(also spelled Yezo or Yeso) is the Japanese term historically used to refer to the lands to the north of the Japanese island of

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island se ...

. It included the northern Japanese island of

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

, which changed its name from "Ezo" to "Hokkaidō" in 1869, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Ezo"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 184. and sometimes included

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

and the

Kuril Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

. The same two

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

used to write the word "Ezo", which literally mean " shrimp

barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

" in Chinese, can also be read in the Japanese language as " Emishi", the name given to the indigenous people of these lands, the descendants of whom are most likely related to the Ainu people.

Etymology

The two

in Ezo ( 蝦

夷 The Dongyi or Eastern Yi () was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages, but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China, then later, the Korean peninsula, and Ja ...

) literally mean "shrimp barbarians" and the term meant "foreigner", referring to the Ainu lands to the north, which the Japanese named "Ezo-chi" (蝦夷地). In contrast, the Japanese-occupied lands to the South were referred to as "Wajin-chi" ( 和人地).Editors: David N. Livingstone and Charles W. J. Withers (1999) "Geography and Enlightenment", University of Chicago Press, page 20

/ref> The spelling "Yezo" reflects its pronunciation , when Europeans first came in contact with Japan. It is this historical spelling that is reflected in the scientific

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

term ''yezoensis'', as in '' Fragaria yezoensis'' and '' Porphyra yezoensis''. However, there are species that use the new spelling such as the Japanese scallop known as .

History

The first published description of Ezo in the West was brought to Europe by

Isaac Titsingh Isaac Titsingh FRS ( January 1745 – 2 February 1812) was a Dutch diplomat, historian, Japanologist, and merchant.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Isaak Titsingh" in . During a long career in East Asia, Titsingh was a senior official of the ...

in 1796. His small library of Japanese books included by Hayashi Shihei. This book, which was published in Japan in 1785, described the Ezo region and its people. In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation of .

Julius Klaproth Heinrich Julius Klaproth (11 October 1783 – 28 August 1835) was a German linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, orientalist and explorer. As a scholar, he is credited along with Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, with being instrumental in turni ...

was the editor, completing the task which was left incomplete by the death of the book's initial editor,

Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treatise ...

Subdivisions

or (lit., "Island of the Ezo") was divided into several districts. The first was the "Wajinchi", or Japanese Lands, which covered the Japanese settlements on and around the

Oshima Peninsula The Oshima Peninsula (渡島半島 ''Oshima-hantō'') is the southernmost part of Hokkaidō, the northernmost of the Japanese islands. Where the peninsula starts is open to interpretation. A more generous interpretation is to draw a line southea ...

. The rest of Ezo was known as the (lit., "Ezo-land"), or Ainu Lands. Ezochi was in turn divided into three sections: North Ezochi, which covered southern Sakhalin; West Ezochi, which included the northern half of Hokkaidō; and East Ezochi, which included the populous southern Hokkaidō and the Kuril Islands.Frey, Christopher J. (2007)

Notes

References

* Cullen, Louis M. (2003)
''A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds.''
Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

. ;
OCLC 50694793
* Hayashi, Shihei. (1786). . Edo: Manuscript
OCLC 44014900
* Klaproth, Julius. (1832). ''San kokf tsou ran to sets, ou Aperçu général des trois royaumes.'' Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 2563166
''also'
OCLC 561284561

External links

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