Ainu
The Ainu are an indigenous people of Japan, believed to be descendants of the ancient Jōmon culture, which dates back over 10,000 years. Their historical range primarily includes Hokkaidō, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. The Ainu's ancestors, who were part of the Jōmon, developed a unique form of pottery before transitioning to agriculture. Following migrations of northern Mongoloid peoples around 1000 BCE, the Ainu became increasingly confined to northern territories. Traditionally, the Ainu lived in patrilineal kinship groups, relying on hunting, fishing, and subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. Their rich spiritual beliefs include animism, where they venerated spirit gods residing in animals and natural elements, which they honored through oral traditions of rituals, songs, and dances.
Historically marginalized, the Ainu faced significant cultural and territorial encroachments, particularly after Hokkaidō was integrated into Japan in the late 18th century. However, a landmark ruling in 1997 recognized the Ainu as Japan's indigenous people, leading to movements advocating for their civil rights in alignment with international standards. The Ainu community continues to navigate their cultural identity and rights in contemporary society, while preserving their unique heritage.
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Subject Terms
Ainu
Related civilization: Japan.
Date: c. 7500 b.c.e.-700 c.e.
Locale: Japanese archipelago
Ainu
Archaeologists believe that the Ainu (i-NEW) are descendants of the Jōmon people, who inhabited Japan for thousands of years, beginning more than 10,000 years ago. The origin of the Jōmon culture, however, has been the source of disagreement among scholars. Various theories, including the Mongoloid theory, the Caucasoid theory, the Oceania race theory, and the old Asian race theory, have been put forward to explain the existence of the Jōmon and ultimately the Ainu. Modern scholars generally accept the theory that the ancestors of the Ainu were southern Mongoloids who settled the Japanese archipelago, including Okinawa, more than 10,000 years ago. As the Jōmon culture, they were the first people to design and use pottery. Jōmon pottery, which has a special cord design, was fashioned before the Jōmon people began farming, a very unusual cultural progression.
Although the Jōmon had lived on the Japanese islands for thousands of years, they were driven off most of Honshū, the main island, by northern Mongoloid people, probably Koreans and maybe Chinese, who migrated onto the archipelago sometime around 1000 b.c.e. According to legend, by 660 b.c.e. when Jimmu became the first emperor of Wa (the original name for Japan, derived from the Chinese), the group known as the Ainu could be found only on the northern Japanese island then called Ainu Moshiri (renamed Hokkaidō in 1889). They also lived on Sakhalin and on the Kuril Islands. The Ainu who had settled on Hokkaidō adopted a sedentary lifestyle and supplemented fishing and hunting with the growing of some agricultural products. However, those who lived on Sakhalin and on the Kurils were nomadic, moving from place to place to capture game or to fish different areas.
The Ainu lived in patrilineal kinship groups. Each group, which usually consisted of eight to ten households, was headed by a chief. The men hunted and fished, and the women grew small plots of grain as part of their household duties. The women also gathered berries, smoked meat, and made clothing from animal skins, fur, and grass.
The Ainu were a deeply religious people. They believed in the existence of two worlds, the world of the human and the world of the spirit. The word ainu means “human,” or “not spirit,” in the Ainu language. Their religion was animistic. They believed in spirit gods who lived in animals such as bears, foxes, and spotted owls. They also believed in nature gods such as fire, wind, and water; plant gods such as aconite, mushroom, and mugwort; and object gods such as boats and pots. These gods, just like the animal spirit gods, all lived in things and helped and protected humans.
The Ainu created rituals, songs, and dances to worship and satisfy the spirit world. The Ainu culture was preliterate, so these rituals, songs, and dances were passed on orally for hundreds of years, creating a rich oral culture. One of the most elaborate Ainu religious ceremonies was the winter ceremony, in which a bear that had been raised for two or three years was killed and its spirit released to the spirit world. The Ainu believed that the spirit of the grateful bear would watch over the group that had released it.
Beyond 700 c.e.
In the late eighteenth century, the Japanese government incorporated Hokkaidō into Japan and allowed many Japanese homesteaders to take land away from the Ainu. The Japanese government also insisted that the Ainu learn to speak Japanese.
During much of the twentieth century, many Japanese people regarded the Ainu as an inferior group of people who had encroached on Japanese territory. However, in 1997, a Hokkaidō court ruled that the Ainu were the indigenous people of Japan. Subsequently, a bill was introduced in the Japanese Diet demanding that the Ainu be accorded the civil rights that United Nations documents indicate an indigenous people must have.
Bibliography
Fitzhugh, William W., and Chisato O. Dubrevil, eds. Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Olympia: University of Washington Press, 2000.
Honda, Katsuichi, David L. Howell, and Kyoko Selden, trans. Harukor: An Ainu Woman’s Tale. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
Johnson, D. W. The Ainu of Northeast Asia. East Windsor, N.J.: Idzat International, 1999.
Kayano, Shigeru, et al. Our Land Was a Forest: An Ainu Memoir. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994.
Munro, Neil Gordon. Ainu Creed and Cult. London, England: Kegan Paul International, 1996.