensive historical record and called for substantial government policy changes towards the Ainu.

Formation of Ainu political party

The Ainu Party (アイヌ民族党, Ainu minzoku tō) was founded on January 21, 2012,[150] after a group of Ainu activists in Hokkaidō announced the formation of a political party for the Ainu on October 30, 2011. The Ainu Association of Hokkaidō reported that Kayano Shiro, the son of the former Ainu leader Kayano Shigeru, will head the party. Their aim is to contribute to the realization of a multicultural and multiethnic society in Japan, along with rights for the Ainu.[151][152]

Standard of living

The Ainu have historically suffered from economic and social discrimination throughout Japan that continues to this day. The Japanese Government as well as people in contact with the Ainu, have in large part regarded them as a dirty, backwards and a primitive people.[153] The majority of Ainu were forced to be petty laborers during the Meiji Restoration, which saw the introduction of Hokkaidō into the Japanese Empire and the privatization of traditional Ainu lands.[154] The Japanese government during the 19th and 20th centuries denied the rights of the Ainu to their traditional cultural practices, most notably the right to speak their language, as well as their right to hunt and gather.[155] These policies were designed to fully integrate the Ainu into Japanese society with the cost of erasing Ainu culture and identity. The Ainu's position as manual laborers and their forced integration into larger Japanese society have led to discriminatory practices by the Japanese government that can still be felt today.[156] This discrimination and negative stereotypes assigned to the Ainu have manifested in the Ainu's lower levels of education, income levels and participation in the economy as compared to their ethnically Japanese counterparts. The Ainu community in Hokkaidō in 1993 received welfare payments at a 2.3 times higher rate, had an 8.9% lower enrollment rate from junior high school to high school and a 15.7% lower enrollment into college from high school than that of Hokkaidō as a whole.[154] The Japanese government has been lobbied by activists to research the Ainu's standard of living nationwide due to this noticeable and growing gap. The Japanese government will provide ¥7 million (US$63,000) beginning in 2015, to conduct surveys nationwide on this matter.[157]

Geography

Historical extent of the Ainu

Sakhalin Ainu men, photographed by Bronisław Piłsudski

Kuril Ainu people in front of the traditional dwelling

The traditional locations of the Ainu are Hokkaido, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, and the northern Tohoku region. Many of the place names that remain in Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands have a phonetic equivalent of the Ainu place names.

In 1756 CE, Mitsugu Nyui was a kanjō-bugyō (a high-ranking Edo period official responsible for finance) of the Hirosaki Domain in the Tsugaru Peninsula. He implemented an assimilation policy for Ainu who were engaged in fishing in the Tsugaru Peninsula. Since then, Ainu culture was rapidly lost from Honshu.

After the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875), most of the Ainu from the Kuril islands were moved to the island Shikotan by persuading the pioneers for difficult life supplies and for defense purposes (Kurishima Cruise Diary).

In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded Japan and occupied Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The Ainu who lived there were repatriated to their home country, Japan, except for those who indicated their willingness to remain.[158]

Population

See also: Ainu in Russia

The population of the Ainu during the Edo period was a maximum of 26,800, but it has declined due to the epidemic of infectious diseases since it was regarded as a Tenryō territory.

According to the 1897 Russian census, 1,446 Ainu native speakers lived in Russian territory.[159]

Currently, there are no Ainu items in the Japanese national census, and no fact-finding has been conducted at national institutions. Therefore, the exact number of Ainu people is unknown. However, multiple surveys were conducted that provide an indication of the total population.

According to a 2006 Hokkaido Agency survey, there were 23,782 Ainu people in Hokkaido.[160][161] When viewed by the branch office (currently the Promotion Bureau), there are many in the Iburi / Hidaka branch office. In addition, the definition of "Ainu" by the Hokkaido Agency in this survey is "a person who seems to have inherited the blood of Ainu" or "the same livelihood as those with marriage or adoption." Additionally, if it is denied that the other person is an Ainu then it is not subject to investigation.

According to a 1971 survey, there were 77,000 survey results. There is also a survey that the total number of Ainu living in Japan is 200,000.[1] However, there's no other survey that supports this estimate.

Many Ainu live outside Hokkaido. A 1988 survey estimated that the population of Ainu living in Tokyo was 2,700.[160] According to a 1989 survey report on Utari living in Tokyo, it is estimated that the area around Tokyo alone exceeds 10% of Ainu living in Hokkaido, and there are more than 10,000 Ainu living in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

In addition to Japan and Russia, it was reported in 1992 that there was a descendant of Kuril Ainu in Poland, but there are also indications that it is a descendant of the Aleut.[162] On the other hand, the descendant of the children born in Poland by the Polish anthropologist Bronisław Piłsudski, who was the leading Ainu researcher and left a vast amount of research material such as photographs and wax tubes, was born in Japan.

According to a 2017 survey, the Ainu population in Hokkaido is about 13,000. This has dropped sharply from 24,000 in 2006, but this is because the number of members of the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, which is cooperating with the survey, has decreased, and interest in protecting personal information has increased. It is thought that the number of people who cooperated is decreasing, and that it does not match the actual number of people.[163]

Subgroups

These are unofficial sub groups of the Ainu people with location and population estimates. According to historical records and census only a small population of pure-blooded Ainu still exist. That amount continues to decrease. Many who claim Ainu heritage are multiracial.

Subgroup	Location	Description	Population	Year
Hokkaido Ainu	Hokkaido	Hokkaidō Ainu (the predominant community of Ainu in the world today): A Japanese census in 1916 returned 13,557 pure-blooded Ainu in addition to 4,550 multiracial individuals.[164] A 2017 survey says the Ainu population in Hokkaido is about 13,000. It decreased sharply from 24,000 in 2006.[163]	13,000	2017
Tokyo Ainu	Tokyo	Tokyo Ainu (a modern age migration of Hokkaidō Ainu highlighted in a documentary film released in 2010)[134] According to a 1989 survey, more than 10,000 Ainu live in the Tokyo metropolitan area.	10,000	1989
Tohoku Ainu	Tohoku	Tohoku Ainu (from Honshū, no officially acknowledged population exists): Forty-three Ainu households scattered throughout the Tohoku region were reported during the 17th century.[165] There are people who consider themselves descendants of Shimokita Ainu on the Shimokita Peninsula, while the people on the Tsugaru Peninsula are generally considered Yamato but may be descendants of Tsugaru Ainu after cultural assimilation.[166]	Extinct	17th century
Sakhalin Ainu	Sakhalin	Sakhalin Ainu: Pure-blooded individuals may be surviving in Hokkaidō. From both Northern and Southern Sakhalin, a total of 841 Ainu were relocated to Hokkaidō in 1875 by Japan. Only a few in remote interior areas remained, as the island was turned over to Russia. Even when Japan was granted Southern Sakhalin in 1905, only a handful returned. The Japanese census of 1905 counted only 120 Sakhalin Ainu (down from 841 in 1875, 93 in Karafuto and 27 in Hokkaidō). The Soviet census of 1926 counted 5 Ainu, while several of their multiracial children were recorded as ethnic Nivkh, Slav or Uilta. North Sakhalin: Only five pure-blooded individuals were recorded during the 1926 Soviet Census in Northern Sakhalin. Most of the Sakhalin Ainu (mainly from coastal areas) were relocated to Hokkaidō in 1875 by Japan. The few that remained (mainly in the remote interior) were mostly married to Russians as can be seen from the works of Bronisław Piłsudski.[167] Southern Sakhalin (Karafuto): Japanese rule until 1945. Japan evacuated almost all the Ainu to Hokkaidō after World War II. Isolated individuals might have remained on Sakhalin.[168] In 1949, there were about 100 Ainu living on Soviet Sakhalin.[169]	100 Sakhalin	1949
Northern Kuril Ainu	Northern Kuril islands	Northern Kuril Ainu (no known living population in Japan, existence not recognized by Russian government in Kamchatka Krai): Also known as Kurile in Russian records. Were under Russian rule until 1875. First came under Japanese rule after the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875). Major population was on the island of Shumshu, with a few others on islands like Paramushir. Altogether they numbered 221 in 1860. They had Russian names, spoke Russian fluently and were Russian Orthodox in religion. As the islands were given to the Japanese, more than a hundred Ainu fled to Kamchatka along with their Russian employers (where they were assimilated into the Kamchadal population).[169][170] Only about half remained under Japanese rule. To derussify the Kurile, the entire population of 97 individuals was relocated to Shikotan in 1884, given Japanese names, and the children were enrolled in Japanese schools. Unlike the other Ainu groups, the Kurile failed to adjust to their new surroundings and by 1933 only 10 individuals were alive (plus another 34 multiracial individuals). The last group of 20 individuals (including a few pure-bloods) were evacuated to Hokkaidō in 1941, where they vanished as a separate ethnic group soon after.[167]	Extinct	20th century
Southern Kuril Ainu	Southern Kuril islands	Southern Kuril Ainu (no known living population): Numbered almost 2,000 people (mainly in Kunashir, Iturup and Urup) during the 18th century. In 1884, their population had decreased to 500. Around 50 individuals (mostly multiracial) who remained in 1941 were evacuated to Hokkaidō by the Japanese soon after World War II.[169] The last full-blooded Southern Kuril Ainu was Suyama Nisaku, who died in 1956.[171] The last of the tribe (partial ancestry), Tanaka Kinu, died on Hokkaidō in 1973.[171]	Extinct	1973
Kamchatka Ainu	Kamchatka	Kamchatka Ainu (no known living population): Known as Kamchatka Kurile in Russian records. Ceased to exist as a separate ethnic group after their defeat in 1706 by the Russians. Individuals were assimilated into the Kurile and Kamchadal ethnic groups. Last recorded in the 18th century by Russian explorers.[90]	Extinct	18th century
Amur Valley Ainu	Amur River (Eastern Russia)	Amur Valley Ainu (probably none remain): A few individuals married to ethnic Russians and ethnic Ulchi reported by Bronisław Piłsudski in the early 20th century.[172] Only 26 pure-blooded individuals were recorded during the 1926 Russian Census in Nikolaevski Okrug (present-day Nikolayevsky District, Khabarovsk Krai).[173] Probably assimilated into the Slavic rural population. Although no one identifies as Ainu nowadays in Khabarovsk Krai, there are a large number of ethnic Ulch with partial Ainu ancestry.[174][175]	Extinct	20th century

In popular culture

• The characters Nakoruru, Rimururu, and Rera, from the SNK game series Samurai Shodown, are Ainu.
• The manga and anime series Golden Kamuy has an Ainu girl, Asirpa, as one of the protagonists, and features many aspects of Ainu culture.[176]
• The character Fredzilla from Big Hero 6 is of Ainu descent.
• The character Okuru from the anime series Samurai Champloo is the sole survivor of an Ainu village wiped out by disease.
• Usui Horokeu, also known as Horohoro, from Shaman King, is a member of an Ainu tribe.
• "Ainu" is a playable nation in the game Europa Universalis IV.
• The history of the island of Hokkaido, and of the Ainu people, are part of the plot of a chapter in Silver Spoon.[177]

See also

• Ainu-ken
• Akira Ifukube
• Bibliography of the Ainu
• Bikki Sunazawa
• Bronisław Piłsudski
• Constitution of Japan
• Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Emishi
  • Aterui
• Ethnocide
• Genocide of indigenous peoples
• Hiram M. Hiller, Jr.
• Indigenous peoples
• Kankō Ainu
• Takashi Ukaji
• Shigeru Kayano
• Nibutani Dam

Ainu culture

• Ainu music
• Ainu flag
• Ainu genre painting
• Ikupasuy
• Matagi
• Yukar

Ethnic groups in Japan

• Ethnic issues in Japan
  • Human rights in Japan
• Ryukyuan people
  • Ryūkyū independence movement
• Nivkhs
• Yamato people

References

1. Poisson, Barbara Aoki (2002). The Ainu of Japan. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-82254-176-9.
2. "Results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2010 in relation to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of individual nationalities". Federal State Statistics Service (in Russian). March 2019. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
   "2010 Census: Population by ethnicity". Federal State Statistics (in Russian). Archived from the original on April 24, 2012.
3. Gordon, Raymond G. Jr., ed. (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas: SIL International. ISBN 978-1-55671-159-6. OCLC 224749653.
4. Suzuki, Yuka (December 6, 2012). "Ryukyuan, Ainu People Genetically Similar". Asian Scientist. Archived from the original on June 16, 2016. Retrieved June 11, 2016.
5. Tajima, Atsushi; Hayami, Masanori; Tokunaga, Katsushi; Juji, Takeo; Matsuo, Masafumi; Marzuki, Sangkot; Omoto, Keiichi; Horai, Satoshi (April 1, 2004). "Genetic origins of the Ainu inferred from combined DNA analyses of maternal and paternal lineages". Journal of Human Genetics. 49 (4): 187–193. doi:10.1007/s10038-004-0131-x. PMID 14997363.
6. "Ainu Indigenous Source 1".
7. "Ainu Indigenous Source 2".
8. Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-521-36918-3. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved September 21, 2016.
9. Sato, Takehiro; et al. (2007). "Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis". Journal of Human Genetics. 52 (7): 618–627. doi:10.1007/s10038-007-0164-z. PMID 17568987.
10. Leeming, David (2001). The Dictionary of Asian Mythology. Oxford University Press. p. 10.
11. 第59回 交易の民アイヌ VII 元との戦い (in Japanese). Asahikawa City. June 2, 2010. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
12. "公益社団法人 北海道アイヌ協会". 公益社団法人北海道アイヌ協会 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved August 7, 2019.
13. Weiner, M., ed. (1997). Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41515-218-1.
14. "Island of the Spirits – Origins of the Ainu". NOVA Online. PBS. Archived from the original on April 29, 2008. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
15. Walker, Brett (2001). The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590–1800. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 49–56, 61–71, 172–176. ISBN 978-0-52022-736-1.
16. Lewallen (2016). The fabric of indigeneity : Ainu identity, gender, and settler colonialism in Japan. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp. 131–142. ISBN 978-0826357366.
17. Shelton, Dinah (2005). Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. 2. Macmillan Reference.
18. Howell, David (1997). "The Meiji State and the Logic of Ainu 'Protection'". In Hardacre, Helen (ed.). New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan. Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 614. ISBN 978-9-00410-735-9.
19. Sjöberg, Katarina (1993). The Return of the Ainu. Studies in Anthropology and History. 9. Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 978-3-71865-401-7.
20. Loos, Noel; Osani, Takeshi, eds. (1993). Indigenous Minorities and Education: Australian and Japanese Perspectives on their Indigenous Peoples, the Ainu, Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Tokyo: Sanyusha Publishing Co., Ltd. ISBN 978-4-88322-597-2.
21. Fogarty, Philippa (June 6, 2008). "Recognition at last for Japan's Ainu". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved June 7, 2008.
22. Siddle, Richard (1996). Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan. Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-41513-228-2.
23. Sjöberg, Katarina (1993). The Return of the Ainu. Studies in Anthropology and History. 9. Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers. p. 117. ISBN 978-3-71865-401-7.
24. Levinson, David (2002). Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. 1. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-684-80617-4.
25. Lewallen, Ann-Elise (October 2016). The Fabric of Indigeneity: Ainu Identity, Gender, and Settler Colonialism in Japan. University of New Mexico Press. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-8263-5737-3.
26. "アイヌ⇔ダブ越境！異彩を放つOKIの新作". HMV Japan (in Japanese). May 23, 2006. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2011.
27. Honna, Nobuyuki; Tajima, Hiroko Tina; Minamoto, Kunihiko (2000). "Japan". In Kam, Ho Wah; Wong, Ruth Y. L. (eds.). Language Policies and Language Education: The Impact in East Asian Countries in the Next Decade. Singapore: Times Academic Press. ISBN 978-9-81210-149-5.
28. Gupta, Aman (2005). Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Protecting the rights of indigenous peoples. Gyan Publishing House. ISBN 978-81-8205-275-8.
29. Ito, M. (June 7, 2008). "Diet officially declares Ainu indigenous". Japan Times. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
30. Murakami, Sakura (February 25, 2019). "Japan's Ainu recognition bill: What does it mean for Hokkaido's indigenous people?". The Japan Times. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
31. Emiko Jozuka. "Japan's Ainu will finally be recognized as indigenous people". CNN. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
32. "Ainu seek to showcase culture at 2020 Opening Ceremony". Asahi Shimbun. Archived from the original on March 22, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
33. "Tokyo Olympics: dance by Japan's indigenous people dropped from opening ceremony". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
34. "UPOPOY NATIONAL AINU MUSEUM and PARK". UPOPOY NATIONAL AINU MUSEUM and PARK. Archived from the original on May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
35. Deb, Soham (August 4, 2020). "Visitors can participate in traditional Ainu dance and try out indigenous cuisine". Outlook Traveller.
36. Камчадальские айны добиваются признания [Kamchadal Ainu seek recognition] (in Russian). vostokmediaTV. March 21, 2011. Archived from the original on October 15, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2015 – via YouTube.
37. Айны [Ainu]. Kamchatka-Etno (in Russian). 2008. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012.
38. В России снова появились айны – самый загадочный народ Дальнего востока [In Russia, the Ainu appear again – the most mysterious people of the Far East]. 5-tv.ru (in Russian). March 22, 2011. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
39. Айны – древние и таинственные [Ainu – ancient and mysterious]. russiaregionpress.ru (in Russian). March 22, 2011. Archived from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
40. Айны просят включить их в Единый перечень коренных народов России [Aina ask to be included in the Unified List of Indigenous Peoples of Russia]. severdv.ru (in Russian). July 5, 2011. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016.
41. Алексей Накамура [Alexey Nakamura]. nazaccent.ru (in Russian). January 17, 2012. Archived from the original on May 16, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
42. Skvortsov, Ivan (January 29, 2012). Айны – борцы с самураями [Ainu – wrestlers with samurai]. Сегодня.ру (in Russian). Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
43. Bogdanova, Svetlana (April 3, 2008). Без национальности: Представители малочисленного народа хотят узаконить свой статус [Without nationality: Representatives of a small number of people want to legitimize their status]. Rossiyskaya Gazeta (in Russian). Archived from the original on November 5, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
44. McCarthy, Terry (September 22, 1992). "Ainu people lay ancient claim to Kurile Islands: The hunters and fishers who lost their land to the Russians and Japanese are gaining the confidence to demand their rights". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
45. Yampolsky, Vladimir. Трагедия Российского Дальнего Востока [Tragedy of the Russian Far East]. Kamchatskoye Vremya (in Russian). Archived from the original on November 3, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
46. Представители малочисленного народа айну на Камчатке хотят узаконить свой статус [Representatives of the Ainu people in Kamchatka want to legitimize their status]. indigenous.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
47. "The Ainu: one of Russia's indigenous peoples". Voice of Russia. Archived from the original on March 5, 2012.
48. Tanaka, Takayuki (March 3, 2017). "Russian Ainu leader calls for greater respect". Nikkei Asian Review. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
49. Howells, William W. (1997). Getting Here: The Story of Human Evolution (New ed.). Washington, D.C.: Compass Press. ISBN 978-0-92959-016-5.
50. Denoon, Donald; McCormack, Gavan (2001). Multicultural Japan: Palaeolithic to Postmodern. Cambridge University Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-521-00362-9.
51. Sato, Takehiro; et al. (2007). "Origins and genetic features of the Okhotsk people, revealed by ancient mitochondrial DNA analysis". Journal of Human Genetics. 52 (7): 618–627. doi:10.1007/s10038-007-0164-z. PMID 17568987.
52. Lee, S.; Hasegawa, T. (2013). "Evolution of the Ainu Language in Space and Time". PLoS ONE. 8 (4): e62243. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...862243L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0062243. PMC 3637396. PMID 23638014.
53. "NOVA Online – of the Spirits – Origins of the Ainu". Archived from the original on April 29, 2008. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
54. Travis, John "Jomon Genes:Using DNA, researchers probe the genetic origins of modern Japanese", Science News February 15, 1997, Vol. 151, No. 7, p. 106 Travis, John (February 15, 1997). "Jomon genes: using DNA, researchers probe the genetic origins of modern Japanese". BNET. Archived from the original on January 22, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
55. Chisholm (1911).
56. Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca; Menozzi, Paolo; Piazza, Alberto (1994). The History and Geography of Human Genes. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-08750-4.
57. Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca; Menozzi, Paolo; Piazza, Alberto (1994). The History and Geography of Human Genes. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-691-08750-4.
58. Powell, Joseph F.; Rose, Jerome C. "Report on the Osteological Assessment of the Kennewick Man Skeleton (CENWW.97.Kennewick)". National Park Service. Archived from the original on October 15, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
59. Hudson, Mark J. (1999). Ruins of Identity: Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-82481-930-9.
60. Anthropological Science: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Nippon, Volume 101
61. Landor, Arnold Henry Savage (1893). Alone with the Hairy Ainu: or, 3,800 Miles on a Pack Saddle in Yezo and a Cruise to the Kurile Islands. London: John Murray. pp. 229–230. Archived from the original on January 15, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
62. Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko (1981). Illness and healing among the Sakhalin Ainu: a symbolic interpretation. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-521-23636-2.
63. Brace, C. Loring; Nelson, A. Russell; Seguchi, Noriko; Oe, Hiroaki; Sering, Leslie; Qifeng, Pan; Yongyi, Li; Tumen, Dashtseveg (August 14, 2001). "Old World sources of the first New World human inhabitants: A comparative craniofacial view". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 98 (17): 10017–10022. Bibcode:2001PNAS...9810017L. doi:10.1073/pnas.171305898. PMC 55570. PMID 11481450.
64. Kura, Kenya; Armstrong, Elijah L.; Templer, Donald I. (May 2014). "Cognitive function among the Ainu people". Intelligence. 44: 149–154. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2014.04.001.
65. Tajima, Atsushi; et al. (2004). "Genetic origins of the Ainu inferred from combined DNA analyses of maternal and paternal lineages". Journal of Human Genetics. 49 (4): 187–193. doi:10.1007/s10038-004-0131-x. PMID 14997363.
66. McDonald, J. D. (2005). "Y Haplogroups of the World Map" (PDF). University of Illinois. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2004. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
67. Mondal, Mayukh; Bergström, Anders; Xue, Yali; Calafell, Francesc; Laayouni, Hafid; Casals, Ferran; Majumder, Partha P.; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Bertranpetit, Jaume (April 25, 2017). "Y-chromosomal sequences of diverse Indian populations and the ancestry of the Andamanese". Human Genetics. 136 (5): 499–510. doi:10.1007/s00439-017-1800-0. hdl:10230/34399. PMID 28444560.
68. Matsumoto, Hideo (2009). "The origin of the Japanese race based on genetic markers of immunoglobulin G". Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B. 85 (2): 69–82. Bibcode:2009PJAB...85...69M. doi:10.2183/pjab.85.69. PMC 3524296. PMID 19212099.
69. Hammer, Michael F.; et al. (2006). "Dual origins of the Japanese: Common ground for hunter-gatherer and farmer Y chromosomes". Journal of Human Genetics. 51 (1): 47–58. doi:10.1007/s10038-005-0322-0. PMID 16328082.
70. Tanaka, Masashi; et al. (2004). "Mitochondrial Genome Variation in Eastern Asia and the Peopling of Japan". Genome Research. 14 (10A): 1832–1850. doi:10.1101/gr.2286304. PMC 524407. PMID 15466285.
71. Sato, Takehiro; Amano, Tetsuya; Ono, Hiroko; Ishida, Hajime; Kodera, Haruto; Matsumura, Hirofumi; Yoneda, Minoru; Masuda, Ryuichi (2009). "Mitochondrial DNA haplogrouping of the Okhotsk people based on analysis of ancient DNA: An intermediate of gene flow from the continental Sakhalin people to the Ainu". Anthropological Science. 117 (3): 171–180. doi:10.1537/ase.081202.
72. Uchiyama, Taketo; Hisazumi, Rinnosuke; Shimizu, Kenshi; et al. (2007). "Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation and Phylogenetic Analysis in Japanese Individuals from Miyazaki Prefecture". Japanese Journal of Forensic Science and Technology. 12 (1): 83–96. doi:10.3408/jafst.12.83.
73. 2017 度第４回日本海学講座 January 13, 2018 （土）富山県民会館611号室 14:00～15:30 「日本海地域における日本人の歴史－小竹貝塚出土人骨を中心として－ Archived April 20, 2019, at the Wayback Machine」 国立科学博物館 研究主幹 坂上和弘氏
74. 篠田謙一『日本人になった祖先たち—DNAから解明するその多元的構造』日本放送出版協会・NHKブックス、2007年 (in Japanese)
75. Shigematsu, Masahito; et al. (2004). "Morphological affinities between Jomon and Ainu: Reassessment based on nonmetric cranial traits". Anthropological Science. 112 (2): 161–172. doi:10.1537/ase.00092.
76. Jinam, Timothy A; Kanzawa-Kiriyama, Hideaki; Inoue, Ituro; Tokunaga, Katsushi; Omoto, Keiichi; Saitou, Naruya (July 16, 2015). "Unique characteristics of the Ainu population in Northern Japan". Journal of Human Genetics. 60 (10): 565–571. doi:10.1038/jhg.2015.79. PMID 26178428.
77. "オホーツク人". okhotsk.org. Archived from the original on July 12, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
78. Matsumoto, Hideo (2009). "The origin of the Japanese race based on genetic markers of immunoglobulin G". Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences. 85 (2): 69–82. Bibcode:2009PJAB...85...69M. doi:10.2183/pjab.85.69. PMC 3524296. PMID 19212099.
79. Jeong, Choongwon; Nakagome, Shigeki; Di Rienzo, Anna (January 2016). "Deep History of East Asian Populations Revealed Through Genetic Analysis of the Ainu". Genetics. 202 (1): 261–272. doi:10.1534/genetics.115.178673. PMC 4701090. PMID 26500257.
80. Kanzawa-Kiriyama, Hideaki; Kryukov, Kirill; Jinam, Timothy A; Hosomichi, Kazuyoshi; Saso, Aiko; Suwa, Gen; Ueda, Shintaroh; Yoneda, Minoru; Tajima, Atsushi; Shinoda, Ken-ichi; Inoue, Ituro; Saitou, Naruya (February 2017). "A partial nuclear genome of the Jomons who lived 3000 years ago in Fukushima, Japan". Journal of Human Genetics. 62 (2): 213–221. doi:10.1038/jhg.2016.110. PMC 5285490. PMID 27581845.
81. Kanzawa-Kiriyama, Hideaki; Kryukov, Kirill; Jinam, Timothy A; Hosomichi, Kazuyoshi; Saso, Aiko; Suwa, Gen; Ueda, Shintaroh; Yoneda, Minoru; Tajima, Atsushi; Shinoda, Ken-ichi; Inoue, Ituro; Saitou, Naruya (September 1, 2016). "A partial nuclear genome of the Jomons who lived 3000 years ago in Fukushima, Japan". Journal of Human Genetics. 62 (2): 213–221. doi:10.1038/jhg.2016.110. PMC 5285490. PMID 27581845.
82. Tokunaga, Katsushi; Ohashi, Jun; Bannai, Makoto; Juji, Takeo (September 2001). "Genetic link between Asians and native Americans: evidence from HLA genes and haplotypes". Human Immunology. 62 (9): 1001–1008. doi:10.1016/S0198-8859(01)00301-9. PMID 11543902.
83. Yoshiaki, Yoshimi (2015) [1987]. Grassroots Fascism: The War Experience of the Japanese People. Weatherhead Books on Asia. Translated by Ethan Mark. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 127. ISBN 9780231538596. OCLC 1047893815.
84. Steward, H. D. (1983). Recollections of a Regimental Medical Officer. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press. p. 107. ISBN 9780522842449.
85. Hohmann, S. (2008). "The Ainu's modern struggle". World Watch. 21 (6): 20–24.
86. Vovin, Alexander Vladimirovich (1993). A Reconstruction of Proto-Ainu. Leiden: Brill. p. 1. ISBN 978-9004099050. Archived from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2019. The Ainu language, almost extinct nowadays, is located on Hokkaidô, the northernmost island of the Japanese Archepelago. Several thousands of Ainu still live there, but there are no more than ten or twenty native speakers of this language among them.
87. Martin, Kylie (2011). "特集 超国家的枠組、標準化、ネットワーク化--ヨーロッパ、日本、アフリカの組織的多様性マネージメント" [Aynu itak: on the road to Ainu language revitalization]. Media and Communication Studies (in Japanese). 60: 57–93. NCID AA12286697.
88. Vanishing Languages of the Pacific Rim. Oxford, GB: OUP Oxford. January 1, 2007. pp. 377–382. ISBN 9780191532894.
89. Teeter, Jennifer Louise; Okazaki, Takayuki (2011). "Ainu as a Heritage Language of Japan: History, Current State and Future of Ainu Language Policy and Education". Heritage Language Journal. 8 (2): 96–114. ERIC EJ937154.
90. Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-0-521-36918-3.
91. "Ainu". omniglot.com. 2009. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
92.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ainu". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 441–442. Citations:
    • Rev. John Batchelor, The Ainu and their Folk-lore (London, 1901)
    • Isabella Bird (Mrs Bishop), Korea and her Neighbours (1898)
    • Basil Hall Chamberlain, Language, Mythology and Geographical Nomenclature of Japan viewed in the Light of Aino Studies and Aino Fairy-tales (1895)
    • Romyn Hitchcock, The Ainos of Japan (Washington, 1892)
    • H. von Siebold, Über die Aino (Berlin, 1881)
93. "Columbia River Basin". Bureau of Land Management. February 25, 2009. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009.
94. Katarina Sjoberg (October 31, 2013). The Return of Ainu: Cultural mobilization and the practice of ethnicity in Japan. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-35198-5.
95. "Check out Tokyo's only Ainu restaurant". Japan Today. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
96. ""Umizora No Haru", the restaurant where you can | Hokkaido Likers". www.hokkaidolikers.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
97. Nuttall, Mark (2012). Encyclopedia of the Arctic. Routledge. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-136-78680-8.
98. Phillipi, Donald L. (2015). Songs of Gods, Songs of Humans: The Epic Tradition of the Ainu. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-40087-069-1.
99. Ishikida, Miki Y. (2005). Living Together: Minority People and Disadvantaged Groups in Japan. iUniverse. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-59535-032-2.
100. West, Barbara A. (2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase Publishing. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-43811-913-7.
101. Pollard, Nick; Sakellariou, Dikaios (2012). Politics of Occupation-Centred Practice: Reflections on Occupational Engagement Across Cultures. John Wiley & Sons. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-11829-098-9.
102. Sjöberg, Katarina (2013). The Return of the Ainu. Routledge. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-13435-198-5.
103. Landor, Arnold Henry Savage (2012). Alone with the Hairy Ainu: or, 3,800 Miles on a Pack Saddle in Yezo and a Cruise to the Kurile Islands. Cambridge University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-10804-941-2.
104. Barceloux, Donald G. (2012). Medical Toxicology of Natural Substances: Foods, Fungi, Medicinal Herbs, Plants, and Venomous Animals. John Wiley & Sons. p. 1785. ISBN 978-1-11838-276-9.
105. Advances in Marine Biology. Academic Press. 1984. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-08057-944-3.
106. Poisson, Barbara Aoki (2002). The Ainu of Japan. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-82254-176-9.
107. Batchelor, John (1901). The Ainu and their folk-lore. London: The Religious Tract Society. p. 116. ISBN 9785871451199.
108. Walker, Brett (2006). The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590–1800. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-52024-834-2.
109. Siddle, Richard (2012). Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan. Routledge. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-13482-680-3.
110. Reilly, Kevin; Kaufman, Stephen; Bodino, Angela (2003). Racism: A Global Reader. M.E. Sharpe. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-76561-060-7.
111. "Ainu History and Culture". ainu-museum.or.jp. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
112. Ancient Japan. Social Studies School Service. 2006. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-56004-256-3.
113. Fitzhugh, William W.; Dubreuil, Chisato O. (1999). Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in association with University of Washington Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-96734-290-0.
114. Tribal: The Magazine of Tribal Art. Primedia Inc. 2003. pp. 76 & 78.
115. "Ainu History and Culture". Ainu Museum. Archived from the original on January 23, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
116. Fitzhugh, William W.; Dubreuil, Chisato O. (1999). Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in association with University of Washington Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-96734-290-0. Some glass beads were brought to the Ainu through trade with the Asian continent, but others were secretly made by the Matsumae clan at their headquarters in Hakodate.
117. Habu, Junko; Lape, Peter V.; Olsen, John W. (December 8, 2017). Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4939-6521-2.
118. Batchelor, John (1901). The Ainu and their folk-lore. London: The Religious Tract Society. p. 223. ISBN 9785871451199.
119. Goodrich, J. K. (April 1889). "Ainu Family Life and Religion". Popular Science. XXXVI: 85.
120. Poisson, Barbara Aoki (2002). The Ainu of Japan. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-82254-176-9.
121. Batchelor, John (1901). The Ainu and their folk-lore. London: The Religious Tract Society. p. 226. ISBN 9785871451199.
122. Refsing, Kirsten (2002). Early European Writings on Ainu Culture: Religion and Folklore. Psychology Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-70071-486-5.
123. Poisson, Barbara Aoki (2002). The Ainu of Japan. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-82254-176-9.
124. Landor, Arnold Henry Savage (2012). Alone with the Hairy Ainu: or, 3,800 Miles on a Pack Saddle in Yezo and a Cruise to the Kurile Islands. Cambridge University Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-10804-941-2.
125. Fitzhugh, William W.; Dubreuil, Chisato O. (1999). Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Arctic Studies Center, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in association with University of Washington Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0-96734-290-0. Ainu women's underclothes were called mour, literally "deer," a sort of one-piece dress with an open front, ...
126. Kindaichi, Kyōsuke (1941). Ainu Life and Legends. Board of Tourist Industry, Japanese Government Railways. p. 30. One is a nettle-hemp braid named pon kut (small sash) or ra-nn kut (under sash).
127. "Ainu History and Culture". ainu-museum.or.jp. Archived from the original on November 24, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
128. Norbert Richard Adami: Religion und Schaminismus der Ainu auf Sachalin (Karafuto), Bonn 1989, p. 40-42.
129. Batchelor, John (1901). The Ainu and their folk-lore. London: The Religious Tract Society. pp. 51–52. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
130. 北千島アイヌの改宗政策について Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine – 立命館大学
131. 樺太における宗教活動 北海道大学 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine スラブ研究センター ポタポワH.B.]
132. 樺太における宗教活動 北海道大学 Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine スラブ研究センター ポタポワH.B]
133. "Center for Ainu & Indigenous Studies". Hokkaido University. Archived from the original on September 1, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
134. "Documentary Film 'TOKYO Ainu'". 2kamuymintara.com. Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
135. "ドキュメンタリー映画　TOKYO アイヌ　首都圏アイヌ団体紹介". 2kamuymintara.com (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 1, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
136. "Joint seminar for Sami and Ainu research". arcticcentre.org. Archived from the original on February 16, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
137. "Ainu". japan-guide.com. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
138. Levin, Mark A. (2001). "Essential Commodities and Racial Justice: Using Constitutional Protection of Japan's Indigenous Ainu People to Inform Understandings of the United States and Japan". New York University Journal of International Law and Politics. 33: 445–446. SSRN 1635451.
139. Levin, Mark (1999). "Kayano et al. v. Hokkaido Expropriation Committee: 'The Nibutani Dam Decision'". International Legal Materials. 38: 394. doi:10.1017/S0020782900013061. SSRN 1635447.
140. Levin (2001), pp. 419, 447. sfnp error: multiple targets (3×): CITEREFLevin2001 (help)
141. Levin (2001), p. 443. sfnp error: multiple targets (3×): CITEREFLevin2001 (help)
142. Levin, Mark (2008). "The Wajin's Whiteness: Law and Race Privilege in Japan". Hōritsu Jihō. 80 (2). SSRN 1551462.
143. "Constitution of Japan (November 3, 1946)". Solon.org. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
144. "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights". Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008.
145. Yoshida Hitchingham, Masako (2000). "Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture and Dissemination of Knowledge Regarding Ainu Traditions – A Translation of the Ainu Shinpou" (PDF). Asian–Pacific Law & Policy Journal. 1 (1). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 13, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
     The law's original Japanese text is available at Wikisource.
146. Levin (2001), p. 467. sfnp error: multiple targets (3×): CITEREFLevin2001 (help)
147. "Database of Registered National Cultural Properties". Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on December 23, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
148. Levin & Tsunemoto, Oklahoma Law Review.
149. Siddle, Richard (1996). Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41513-228-2.
150. "Ainu Party". ainu-org.jp. Archived from the original on July 10, 2013.
151. "Ainu plan group for Upper House run". Japan Times. October 31, 2011. Archived from the original on April 27, 2012.
152. 参議院選挙 [House of Councillors election]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 9, 2012.
153. Walker, Brett (2001). The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590–1800. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-0-52022-736-1.
154. Siddle, Richard (1997). Japan's Minorities. London: Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-415-13008-0.
155. Shim, Karen (May 31, 2004). "Will the Ainu language die?". TalkingITGlobal. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
156. Yokoyama, Yuzuru (n.d.). "Human Right Issues on the Ainu People in Japan". China.org. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
157. "First nationwide survey on Ainu discrimination to be carried out". Japan Times. August 29, 2014. ISSN 0447-5763. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
158. 「昭和21年（1946年）12月19日、東京でデレヴャンコ中将と日本における連合国軍最高司令官代表ポール・J・ミューラー中将が、ソ連領とのその支配下にある地域からの日本人捕虜と民間人の本国送還問題に関する協定に署名した。協定では、日本人捕虜と民間人はソ連領とその支配下のある地域から本国送還されなければならない、と記されていた。日本市民はソ連領から自由意志の原則に基づいて帰還することが特に但し書きされていた。」（ネットワークコミュニティきたみ・市史編さんニュース №100 ヌプンケシ 平成17年1月15日発行）
159. "Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей" (in Russian). Archived from the original on July 3, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019., "Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей" (in Russian). Archived from the original on July 1, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
160. 北海道アイヌ協会 Archived May 18, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
161. 日本学術会議 2011. sfn error: no target: CITEREF日本学術会議2011 (help)
162. 「しかしアキヅキトシユキは実際には1975年の樺太・千島交換条約の際に千島に住んでいた90人のアレウト族の末裔だったのではないかと推測している。そのアイヌがどこのだれのことを示しているのかということに関してそれ以上の情報はでてこなかった」 David L. Howell (February 7, 2005). Geographies of Identity in Nineteenth-Century Japan. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520930872. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2014. 小坂洋右 (1992). 流亡: 日露に追われた北千島アイヌ|和書|要ページ番号. 北海道新聞社. ISBN 9784893639431.
163. "北海道のアイヌ、10年余で４割減　実態反映せず". 日本経済新聞. August 27, 2018. Archived from the original on September 6, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
164. Siddle, Richard (1996). Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41513-228-2.
165. 本多勝一 (2000). Harukor: An Ainu Woman's Tale. University of California Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-520-21020-2.
166. "VI　〈東北〉史の意味と射程". Joetsu University of Education (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
167. Howell, David L. (2005). Geographies of Identity in 19th Century Japan. University of California Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-520-24085-8.
168. "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года. Национальный состав населения по регионам РСФСР. дальне-Восточныи: Саxалинскии округ" [All-Union Population Census of 1926. National composition of the population by regions of the RSFSR. Far East: Sakhalin District]. Central Statistical Office of the USSR. 1929. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2011 – via Демоскоп Weekly.
169. Wurm, Stephen Adolphe; Mühlhäusler, Peter; Tyron, Darrell T. (1996). Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas: Maps. Walter de Gruyter. p. 1010. ISBN 978-3-11-013417-9.
170. Minichiello, Sharon (1998). Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues in Culture and Democracy, 1900–1930. University of Hawaii Press. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-8248-2080-0.
171. Harrison, Scott (2007). The Indigenous Ainu of Japan and the 'Northern Territories' Dispute (Thesis). hdl:10012/2765.
172. Piłsudski, Bronisław; Majewicz, Alfred F. (December 30, 2004). Materials for the Study of the Ainu Language and Folklore 2: Volume 3. Walter de Gruyter. p. 816. ISBN 978-3-11-017614-8.
173. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года. Национальный состав населения по регионам РСФСР. дальне-Восточныи: Николаевскии округ [All-Union Population Census of 1926. National composition of the population by regions of the RSFSR. Far East: Nikolaevsky District]. Central Statistical Office of the USSR. 1929. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2011 – via Демоскоп Weekly.
174. Shaman: an international journal for Shamanistic research, Volumes 4–5, p.155.
175. Piłsudski, Bronisław; Majewicz, Alfred F. (December 30, 2004). Materials for the Study of the Ainu Language and Folklore 2: Volume 3. Walter de Gruyter. p. 37. ISBN 978-3-11-017614-8.
176. Rogers, Krista (April 4, 2016). "Satoru Noda's Golden Kamuy manga series wins the 2016 Manga Taisho award". SoraNews24. Archived from the original on February 28, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
177. Donovan, Caitlin (October 7, 2014). "The Philosophy of Fullmetal Alchemist's Hiromu Arakawa". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on February 28, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.

Sources

• Japan Times. Ainu Plan Group for Upper House Run, October 31, 2011
• Hudson, Mark J (1999). "Ainu Ethnogenesis and the Northern Fujiwara". Arctic Anthropology. 36 (1/2): 73–83. JSTOR 40316506.
• Levin, Mark A. (2001). "Essential Commodities and Racial Justice: Using Constitutional Protection of Japan's Indigenous Ainu People to Inform Understandings of the United States and Japan". New York University Journal of International Law and Politics. 33: 419, 447. SSRN 1635451.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Further reading

• Batchelor, John (1901). "On the Ainu Term 'Kamui". The Ainu and Their Folklore. London: Religious Tract Society.
• Etter, Carl (2004) [1949]. Ainu Folklore: Traditions and Culture of the Vanishing Aborigines of Japan. Whitfish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4179-7697-3.
• Fitzhugh, William W.; Dubreuil, Chisato O. (1999). Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-97912-0. OCLC 42801973.
• Honda Katsuichi (1993). Ainu Minzoku (in Japanese). Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun Publishing. ISBN 978-4-02-256577-8. OCLC 29601145.
• Ichiro Hori (1968). Folk Religion in Japan: Continuity and Change. Haskell lectures on History of religions. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Junko Habu (2004). Ancient Jomon of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77670-7. OCLC 53131386.
• Hitchingham, Masako Yoshida (trans.), Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture & Dissemination of Knowledge Regarding Ainu Traditions, Asian-Pacific Law & Policy Journal, vol. 1, no. 1 (2000).
• Kayano, Shigeru (1994). Our Land Was A Forest: An Ainu Memoir. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-1880-7. ISBN 978-0-8133-1880-6.
• Landor, A. Henry Savage (1893). Alone with the Hairy Ainu. Or, 3,800 miles on a Pack Saddle in Yezo and a Cruise to the Kurile Islands. London: John Murray.
• Levin, Mark (2001). Essential Commodities and Racial Justice: Using Constitutional Protection of Japan's Indigenous Ainu People to Inform Understandings of the United States and Japan (2001). 33. New York University of International Law and Politics. p. 419. SSRN 1635451.
• Levin, Mark (1999). "Kayano et al. v. Hokkaido Expropriation Committee: 'The Nibutani Dam Decision'". International Legal Materials. 38: 394. doi:10.1017/S0020782900013061. SSRN 1635447.
• Siddle, Richard (1996). Race, Resistance and the Ainu of Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-13228-2. OCLC 243850790.
• Starr, Frederick (1905). "The Hairy Ainu of Japan". Proceedings of the Second Yearly Meeting of the Iowa Anthropological Association.
• Walker, Brett (2001). The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590–1800. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22736-1. OCLC 45958211.
• Article on the Ainu in Japan's Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity.
• John Batchelor (1901). The Ainu and their folk-lore. London: Religious Tract Society. p. 603. Retrieved March 1, 2012.(Harvard University)(Digitized January 24, 2006)
• John Batchelor (1892). The Ainu of Japan: the religion, superstitions, and general history of the hairy aborigines of Japan. London: Religious Tract Society. p. 336. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
• Basil Hall Chamberlain, ed. (1888). Aino Folk-Tales. Forgotten Books. ISBN 9781606200872. Retrieved March 1, 2012. 1606200879
• Basil Hall Chamberlain (1888). Aino folk-tales: By Basil Hall Chamberlain. With introduction by Edward B. Taylor. Publications of the Folklore Society. 22. Saxony: Privately printed for the Folk-lore Society. p. 57. Retrieved March 1, 2012 – via C.G. Röder, Ltd., Leipsic.(Indiana University) (digitized September 3, 2009)
• Batchelor, John; Miyabe, Kingo (1898). Ainu economic plants. 21. p. 43. Retrieved April 23, 2012. [Original from Harvard University Digitized Jan 30, 2008] [YOKOHAMA : R. MEIKLEJOHN & CO., NO 49.]

External links

Organizations

• Hokkaido Utari Kyokai/Ainu Association of Hokkaido (in Japanese and English)
• Sapporo Pirka Kotan Ainu Cultural Center
• Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture (centers located in Sapporo and Tokyo) (in Japanese and English)
• Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies
• Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Ainu in Samani, Hokkaidō

Museums and exhibits

• Smithsonian Institution
• The Boone Collection
• Nibutani Ainu Cultural Museum (in Japanese)
• The Ainu Museum at Shiraoi
• Ainu Komonjo (18th & 19th century records) – Ohnuki Collection
• The Regions: North America—Ainu–North American cultural similarities

Articles

• "Japan's Ainu hope new identity leads to more rights" in The Christian Science Monitor, June 9, 2008
• A Salmon's Life: An Incredible Journey (Columbia River basin, June 8, 2016)—Posterback Activities

Video

• "A Trip through Japan with the YWCA (ca. 1919)"—Rare Japanese video featuring Ainu
• The Ainu: The First Peoples of Japan. Old videos and photographs arranged by Rawn Joseph
• "The Despised Ainu People". The Ainus' Tense Relationship with Japan. 1994. Journeyman.tv