![]() ![]() The most important was Shakushain's Revolt (1669–1672), an Ainu rebellion against Japanese authority. Although the increased contact created by the trade between the Japanese and the Ainu contributed to increased mutual understanding, it also sometimes led to conflict which occasionally intensified into violent Ainu revolts. Throughout this period Ainu groups competed with each other to import goods from the Japanese, and epidemic diseases such as smallpox reduced the population. Later, the Matsumae began to lease out trading rights to Japanese merchants, and contact between Japanese and Ainu became more extensive. The Tokugawa bakufu (feudal government) granted the Matsumae clan exclusive rights to trade with the Ainu in the northern part of the island. ĭuring the Edo period (1601–1868) the Ainu, who controlled the northern island which is now named Hokkaidō, became increasingly involved in trade with the Japanese who controlled the southern portion of the island. Due to Ming rule in Manchuria, Chinese cultural and religious influence such as Chinese New Year, the "Chinese god", Chinese motifs such as the dragon, spirals, scrolls, and material goods such as agriculture, husbandry, heating, iron cooking pots, silk and cotton spread among the Amur natives such as the Udeghes, Ulchis, and Nanais. Women in Sakhalin married Han Chinese Ming officials when the Ming took tribute from Sakhalin and the Amur river region. The Ainu and Nivkh peoples of Sakhalin were subjugated and became tributaries to the Ming dynasty of China after Manchuria came under Ming rule as part of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission. Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain. Disputes between the Japanese and Ainu developed into large-scale violence, Koshamain's Revolt, in 1456. ![]() ĭuring the Muromachi period (1336–1573), many Ainu were subject to Japanese rule. They followed a religion which was based on natural phenomena. The Ainu formed a society of hunter-gatherers, surviving mainly by hunting and fishing. Active contact between the Wa-jin (the ethnically Japanese, also known as Yamato-jin) and the Ainu of Ezogashima (now known as Hokkaidō) began in the 13th century. The Ainu also started an expedition into the Amur region, which was then controlled by the Yuan dynasty, resulting in reprisals by the Mongols who invaded Sakhalin. In 1264, the Ainu invaded the land of the Nivkh people. These early inhabitants did not speak the Japanese language some were conquered by the Japanese early in the 9th century. According to Lee and Hasegawa, the Ainu-speakers descend from the Okhotsk people who rapidly expanded from northern Hokkaido into the Kurils and Honshu. Research suggests that Ainu culture originated from a merger of the Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures. Historical homeland and distribution of the Ainu people ![]() Ainu also identify themselves as "Utari" ("comrade" or "people"). This people's most widely known ethnonym, "Ainu" ( Ainu: アィヌ Japanese: アイヌ Russian: Айны) means "human" in the Ainu language, particularly as opposed to kamui, divine beings. In 1966, there were about 300 native Ainu speakers in 2008, however, there were about 100. As of 2000, the number of "pure" Ainu was estimated at about 300 people. Unofficial estimates place the total population at 200,000 or higher, as the near-total assimilation of the Ainu into Japanese society has resulted in many individuals of Ainu descent having no knowledge of their ancestry. Official estimates place the total Ainu population of Japan at 25,000. These regions are referred to as Ezo ( 蝦夷) in historical Japanese texts. The Ainu are the indigenous people of the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, including Hokkaido Island, Northeast Honshu Island, Sakhalin Island, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and Khabarovsk Krai, before the arrival of the Yamato Japanese and Russians. ![]()
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