Ainus

The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Khabarovsk Krai. They have occupied these areas, known to them as "Ainu Mosir" (), since before the arrival of the modern Yamato and Russians. These regions are often referred to as and its inhabitants as in historical Japanese texts. Along with the Yamato and Ryukyu ethnic groups, the Ainu people are one of the primary historic ethnic groups of Japan.

Official surveys of the known Ainu population in Hokkaido received 11,450 responses in 2023, and the Ainu population in Russia was estimated at 300 in 2021. Unofficial estimates in 2002 placed the total population in Japan at 200,000 or higher, as the near-total assimilation of the Ainu into Japanese society has resulted in many individuals of Ainu descent having no knowledge of their ancestry.

The Ainu are one of the few ethnic minorities native to the Japanese islands. They were subject to forced assimilation and colonization by the Japanese since at least the 18th century. Japanese assimilation policies in the 19th century around the Meiji Restoration included forcing Ainu peoples off their land. This, in turn, forced them to give up traditional ways of life such as subsistence hunting and fishing. Ainu people were not allowed to practice their religion and were placed into Japanese-language schools, where speaking the Ainu language was forbidden. In 1966, there were about 300 native Ainu speakers; in 2008, there were about 100. In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to revitalize the Ainu language.

Names

This people's most widely known ethnonym, (; ; ), means 'human' in the Ainu language, particularly as opposed to , 'divine beings'. Ainu also identify themselves as ('comrades' or 'people'). Official documents use both names.

The name first appeared as in a 1591 Latin manuscript titled . This document gives the native name of Hokkaido as , or , 'land of the Ainu'. The terms and did not come into common use as ethnonyms until the early 19th century. The ethnonym first appeared in an 1819 German encyclopedia article. Neither European nor Japanese sources conceived of the Ainu as a distinct ethnic group until the late 1700s.

The Ainu were also called the Kuye by their neighbors. The Qing dynasty called Sakhalin ("island of the Ainu"). The island was also called . The word used by the Qing is "most probably related to ''kuyi'', the name given to the Sakhalin Ainu by their Nivkh and Nanai neighbors." When the Ainu migrated onto the mainland, the Chinese described a "strong Kui (or Kuwei, Kuwu, Kuye, Kugi, i.e. Ainu) presence in the area otherwise dominated by the Gilemi or Jilimi (Nivkh and other Amur peoples)." Related names were in widespread use in the region, for example the Kuril Ainu called themselves .

The Old Japanese exonym () was coined according to the ''Kojiki-den'' from ("shrimp") + ("barbarian") as a reference to their hairiness and savagery. The term is considered an insult by contemporary Ainu.

History

The Ainu are considered the native people of Hokkaido, southern Sakhalin, and the Kurils. Ainu toponyms support the historical view that the Ainu people lived in several places throughout northern Honshu. There is also a possibility that Ainu speakers lived throughout the Amur region as suggested by various Ainu loanwords found in the Uilta and Ulch languages. Ainu shares a number of cognates with Old Korean, that appear unlikely to be the result of a Japonic intermediary.

The ancestors of the Ainu, who were referred to as Emishi, came under Japanese subjugation starting in the 9th century and were pushed to the northern islands.

Ainu Culture period (Nibutani period)

Following the Zoku-Jōmon period, which began in the 5th century BC, and the subsequent Satsumon period, from around the 13th century the Ainu established their own culture by absorbing the surrounding culture while engaging in transit trade between Honshu and north-east Asia. This is called the Ainu Culture period or Nibutani period.

Active contact between the Wajin (ethnonym for Japanese, also known as Yamato people) and the Ainu of Ezogashima (now known as Hokkaido) began in this period. The Ainu formed a society of hunter-gatherers, surviving mainly by hunting and fishing. They followed a religion that was based on natural phenomena.

After the Mongols conquered the Jin dynasty (1234), Karafuto (Sakhalin)-Ainu suffered raids by the Nivkh and Udege peoples. In response, the Mongols established an administration post at Nurgan (present-day Tyr, Russia) at the junction of the Amur and Amgun rivers in 1263, and forced the submission of the two peoples. In 1264, the Karafuto-Ainu invaded the land of the Nivkh people. They 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.

From the Nivkh perspective, their surrender to the Mongols essentially established a military alliance against the Ainu who had invaded their lands. According to the ''History of Yuan'', a group of people known as the ''Guwei'' (, the phonetic approximation of the Nivkh name for Ainu) from Sakhalin invaded and fought with the Jilimi (Nivkh people) every year. On November 30, 1264, the Mongols attacked the Ainu. The Karafuto-Ainu resisted the Mongol invasions but by 1308 had been subdued. They paid tribute to the Mongol Yuan dynasty at posts in Wuliehe, Nanghar, and Boluohe.

The Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) placed Sakhalin under its "system for subjugated peoples" (). From 1409 to 1411 the Ming established an outpost called the Nurgan Regional Military Commission near the ruins of Tyr on the Siberian mainland, which continued operating until the mid-1430s. There is some evidence that the Ming eunuch Admiral Yishiha reached Sakhalin in 1413 during one of his expeditions to the lower Amur, and granted Ming titles to a local chieftain. Link is to partial text.

The Ming recruited headmen from Sakhalin for administrative posts such as commander (), assistant commander (), and "official charged with subjugation" (). In 1431, one such assistant commander, Alige, brought marten pelts as tribute to the Wuliehe post. In 1437, four other assistant commanders (Zhaluha, Sanchiha, Tuolingha, and Alingge) also presented tribute. According to the '' Ming Veritable Records'', these posts, like the position of headman, were hereditary and passed down the patrilineal line. During these tributary missions, the headmen would bring their sons, who later inherited their titles. In return for tribute, the Ming awarded them with silk uniforms.

Nivkh women in Sakhalin married Han Chinese Ming officials when the Ming took tribute from Sakhalin and the Amur River region. Due to Ming rule in Manchuria, Chinese cultural and religious influence such as Chinese New Year, the " Chinese god", and motifs such as dragons, spirals, and scrolls spread among the Ainu, Nivkh, and Amur natives such as the Udeghes, Ulchis, and Nanais. These groups also adopted material goods and practices such as agriculture, husbandry, heating, iron cooking pots, silk, and cotton.

The Manchu Qing dynasty, which came to power in China in 1644, called Sakhalin "Kuyedao" () or "Kuye Fiyaka" ( ). The Manchus called it "Sagaliyan ula angga hada" (Island at the Mouth of the Black River). The Qing first asserted influence over Sakhalin after the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk, which defined the Stanovoy Mountains as the border between the Qing and the Russian Empires. In the following year the Qing sent forces to the Amur estuary and demanded that the residents, including the Sakhalin Ainu, pay tribute. This was followed by several further visits to the island as part of the Qing effort to map the area. To enforce its influence, the Qing sent soldiers and mandarins across Sakhalin, reaching most parts of the island except the southern tip. The Qing imposed a fur-tribute system on the region's inhabitants.

The Qing dynasty established an office in Ningguta, situated midway along the Mudan River, to handle fur from the lower Amur and Sakhalin. Tribute was supposed to be brought to regional offices, but the lower Amur and Sakhalin were considered too remote, so the Qing sent officials directly to these regions every year to collect tribute and to present awards. By the 1730s, the Qing had appointed senior figures among the indigenous communities as "clan chief" (''hala-i-da'') or "village chief" (''gasan-da'' or ''mokun-da''). In 1732, 6 ''hala'', 18 ''gasban'', and 148 households were registered as tribute bearers in Sakhalin. Manchu officials gave tribute missions rice, salt, other necessities, and gifts during the duration of their mission. Tribute missions occurred during the summer months. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–95), a trade post existed at Delen, upstream of Kiji (Kizi) Lake, according to Rinzo Mamiya. There were 500–600 people at the market during Mamiya's stay there.

Local native Sakhalin chiefs had their daughters taken as wives by Manchu officials as sanctioned by the Qing dynasty when the Qing exercised jurisdiction in Sakhalin and took tribute from them.

Japanese colonization

In 1635, Matsumae Kinhiro, the second daimyō of Matsumae Domain in Hokkaidō, sent Satō Kamoemon and Kakizaki Kuroudo on an expedition to Sakhalin. One of the Matsumae explorers, Kodō Shōzaemon, stayed in the island in the winter of 1636 and sailed along the east coast to Taraika (now Poronaysk) in the spring of 1637. 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 groups competed with each other to import goods from the Japanese, and epidemic diseases such as smallpox reduced the population. In an early colonization attempt, a Japanese settlement was established at Ōtomari on Sakhalin's southern end in 1679.

In the 1780s, the influence of the Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate on the Ainu of southern Sakhalin increased significantly. By the beginning of the 19th century, the Japanese economic zone extended midway up the east coast, to Taraika. With the exception of the Nayoro Ainu located on the west coast in close proximity to China, most Ainu stopped paying tribute to the Qing dynasty. The Matsumae clan was nominally in charge of Sakhalin, but they neither protected nor governed the Ainu there. Instead they extorted the Ainu for Chinese silk, which they sold in Honshu as Matsumae's special product. To obtain Chinese silk, the Ainu fell into debt, owing much fur to the Santan (Ulch people), who lived near the Qing office. The Ainu also sold the silk uniforms (''mangpao'', ''bufu'', and ''chaofu'') given to them by the Qing, which made up the majority of what the Japanese knew as ''nishiki'' and ''jittoku''. As dynastic uniforms, the silk was of considerably higher quality than that traded at Nagasaki, and enhanced Matsumae prestige as exotic items. Eventually the Tokugawa government, realizing that they could not depend on the Matsumae, took control of Sakhalin in 1807.

From 1799 to 1806, the Tokugawa shogunate took direct control of southern Hokkaido. Japan proclaimed sovereignty over Sakhalin in 1807, and in 1809 Mamiya Rinzō claimed that it was an island. During this period, Ainu women were separated from their husbands and either subjected to rape or forcibly married to Japanese men. Meanwhile, Ainu men were deported to merchant subcontractors for five- and ten-year terms of service. Policies of family separation and assimilation, combined with the impact of smallpox, caused the Ainu population to drop significantly in the early 19th century. In the 18th century, there were 80,000 Ainu, but by 1868, there were only about 15,000 Ainu in Hokkaido, 2,000 in Sakhalin, and around 100 in the Kuril Islands.

Despite their growing influence in the area in the early 19th century as a result of these policies, the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to gain a monopoly on Ainu trade with those on the Asian mainland, even by the year 1853. Santan traders, a group composed mostly of the Ulchi, Nanai, and Oroch peoples of the Amur River, commonly interacted with the Ainu people independent of the Japanese government, especially in the northern part of Hokkaido. In addition to their trading ventures, Santan traders sometimes kidnapped or purchased Ainu women from Rishiri to become their wives. This further escalated Japan's presence in the area, as the Tokugawa shogunate believed a monopoly on the Santan trade would better protect the Ainu people.

Japanese annexation of Hokkaido

In 1869, the imperial government established the Hokkaidō Development Commission as part of the Meiji Restoration. Researcher Katarina Sjöberg quotes Yūko Baba's 1980 account of the Japanese government's reasoning:

As a result of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875), the Kuril Islandsalong with their Ainu inhabitantscame under Japanese administration. In 1899, the Japanese government passed an act labeling the Ainu as "former aborigines", with the idea that they would assimilate. This resulted in the Japanese government taking the land where the Ainu people lived and placing it under Japanese control. Also at this time, the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them the status of an indigenous group.

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. Their land was distributed to the Yamato Japanese settlers to create and maintain farms in the model of Western industrial agriculture. It was known as "colonization" (拓殖) at the time, but later by the euphemism, "opening up undeveloped land" (). Additionally, factories like flour mills and beer breweries, along with mining practices, resulted in the creation of infrastructure such as roads and railway lines during a development period that lasted until 1904. During this time, the Ainu were ordered to cease religious practices such as animal sacrifice and the custom of tattooing. The same act applied to the native Ainu on Sakhalin after its annexation as Karafuto Prefecture.

Assimilation after annexation

The Ainu have historically suffered from economic and social discrimination, as both the Japanese government and mainstream population regarded them as dirty and primitive barbarians. The majority of Ainu were forced to be petty laborers during the Meiji Restoration, which saw the introduction of Hokkaido into the Japanese Empire and the privatization of traditional Ainu lands. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Japanese government denied the rights of the Ainu to their traditional cultural practices, such as hunting, gathering, and speaking their native language.

The legal denial of Ainu cultural practices mostly stemmed from the 1899 Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act. This law and its associated policies were designed to fully integrate the Ainu into Japanese society while 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.

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 today are indistinguishable from their Japanese neighbors, but some Ainu-Japanese are interested in traditional Ainu culture. For example, Oki, born as the child of an Ainu father and a Japanese mother, became a musician who plays the traditional Ainu instrument, the . There are also many small towns in the southeastern or Hidaka region of Hokkaido where ethnic Ainu live, such as in Nibutani ().

From the early 1870s, Christian missionary work was conducted among the Ainu. The Anglican Communion missionaries included the Rt. Rev. Philip Fyson, Bishop of Hokkaido, and the Rev. John Batchelor. Batchelor wrote extensively in English about the beliefs and daily life of the Ainu in Yezo (or Ezo), and his publications are a source of photographs of the Japanese and Ainu close to the missions.

Standard of living

The discrimination and negative stereotypes assigned to the Ainu have manifested in lower levels of education, income, and participation in the economy as compared to their ethnically Japanese counterparts. The Ainu community in Hokkaido in 1993 received welfare payments at a 2.3 times higher rate than that of Hokkaido as a whole. They also 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. Due to this noticeable and growing gap, the Japanese government has been lobbied by activists to research the Ainu's standard of living nationwide. The Japanese government will provide ¥7 million (US$63,000), beginning in 2015, to conduct surveys nationwide on this matter.

Ainu and ethnic homogeneity in Japan

The existence of the Ainu has challenged the notion of ethnic homogeneity in post-WWII Japan. After the demise of the multi-ethnic Empire of Japan in 1945, successive governments forged a single Japanese identity by advocating monoculturalism and denying the existence of more than one ethnic group in Japan.

The Ainu were first recognised as an indigenous people in 1997, which began the process of claiming indigenous rights under national and international frameworks. Following the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, Hokkaido politicians pressured the government to recognize Ainu rights. Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo answered a parliamentary question on May 20, 2008, by stating,

On June 6, 2008, the National Diet of Japan passed a non-binding, bipartisan resolution calling upon the government to recognize the Ainu as indigenous people.

In 2019, eleven years after this resolution, the Diet finally passed an act recognizing the Ainu as an indigenous people of Japan. Despite this recognition of the Ainu as an ethnically distinct group, political figures in Japan continue to define ethnic homogeneity as key to the overall Japanese national identity. For example, then Deputy Prime Minister Tarō Asō notably claimed in 2020, "No other country but this one has lasted for as long as 2,000 years with one language, one ethnic group, and one dynasty."

Origins

The Ainu are regarded as having descended from the indigenous Japanese hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan during the Jōmon period ( 14,000 to 300 BCE).

The exact origins of the early Ainu remain unclear, but it is generally agreed to be linked to the Satsumon culture of the Epi-Jōmon period, with later influences from the nearby Okhotsk culture. The Ainu culture may be better described as an "Ainu cultural complex", taking into account the regional variable subgroups of Ainu peoples. While the Ainu can be considered a continuation of the indigenous Jomon culture, they also display links to surrounding cultures, pointing to a larger cultural complex flourishing around the Sea of Okhotsk. Some authors have also described the development of the Ainu culture as the "resistance" of a Jomon society to the emerging Japanese state.

One of their , or legends, tells that " e Ainu lived in this place a hundred thousand years before the Children of the Sun came."

The historical Ainu economy was based on farming as well as hunting, fishing, and gathering.

The general consensus among historians is to associate the Ainu with the Satsumon culture, which was located in an area stretching from northern Honshu to Hokkaido. Linguists such as Juha Janhunen and Alexander Vovin argue for a Satsumon origin of Ainu dialects, with deeper links to cultures centered in Central or Northern Honshu. This is in part supported by Ainu-derived loanwords observed in Eastern Old Japanese and the probable distant link between the Ainu and the Emishi.

It has also been noted that the Okhotsk culture played a role in the formation of the later Ainu culture. The origin of the Okhotsk culture itself is subject to research. While Okhotsk remains display affinity to the modern Nivkh people of northern Sakhalin, both also display affinities to the Jōmon peoples of Japan, pointing to a possible heterogeneous makeup of Okhotsk society. Satsumon pottery has been found among Okhotsk sites, pointing to a complex network of contacts in the wider area around the Sea of Okhotsk.

The emergence of the Ainu culture is henceforth primarily attributed to the Satsumon culture, which later received some contributions from the Okhotsk culture via cultural contacts in northern Hokkaido after the Satsumon culture expanded northwards and into Sakhalin. This view has been corroborated by later analyses.

Relationship with the historical Emishi

While the view that the ancient Emishi were identical to the Ainu has been largely disproven by current research, the exact relationship between them is still under dispute. It is agreed that at least some Emishi spoke Ainu languages and were ethnically related to the Ainu. The Emishi may, however, have also included non-Ainu groups, which can either be associated with groups distantly related to the Ainu (Ainu-like groups) but forming their own ethnicity, or early Japonic-speakers outside the influence of the Yamato court. The Emishi display clear material culture links to the Ainu of Hokkaido. Based on Ainu-like toponyms throughout Tohoku, it is argued that the Emishi, like the Ainu, descended from the Epi-Jōmon tribes and initially spoke Ainu-related languages.

The term "Emishi" in the Nara period (710–794) referred to people who lived in the Tohoku region and whose lifestyle and culture differed markedly from that of the Yamato people; it was originally a highly cultural and political concept with no racial distinction.

From the mid-Heian period onward, Emishi who did not fall under the governance of the Yamato Kingship were singled out as northern Emishi. They began to be referred to as "Ezo" (Emishi).

The first written reference to "Ezo", which is thought to be Ainu, can be found in '' Suwa Daimyōjin Ekotoba'', which was written in 1356. Indeed, Ainu have lived in Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Hokkaido, and the northern Tohoku region since the 13th century.

Genetics

Paternal lineages

An analysis of 16 Ainu male individuals found that the majority (14/16) belong to Y-DNA Haplogroup D-M55, while a minority (2/16) belongs to Haplogroup C-M217. D-M55 is found throughout the Japanese archipelago, with very high frequencies among the Ainu of Hokkaido. C-M217 is found more commonly among populations from Northeast Asia and Central Asia. Another analysis found that one out of four Ainu men belonged to haplogroup C-M217, while the remaining three belonged to haplogroup D-M55.

Maternal lineages

An analysis of 51 Ainu individuals found that around 51% of their mtDNA subclades are unique to the Ainu, while the remaining haplogroups are shared with other Asian populations, especially with the Nivkhs in northern Sakhalin and the Koryaks on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Of the 51 Ainu individuals, around 27% (14/51) belong to N9 (of which 10 were assigned to subclade Y and four to unclassifed N9 clades), around 24% (12/51) to D, around 20% (10/51) to M7, and around 20% (10/51) to G; the minor haplogroups are A (2/51), B (1/51), F (1/51), and an unclassified subclade of M not belonging to M7, M8, CZ, D, or G.

Autosomal DNA

The Ainu appear genetically most closely related to the Jōmon period peoples of Japan. Previous genetic analyses of Jomon remains found them to represent a deeply diverged East Asian lineage. The Jomon lineage is inferred to have diverged from Ancient East Asians before the divergence between Ancient Northern East Asians and Ancient Southern East Asians, but after the divergence of the basal Tianyuan man and/or Hoabinhians. Beyond their broad affinity with Eastern Asian lineages, the Jomon also display a weak affinity for Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), which may be associated with the introduction of microblade technology to Northeast Asia and northern East Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum via the ANE or Ancient Paleo-Siberians.

The genetic makeup of the Ainu represents a "deep branch of East Asian diversity". Compared to contemporary East Asian populations, the Ainu share "a closer genetic relationship with northeast Siberians". The Ainu also display a relative closer genetic affinity with "lowland East Asians" than "highland East Asians" and may have contributed some ancestry to surrounding populations around the Sea of Okhotsk. Differences in the frequency of the derived EDAR gene variant between the Ainu and contemporary East Asians suggest that the ancestors of the Ainu may not have shared the selective pressures with other Ancestral East Asian populations. The Ainu, however, share two variants in the ADH gene cluster with other East Asians at high frequency, unlike Tibetans and Sherpa, "raising the possibility that selective pressure on these variants was different in the high-altitude environments."

The closest modern ethnic groups to the Ainu are the Ryukyuans in southern Japan, followed by contemporary Japanese people. Compared with other East Asian populations, the Ainu are an outgroup, pointing to long-lasting isolation after their divergence. By analyzing the SNP loci of Ainu individuals, it was found that they carry genes associated with facial structure found among Europeans and hair and tooth morphology found among East Asians. Genetic analyses of HLA I and HLA II genes as well as HLA-A, B, and DRB1 gene frequencies placed the Ainu in an intermediate position between indigenous peoples of the Americas and contemporary Northeast Asians.

Studies on modern-day Ainu estimate that they derive between 66% and 79.3% of their ancestry from the Jōmon lineage. Another study on modern Ainu individuals found that they derive c. 49% of their ancestry directly from the Jōmon people, c. 22% from the Okhotsk people (who themselves could be modeled as 54% Ancient Northeast Asian, 22% Ancient Paleo-Siberian, and 24% Jōmon), and ~29% from the Yamato Japanese (who carried around 11% Jōmon and 89% Yayoi ancestry), corresponding with historical events.

Military service

Russo-Japanese War

Ainu men were first recruited into the Japanese military in 1898. 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.

Culture

Traditional Ainu culture is quite different from Japanese culture. According to Tanaka Sakurako from the University of British Columbia, the Ainu culture can be included into a wider "northern circumpacific region", referring to various indigenous cultures of Northeast Asia and "beyond the Bering Strait" in North America. The Ainu culture developed from the 13th century (late Kamakura period) to the present day. While most Ainu in Japan now live outwardly similar lives to the Wajin (ethnic Japanese) due to assimilation policies, many still maintain their Ainu identity and respect for traditional Ainu ways, known as "Ainu puri". The distinctive Ainu patterns (Ainu mon'yō) and oral literature (Yukar) have been designated as Hokkaido Heritage.

Language

In 2008, the news block '' World Watch'' gave an estimate of fewer than 100 remaining speakers of the Ainu language. In 1993, linguist Alexander Vovin placed the number at fewer than 15 speakers, characterizing the language as "almost extinct". Because so few present-day speakers are left, study of the Ainu language is limited and is based largely on historical research. Historically, the status of the Ainu language was rather high and was used by early Russian and Japanese administrative officials to communicate with each other and with the Ainu people.

Despite the small number of native speakers of Ainu, there is an active movement to revitalize the language, mainly in Hokkaido but also elsewhere, such as in Kanto. Ainu oral literature has been documented both in hopes of safeguarding it for future generations and for use as a teaching tool for language learners. As of 2011, there were an increasing number of second-language learners, especially in Hokkaido.

The resurgence of Ainu culture and language is in large part due to the pioneering efforts of the late Ainu folklorist, activist, and former Diet member Shigeru Kayano, himself a native speaker. He first opened an Ainu language school in 1987, funded by Ainu Kyokai.

Although some researchers have attempted to show that the Ainu and Japanese languages are related, modern scholars have rejected the idea that the relationship goes beyond contact, such as the mutual borrowing of words. 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. Most Ainu people speak either Japanese or Russian.

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

Many of the Ainu dialects, especially those from different extremities of Hokkaido, are not mutually intelligible. However, all Ainu speakers understand the classic Ainu language of the , a form of Ainu epic. Without a writing system, the Ainu were masters of narration, with the and other forms of narration such as () tales being committed to memory and related at gatherings that often lasted many hours or even days.

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

Social structure

Ainu society was traditionally organized into small villages called kotan, typically located in river basins or along seashores where food was readily available, particularly in rivers where salmon traveled upstream. In early modern times, Ainu were forced to relocate their kotan near Japanese fishing grounds to provide labor. As a result, traditional kotan disappeared, and large villages of several dozen families were formed around fishing grounds. The Ainu social structure included chiefs, but judicial functions were not entrusted to them. Instead, an indefinite number of community members sat in judgment upon 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 their feet were severed.

Appearance and dress

Never shaving after a certain age, the men have full beards and moustaches. Men and women alike cut their hair level with the shoulders at the sides of the head, trimmed semi-circularly behind. The women tattoo () their mouths and sometimes their forearms. The mouth tattoos start at a young age with a small spot on the upper lip, gradually increasing in size. The soot deposited on a pot hung over a fire of birch bark is used for color.
Traditional Ainu dress consists of a robe spun from the inner bark of the elm tree, called or . The various styles consist generally of a simple short robe with straight sleeves, folded around the body, and tied with a band around the waist. The sleeves end at the wrist or forearm, and the length generally is to the calves. Women also wear an undergarment of Japanese cloth. 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)
In winter, the skins of animals are worn, with leggings of deerskin and, in Sakhalin, boots made from the skin of dogs or salmon. Ainu culture regards earrings, traditionally made from grapevines, as gender-neutral. Women also wear a beaded necklace called a tamasay. Modern craftswomen weave and embroider traditional garments that command very high prices.

Dwellings and Structures

Their traditional habitations are reed-thatched huts, the largest about square, without partitions and having a fireplace in the center. There is no chimney; there is only a hole at the angle of the roof. One window sits on the eastern side, along with two doors. The house of the village head is used as a public meeting-place when one is needed.
Another kind of traditional Ainu house is called . The "chise" or dwelling is typically oriented east to west or parallel to a river, with the entrance on the west side also serving as a storeroom. It has three windows, including the sacred rorun-puyar on the east side, through which gods enter and leave and ceremonial tools are taken in and out. The Ainu regard this window as sacred and are told never to look in through it. A chise has a fireplace near the entrance. A husband and wife would traditionally sit on the fireplace's left side (called shiso). Children and guests would sit facing them on the fireplace's right side (called harkiso). The chise has a platform for valuables called iyoykir behind the shiso. The Ainu place sintoko (hokai) and ikayop (quivers) there. additionally there is the "Chashi" or hilltop fortification. These were found mostly around Hokkaidō, Japan. These structures served as defensive strongholds and symbolic centers for Ainu communities. The term "Chashi" comes from the Ainu word "casi," meaning palisade or fortified compound. The "okuriba" or sacred site, was another structure that has great value to the Ainu people. it refers to a sacred ritual platform used in Ainu funerary customs. it was used to help send off the spirits of the deceased. The Okuriba was typically a raised platform where offerings were placed. the Ainu people believed that these offerings helped the deceased transition to the Spirit World.

Cuisine

Traditional Ainu cuisine consists of the meat of bears, foxes, wolves, badgers, oxen, and horses, as well as fish, fowl, millet, vegetables, herbs, and roots. The Ainu traditionally never eat raw fish or meat, always boiling or roasting it. They also cultivated crops such as millet (piyapa), foxtail millet (munchiro), and barnyard millet (menkur), which were used to make a type of sake called "tonoto" for ceremonial purposes.
Salmon was particularly important, referred to as kamuy chep (god's fish) or shipe (true food). In autumn, large quantities of salmon were caught and processed into dried fish for preservation. This served not only as a staple food but also as a major trade item with the Japanese. The Ainu also made extensive use of the bulbs of the Cardiocrinum cordatum (turep), from which they extracted and preserved starch. This tradition of starch usage made it easy for them to adopt potatoes when they were introduced. Ainu cuisine is not commonly eaten outside Ainu communities. Only a few restaurants in Japan – mainly in Tokyo and Hokkaido – serve traditional Ainu dishes.

Hunting

The Ainu traditionally hunt from late autumn to early summer, in part because in late autumn, plant gathering, salmon fishing, and other activities of securing food come to an end, and hunters readily find game in fields and mountains in which plants have withered. A village typically possesses a hunting-ground of its own, or several villages use a joint hunting territory, called an . Heavy penalties were imposed on any outsiders trespassing on such hunting grounds or on joint hunting territory. The Ainu traditionally hunt Ussuri brown bears, Asian black bears, Ezo deer (a subspecies of sika deer), hares, red foxes, Japanese raccoon dogs, and other animals. Ezo deer are a particularly important food resource for the Ainu, as are salmon. The Ainu also hunt sea eagles, such as white-tailed sea eagles, along with ravens and other birds. The Ainu hunted eagles for their tail feathers, which they used in trade with the Japanese. Historically, the Ainu hunted sea-otters and traded their pelts in the Japanese market.

The Ainu hunted with arrows and spears with poison-coated points. They obtained the poison, called , from the roots and stalks of aconites. 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.
They traditionally hunt in groups with dogs. Before hunting, particularly for bears and similar animals, they may pray to the , the house guardian goddess, to convey their wishes for a large catch and to the god of mountains for safe hunting. The Ainu traditionally hunt bears during the spring thaw. At that time, bears are weak because they haven't eaten during their long hibernation. Ainu hunters catch hibernating bears or bears that have just left hibernation dens. When they hunt bears in summer, they use a spring trap loaded with an arrow, called an . The Ainu usually use arrows to hunt deer. Also, they drive deer into a river or sea and shoot them with arrows. For a large catch, a whole village would drive a herd of deer off a cliff and club them to death.

Fishing

Fishing is important to Ainu culture. They largely catch trout in summer and salmon in autumn, as well as ( Japanese huchen), dace, and other fish. Spears called were often used. Other methods were fishing, fishing, and 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.

Japanese lacquerware

Japanese lacquerware was used in everyday life as tableware and often used in ceremonies (ritual utensils), such as the cups used to offer alcohol when praying to the kamui. Lacquerware was often treated as treasure, and it was also used as containers for storing other treasures.

One of the characteristics of Ainu lacquerware is that it is almost entirely imported from the south of Honshu. Some pieces may have been lacquered in Matsumae in southern Hokkaido, but since the technique of lacquering is from Honshu, lacquerware can be considered an introduced item among Ainu folk implements.

There are examples of spatulas and other objects used by the Ainu people for ceremonial purposes that remain in clusters of the same size, and some are specifically produced for trading with the Ainu.

Ornaments

Traditionally, Ainu men wear a crown called a for important ceremonies. are made from wood fiber with bundles of partially shaved wood. The crown has wooden figures of animal gods and other ornaments in its center. Men carry an (ceremonial sword) secured by an strap to their shoulders.

Ainu women traditionally wear , embroidered headbands, and , metal earrings with balls. and were originally also worn by men. Furthermore, aprons called are now part of women's formal clothes. However, some old documents state that men wore . Women sometimes wear a bracelet called a .

Women may wear a necklace called a , a long, narrow strip of cloth with metal plaques. They may also wear a necklace that reaches the breast, called a or , 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.

Housing

A village is called a in the Ainu language. were traditionally located in river basins and along seashores where food was readily available, particularly in the basins of rivers through which salmon traveled upstream. In early modern times, the Ainu people were forced to labor at Japanese fishing grounds. Ainu were also forced to relocate to near fishing grounds so that the Japanese could secure a labor force. When the Japanese moved to other fishing grounds, Ainu were forced to accompany them. As a result, the traditional disappeared, and large villages of several dozen families were formed around the fishing grounds.

or (houses) in a are made of cogon grass, bamboo grass, bark, etc. The length lays east to west or parallel to a river. A is about seven by five meters, with an entrance at the west end that also serves as a storeroom. A has three windows, including the , a window located on the side facing the entrance (i.e., on the east side), through which gods enter and leave and ceremonial tools are taken in and out. The Ainu regard this window as sacred and are told never to look in through it. A has a fireplace near the entrance. A husband and wife would traditionally sit on the fireplace's left side (called ). Children and guests would sit facing them on the fireplace's right side (called ). The has a platform for valuables called behind the . The Ainu place () and (quivers) there.

File:PSM V33 D514 Ainu houses.jpg, Ainu (from ''Popular Science Monthly, Volume 33'', 1888)
File:PSM V33 D517 Plan of an ainu house.jpg, Plan of an Ainu
File:Japan Hokkaido Ainu traditional house ”cise”2 2023.jpg, Gathering place around a fireplace
File:National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka - Interior of the house of Ainu - Saru River basin, Hokkaidô.jpg, Interior of a in the Saru River basin

Traditions

The Ainu people have various types of marriage. A child is traditionally promised in marriage by arrangement between their parents and the parents of their betrothed, or by a go-between. When the betrothed reach a marriageable age, they are told who their spouse is to be. There are also traditional marriages based on the mutual consent of both sexes. In some areas, when a daughter reaches a marriageable age, her parents allow her to live in a small room called a , annexed to the southern wall of the house. The parents choose her husband from the men who visit her.

The age of marriage is 17 to 18 years of age for men and 15 to 16 years of age for women, who are traditionally tattooed. At these ages, both sexes are regarded as adults.

When a man proposes to a woman in traditional fashion, he visits her house, and she hands him a full bowl of rice. He then eats half of the rice and returns the rest to her. If the woman eats the remaining rice, she accepts his proposal. If she does not and instead puts it beside her, she rejects his proposal. When a man and woman become engaged or learn that their engagement has been arranged, they exchange gifts. The man sends her a small engraved knife, a workbox, a spool, and other gifts. She sends him embroidered clothes, coverings for the back of the hand, leggings, and other handmade clothes.

The worn-out fabric of old clothing is used for baby clothes because soft cloth is good for their skin. Additionally, worn-out material was thought to protect babies from the gods of illness and demons, due to these entities' abhorrence of dirty things. Before a baby is breast-fed, they are given a decoction of the endodermis of an alder and the roots of butterburs to discharge impurities. Children are raised almost naked until about the ages of four to five. Even when they wear clothes, they do not wear belts and leave the front of their clothes open. Subsequently, they wear bark clothes without patterns, such as , until they come of age.

Ainu babies traditionally are not given permanent names when they are born. Rather, they are called by various temporary names until the age of two or three.
Newborn babies are named ("a baby's crying"), , ("small excrement"), and ("old excrement"). Their tentative names have a portion meaning "excrement" or "old things" to ward off the demon of ill-health. Some children are named based on their behavior or habits; others are named after notable events or after their parents' wishes for their future. When children are named, they are never given the same names as others.

Men traditionally wear loincloths and have their hair dressed properly for the first time at age 15 to 16. Women are also considered adults at the age of 15 to 16. They traditionally wear underclothes called and have their hair dressed properly, with wound waistcloths called and around their bodies.
When women reached the age of 12 or 13, the lips, hands, and arms were traditionally tattooed. When they reached the age of 15 or 16, their tattoos would be completed, indicating their qualification for marriage.

Religion

The Ainu are traditionally animists,believing that everything in nature has a (spirit or god) on the inside. The most important include:
* , goddess of the hearth
* , god of bears and mountains
* , god of the sea, fishing, and marine animals
* , regarded as the creator of the world in the Ainu religionNorbert Richard Adami: ''Religion und Schaminismus der Ainu auf Sachalin (Karafuto)'', Bonn 1989, p. 40-42.

Ainu craftsmen, and the Ainu as a whole, traditionally believed that "anything made with deep sincerity was imbued with spirit and also became a []". They also held the belief that ancestors and the power of the family could be invoked through certain patterns in art to protect them from malignant influences.

The Ainu religion has no priests by profession. Instead, the village chief performs whatever religious ceremonies are necessary. Ceremonies are confined to making libations of , saying prayers, and offering willow sticks with wooden shavings attached to them. These sticks are called (singular) and (plural).

They are placed on an altar used to "send back" the spirits of killed animals. Ainu ceremonies for sending back bears are called which dates back to AD 11. This ritual took place over several years and included the capture of a bear cub, who was then raised as a member of the family. Eventually, they would ritually kill the bear. Since they treated the bear well in life, the Ainu believed that in death, the spirit of the bear would ensure the well-being of its adoptive community. The Ainu people give thanks to the gods before eating and pray to the deity of fire in times of sickness. Traditional Ainu belief holds that their spirits are immortal and that their spirits will be rewarded hereafter by ascending to (Land of the Gods).

The Ainu are part of a larger collective of indigenous people who practice "arctolatry", or bear worship. The Ainu believe that the bear holds particular importance as 's chosen method 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 many islands float, 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.

Ainu assimilated into mainstream Japanese society have adopted Buddhism and Shintō; some northern Ainu were converted as members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Regarding Ainu communities in Shikotan and other areas that fall within the Russian sphere of cultural influence, there have been a few churches constructed, and some Ainu are reported to have accepted the Christian faith. There have also been reports that the Russian Orthodox Church has performed some missionary projects in the Sakhalin Ainu community. However, there are only reports of a few conversions to Christianity. Converts have been scorned as (Russian Ainu) by other members of the Ainu community. Reports indicate that many Ainu have kept their faith in their traditional deities.

According to a 2012 survey conducted by Hokkaido University, a high percentage of Ainu are members of their household family religion, which is Buddhism (especially Buddhism). However, it is noted that, similar to the Japanese religious consciousness, there is not a strong feeling of identification with a particular religion, with Buddhist and traditional beliefs both being part of their daily lives.

Another religious-based practice was the Kamuy Puyara or Sacred Windows. Ainu homes, called chise, contained a special window through which sacred offerings were made. Excavations of Pre-Modern Ainu settlements (13th–17th century) show burials and house orientations aligned with spiritual beliefs.

Rituals

The Ainu religion consists of a pantheistic animist structure in which the world is founded on interactions between humans and . Within all living beings, natural forces, and objects, there is a (sacred life force) that is an extension of a greater . are gods or spirits that choose to visit the human world in temporary physical forms, both animate and inanimate, within the human world. Once the physical vessel dies or breaks, the returns to the and leaves its physical form behind as a gift to humans. If the humans treated the vessel and with respect and gratitude, then the would return out of delight for the human world. Due to this interaction, the Ainu lived with deep reverence for nature and all objects and phenomena in the hopes that the would return. The Ainu believed that the granted humans objects, skills, and knowledge to use tools, and thus deserve respect and worship. Daily practices included the moderation of hunting, gathering, and harvesting to not disturb the . Often, the Ainu would make offerings of an (sacred shaved stick), which usually consisted of whittled willow tree wood with decorative shavings still attached, and wine to the . They also built sacred altars called (a fence-like row of taller Inau decorated with bear skulls), separated from the main house and raised storehouses and often observed outdoor rituals.

The Ainu observed a ritual that would return , a divine or spiritual being in Ainu mythology, to the spiritual realm. This sending ritual was called Omante. A bear cub would be captured alive during hibernation and raised in the village as a child. Women would care for the cubs as if they were their children, sometimes even nursing them if needed. Once the bears reached maturity, they would hold another ritual every 5 to 10 years called Iomante (sometimes Iyomante). People from neighboring villages were invited to help celebrate this ritual, in which members of the village would send the bear back to the realm of spirits by gathering around it in a central area and using special ceremonial arrows to shoot it. Afterwards, they would eat the meat. However, in 1955, this ritual was outlawed as animal cruelty. In 2007, it became exempt due to its cultural significance to the Ainu. The ritual has since been modified; it is now an annual festival. The festival begins at sundown with a torch parade. A play is then performed, and this is followed by music and dancing.

Other rituals were performed for things such as food and illness. The Ainu had a ritual to welcome the salmon, praying for a big catch, and another to thank the salmon at the end of the season. There was also a ritual for warding off that would bring epidemics, using strong-smelling herbs placed in doorways, windows, and gardens to turn away epidemic . Similarly to many religions, the Ainu also gave prayers and offerings to their ancestors in the spirit world or afterlife. They would also pray to the fire to deliver their offerings of broken snacks and fruit, as well as tobacco.

=Dancing in rituals

=
Traditional dances are performed at ceremonies and banquets. Dancing is a part of the newly organized cultural festivals, and it is even done privately in daily life. Ainu traditional dances often involve large circles of dancers, and sometimes there are onlookers that sing without musical instruments. In rituals, these dances are intimate; they involve the calls and movements of animals and/or insects. Some, like the sword and bow dances, are rituals that were used to worship and give thanks for nature. This was to thank deities that they believed were in their surroundings. There was also a dance in Iomante that mimicked the movements of a living bear. However, some dances are improvised and meant just for entertainment. Overall, Ainu traditional dancing reinforced their connection to nature and the religious world and provided a link to other Arctic cultures.

=Funerals

=
When a person dies, their soul is thought to travel through the hearth of Kamuy Fuchi, the goddess of fire, to the afterlife. Burial customs included dressing the deceased in ceremonial clothing and surrounding them with their treasured possessions, which were intentionally broken to release their spirits. Funerals also included prayers and offerings to the fire , as well as verse laments expressing wishes for a smooth journey to the next world. Sometimes a burial would be followed by burning the residence of the dead. In the event of an unnatural death, there would be a speech raging against the gods. The graves were often isolated and were marked by carved poles called "kuwa." These practices reflect the Ainu's deep spiritual beliefs and their connection to nature and the divine.

In the afterlife, recognized ancestral spirits moved through and influenced the world, though neglected spirits would return to the living world and cause misfortune. Prosperity of family in the afterlife would depend on prayers and offerings left by living descendants; this often led to Ainu parents teaching their children to look after them in the afterlife.

= Graves

=
Archaeological excavations have revealed that Ainu graves are typically oval or rectangular, with the deceased primarily buried in an extended dorsal position, though some were interred in a crouched posture. Offerings placed around the head provide insight into its orientation, based on the distribution of burial accessories, even when skeletal remains are absent. Over 1,000 burials from the Pre-Ainu Period have been uncovered and cataloged by Utagawa, with about 400 featuring precisely documented orientations. Earlier excavation reports predominantly referenced magnetic north, according to current Hokkaido data. At the Tohohata Burial site in Shin-Hidaka Town, 75 burials have been excavated, and with only one exception, all exhibited a southeast orientation near the Winter Solstice sunrise point. In contrast, at the Motomonbetsu site in Monbetsu Town, northeastern Hokkaido, burial orientations are more varied, with east, southeast, north, and northwest alignments being present. This variation suggests regional differences in burial orientation mirroring patterns seen in house alignments.

Incorporating Ainu into archaeology

There has been many findings regarding the Ainu people that have been made with a Western mindset. Because of this, there have been movements made in order to start breaking away from this and starting to incorporate the Ainu people into archaeological work, including the incorporation of the "Kamui-nomi" ceremony at archaeological sites. This is a traditional Ainu ritual performed with the intention of giving prayers to their gods for safe travel or well-being. During the ritual, sacred shaved sticks called "inaw" are used, and then later they are offered to the Ishikari River as part of the ceremony. This is being done now because archaeology is looked at as a colonialist endeavor by many Indigenous communities, like the Ainu, and Indigenous pasts are very different from the stories archaeologists conclude, and those stories impact Indigenous knowledge. Indigenous archaeology argues that it is necessary to have the Indigenous people participate to ensure that the research that is being done is reciprocal towards that community by respecting the culture, traditions, and perspective of those people. Incorporating the Ainu people into archaeological research is essential, as Indigenous archaeology prioritizes their voices, ensuring that discoveries about their ancestors are interpreted with respect, accuracy, and cultural authenticity rather than solely through external perspectives. Their ceremonies, such as the "Kamui-nomi," the "Iomante" (Bear-Sending Ceremony), and other rituals honoring natural spirits provide crucial insights into their worldview. Their Indigenous knowledge offers a deeper contextual understanding of Ainu burial practices, sacred sites, and ancestral traditions, shaping how people interpret archaeological findings beyond mere artifacts, and enriching people's appreciation of their spiritual and cultural legacy.

Archaeological efforts are crucial in deepening people's understanding of the Ainu, as they provide tangible evidence of their historical and cultural legacy. Through the excavation of artifacts such as tools, pottery, and remnants of ancient settlements, researchers can reconstruct the daily lives, social structures, and spiritual practices of the Ainu people. These findings help to fill gaps in historical records, offering a more comprehensive and nuanced view of the Ainu's contributions to history. Archaeology plays a vital role in preserving the heritage of the Ainu, ensuring that their stories and traditions are not lost to time. By fostering collaboration between archaeologists and the Ainu community, these efforts also promote cultural sensitivity and respect, allowing for a more accurate and respectful representation of the Ainu's rich cultural identity.

Historically, their language, traditions, and spiritual practices were marginalized under policies aimed at integrating them into the dominant cultures. This led to significant losses in their cultural heritage, with the Ainu language now critically endangered. However, recent efforts have focused on revitalizing Ainu identity through the preservation of language, traditional arts, and spiritual practices. These initiatives are not only about cultural survival but also about reclaiming a sense of pride and identity among Ainu communities.

Within Ainu heritage and research circles, there has been a growing movement to Indigenize and decolonize their narratives. This involves challenging the dominant historical perspectives that have often portrayed the Ainu as a vanishing or primitive people. By centering Ainu's voices and perspectives, these efforts aim to dismantle colonial frameworks and promote a more authentic representation of their history and contributions.

Archaeology has played a pivotal role in challenging dominant historical narratives about the Ainu and revitalizing their cultural practices. By uncovering material evidence of the Ainu's distinct cultural and historical trajectory, archaeologists, along with the Ainu people, have highlighted the complexity and richness of their heritage, which has been overlooked or misrepresented in mainstream accounts. This collaboration between archaeologists and Ainu communities underscores the importance of Indigenous perspectives in interpreting the past and shaping the future.

Institutions

Most Hokkaidō Ainu, and some other Ainu, are members of an umbrella group called the Hokkaido Ainu Association. The organization changed its name to Hokkaido Utari Association in 1961 due to the fact that the word Ainu was often used in a derogatory manner by the non-Ainu ethnic Japanese. It was changed back to the Hokkaido Ainu Association in 2009 after the passing of the new law regarding the Ainu. The organization was originally controlled by the government to speed Ainu assimilation and integration into the Japanese nation-state. It is now 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)'', established by the Japanese government after the enactment of the Ainu Culture Law in 1997; the Hokkaidō University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, established in 2007; and various museums and cultural centers. The Ainu people living in Tokyo have also developed a vibrant political and cultural community.

Since late 2011, the Ainu have developed cultural exchange and 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).

Currently, there are several Ainu museums and cultural parks. Some of them are:
* National Ainu Museum
* Kawamura Kaneto Ainu Museum
* Ainu Kotan
* Ainu Folklore Museum
* Hokkaido Museum of Northern Peoples
* Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum
* Shinhidaka Ainu Museum

Ethnic rights

Legal action

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. The planned location for one of the dams was across the valley floor near Nibutani village, the home of a large community of Ainu people and an important center of Ainu culture and history. When the government commenced construction on the Nibutani Dam in the early 1980s, two Ainu landowners refused to agree to the expropriation of their property. These landowners were Tadashi Kaizawa and Shigeru Kayano—well-known and important leaders in the Ainu community. 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 Koichi (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 in place), but the decision was nonetheless heralded as a landmark victory for the Ainu people. 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. 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 in the case, and discussions about the case. The decision was issued on March 27, 1997. 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.
The law's original Japanese text is available at :ja:s:アイヌ文化の振興並びにアイヌの伝統等に関する知識の普及及び啓発に関する法律, Wikisource. 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 Saru River, Sarugawa River resulting from Ainu Tradition and Modern Settlement" was designated an Cultural Landscapes of Japan, Important Cultural Landscape of Japan. A later action seeking the restoration of Ainu assets held in trust by the Japanese government was dismissed in 2008.

Governmental bodies on Ainu affairs

There is no single government body to coordinate Ainu affairs. Rather, various advisory boards are set up by the Hokkaido government to advise on specific matters. One such committee operated in the late 1990s, and its work resulted in the . This panel was criticized for including no Ainu members.

In 2006, another panel was established, which notably included an Ainu member for the first time. 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

On January 21, 2012, the was founded 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, would head the party. Their aim is to contribute to the realization of a society where the Ainu and Japanese can coexist and possess equal rights in Japan.

Official promotion

The "2019 Ainu act" simplified procedures for obtaining various permissions from authorities in regards to the traditional lifestyle of the Ainu and nurtured the identity and cultures of the Ainu without defining the ethnic group by blood lineage.

On July 12, 2020, the National Ainu Museum was opened. It had originally been scheduled to open on April 24, 2020, prior to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games scheduled in the same year in Shiraoi, Hokkaido, Shiraoi, Hokkaidō. The park was planned to be a base for the protection and promotion of Ainu people, culture, and language. The museum promotes the culture and habits of the Ainu people, who are the original inhabitants of Hokkaidō. Upopoy in the 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.
The Ainu cultural contribution is also recognized by a UNESCO listing, in consequence of a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, UNESCO decision to list non-physical cultural assets, including songs and dancing.

In July 2023, it was reported that a group of Ainu from Hokkaido was suing the government to reclaim the right of salmon river fishing. This has been outlawed for a century, except for the exemption of a limited number of salmon for ceremonial purposes. The group claimed the Japanese government did not abide by the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which it had signed.

Geography

The traditional locations of the Ainu are Hokkaido, Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, and the northern Tōhoku 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, a ''kanjō-bugyō'' (a high-ranking Edo period official responsible for finance) implemented an assimilation policy for Ainu engaged in fishing in the Tsugaru Peninsula. From that point on, Ainu culture rapidly disappeared from Honshu.

After the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875), most of the Ainu from the Kuril islands were moved to the island of Shikotan by providing the pioneers with essential 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.

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. An agreement was reached in 1881, and the Ainu decided to settle in the village of Yavin, Kamchatka. 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 villages were forced to disband, and residents were moved to the Russian-dominated Zaporozhye rural settlement in Ust-Bolsheretsky District, Ust-Bolsheretsky Raion. As a result of intermarriage, the three ethnic groups assimilated to form the Kamchadals, 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.

, 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-Kamchatsky, 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). Similarly, no one identifies themselves as Amur Valley Ainu, although people of partial descent live in Khabarovsk. There is no evidence of living descendants of the Kamchatka Ainu.

In the Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census of Russia, nearly 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. In 2011, the leadership, 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 denied.

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

The Ainu have emphasized that they were the natives of the Kuril Islands, and that the Japanese and Russians were both invaders. In 2004, the small Ainu in Russia, Ainu community living in Russia in Kamchatka Krai wrote a letter to Vladimir Putin, urging him to reconsider any move to award the Kuril Islands dispute, 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; they also urged him to recognize the Japanese genocide against the Ainu people. This proposal was rejected.

, both the Kuril Ainu and Kuril Kamchadal ethnic groups lack the fishing and hunting rights that the Russian government grants to the indigenous tribal communities of the far north.

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.

Population

The Demographic history of Japan before the Meiji Restoration, population of the Ainu during the Edo period was a maximum of 26,800; it has since declined, due in part to the spread of infectious diseases. It was traditionally regarded as a Tenryō territory.

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

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

According to a 2006 Hokkaido Agency survey, there were 23,782 Ainu people in Hokkaido. When viewed by the branch office (currently the Promotion Bureau), there are many in the Iburi / Hidaka branch office. 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 the other person is declared not to be "Ainu", then it is not subject to investigation.

A 1971 survey determined an Ainu population of 77,000. Another survey yielded a total of 200,000 Ainu living in Japan. However, there are no other surveys that support this high estimate.

Many Ainu live outside of Hokkaido. A 1988 survey estimated that the population of Ainu living in Tokyo was 2,700. According to a 1989 survey report on Utari living in Tokyo, it is estimated that the Ainu population of the Tokyo area alone exceeds 10% of Ainu living in Hokkaido; 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 they are a descendant of the Aleut. On the other hand, the descendant of the children born in Poland by the Polish anthropologist Bronisław Piłsudski, who was a 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 is a sharp drop from 24,000 in 2006. However, this is partially due to a decrease in membership in the Ainu Association of Hokkaido, which is cooperating with the survey. Additionally, interest in protecting personal information has increased. It is thought that the number of individuals who cooperate is declining and that it does not match the actual population of Ainu people.

Subgroups

These are unofficial subgroups of the Ainu people, with location and population estimates.

In popular culture

* The characters Nakoruru, Rimururu, and Rera from the SNK game series ''Samurai Shodown'' are Ainu.
* In the 2006 video game ''Ōkami'', the Oina people, who inhabit the northern land of Kamui, are heavily inspired by the 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.
* The character Fredzilla from ''Big Hero 6 (comics), 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 in the manga series ''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 Hokkaidō and of the Ainu people are part of the plot of a chapter in the manga Silver Spoon (manga), ''Silver Spoon''.
* A coming-of-age film, ''Ainu Mosir'', was released in Japan on October 17, 2020. The film portrays Kanto, a sensitive 14-year-old Ainu boy who struggles to come to terms with his father's death and his identity. The film also focuses on the dilemma of the controversial bear sacrifice ritual under the shadow of modern Japanese society and the Ainu's heavy reliance on tourists for their livelihood. Along with other restless teenagers, Kanto is under pressure to retain his Ainu identity and participate in the cultural rituals.
* In the James Bond novel ''You Only Live Twice (novel), You Only Live Twice'' and You Only Live Twice (film), film, Bond's character spends some time living in an Ainu village and (in the film) is supposedly disguised as one of the local people, "marrying" a local pearl fisher () as part of his cover.
* In the 2013 samurai film ''Unforgiven (2013 film), Unforgiven'', starring Ken Watanabe and which is a remake of the 1992 Clint Eastwood Unforgiven, Western film of the same name, the character of Goro Sawada (Yuya Yagira) is half-Ainu.

See also

* Hokkaido dog, Ainu-ken
* Ainu Revolution Theory
* Akira Ifukube
* Anti-Japaneseism
* Bibliography of the Ainu
* Bikki Sunazawa
* Burakumin
* Constitution of Japan
* Ethnic issues in Japan
** Human rights in Japan#Minorities, Human rights in Japan
** Racism in Japan
* Ethnocide
* Genocide of indigenous peoples
* Hiram M. Hiller Jr.
* Kankō Ainu
* Matagi
* Mieko Chikappu
* Shizue Ukaji

Ainu culture

* Ainu flag
* Ainu genre painting
* Ikupasuy

References

Citations

Works cited

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Further reading

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* 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. . .
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* ''The Collected Works of Bronisław Piłsudski'', translated and edited by Alfred F. Majewicz with the assistance of Elzbieta Majewicz.
** Volume 1: The Aborigines of Sakhalin
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Volume 2: Materials for the Study of the Ainu Language and Folklore (Kraków 1912)
** Volume 3: Materials for the Study of the Ainu Language and Folklore II
** Volume 4: Materials for the Study of Tungusic Languages and Folklore

External links

; Organizations

Hokkaido Utari Kyokai/Ainu Association of Hokkaido





Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture (centers located in Sapporo and Tokyo)


Hokkaido University Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies


Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Ainu
in Samani, Hokkaido, Samani, Hokkaidō

Foundation for Ainu Culture

; Museums and exhibits

Smithsonian Institution



Nibutani Ainu Cultural Museum


The Ainu Museum at Shiraoi

Ainu Komonjo (18th & 19th century records) – Ohnuki Collection

The Regions: North America
��Ainu–North American cultural similarities

; Articles


in ''The Christian Science Monitor'', June 9, 2008


��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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ainu People
Ainu people,
Ainu,
Ethnic groups in Japan
Ethnic groups in Russia
History of Hokkaido
History of Northeast Asia
History of Sakhalin
Indigenous peoples of East Asia
People of the Kamakura period
Japanese people of Russian descent
Russian people of Japanese descent
Genocide of indigenous peoples in Asia