Ainu

There is hardly any other small ethnicity in the world to which as many scientific discussions dedicated as to Ainu, the Japanese aborigines. Their language is not cognate to any other; their physical appearance does not fit any known racial group; and the main features of the traditional culture of these hunters and gatherers are totally unique. Until the beginning of the 20th century the Ainu also inhabited the Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the south of Kamchatka Peninsula and the lower course of the Amur River. At present they can be found only on the Hokkaido Island. Their total number, which is about 14 thousand people, is constantly decreasing despite the attempts of the Japanese government to preserve this unique disappearing ethnic group. After the Second World War and the return of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to the USSR, the Ainu people were forced out to Japan, which led to the fade of the Sakhalin and Kuril Ainu.

The Ainu culture has attracted attention of many prominent scholar and researchers (ethnographers, ethnologists, anthropologists, historians and orientalists); various hypotheses about the origin of the Ainu people, their language and culture have been put forward. The Ainu never new written language or pottery and have not created their own state, but they have always been excellent hunters and fishers. They covered huge distances across dangerous seas in their fragile dugout boats and knew secrets of dreadful poisons which they used to smear their arrows. At present it is considered that the Ainu is an ethnic group which appeared no earlier than the 12th – 13th centuries as a result of intermingling between the tribes of the Ural-Altai (Tunguska-Manchurian) group that migrated from the Asian continent (from Manchuria, Siberia, Amur region, Maritime Province and Kamchatka). These tribes assimilated with the local population known under the collective name of ezo (emishi, ebisu), which in Japanese meant “barbarians” (“northern barbarians”).

Box for finery. Japan, Hokkaido. The Ainu. 19th cent.		Sword. Japan, Hokkaido. The Ainu. 19th cent.		Cup for sake. Japan, Hokkaido. The Ainu. 19th cent.
Man and woman in traditional costumes. Japan. Hokkaido. The Ainu, early 20th c.