THE AINU TRIBE

REPORT

INTRODUCTION
Until 400 years ago, the Ainu controlled Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's four
main islands.
Today they are a small minority group of Japan. They are hunting and fishing
people whose origins remain in dispute.
They probably came from Siberia or from the southern Pacific, and originally
comprised different groups.
For centuries, the Ainu culture developed alongside, but distinctive from, that of
the Japanese. However, in recent centuries they have been subject to Japanese
government policies of modernization and integration.

LOCATION
Hokkaido, one of Japan's four main islands, is 32,247 square miles - comprising
one-fifth of Japan. Hokkaido is twice as large as Switzerland. A small number of
Ainu live in southern Sakhalin. Earlier, the Ainu also lived in the southern Kuril
Islands, along the lower reaches of the Amur River, and in Kamchatka, as well as
the northern part of the Northeast region of Honshu.
Their ancestors may have once lived throughout Japan. Hokkaido is surrounded by
beautiful coasts.
The island has many mountains, lakes, and rivers. Its land was densely wooded with
ancient trees into the twentieth century. Two major mountain ranges, Kitami in the
north and Hidaka in the south, divide Hokkaido into the eastern and western
regions. The Saru basin area in southeastern Hokkaido is a center of Ainu ancestral
culture.

LANGUAGE
The Ainu language is from Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands.
It is distinct from Japanese and although some aspects of word order are similar,
there are numerous grammatical differences. The Ainu have no written language.
Formerly a purely verbal language, it is now transcribed using the Latin alphabet
or katakana, a Japanese writing system, with the addition of some specialized
characters. Ainu is said to belong either to a Paleo-Asiatic or a Paleo-Siberian
group of languages. It has two dialects.

RELIGION
The Ainu religion is pantheistic, believing in many gods. Traditional belief held
that the god of mountains dwelled in the mountains, and the god of water dwelled in
the river. The Ainu hunted, fished, and gathered in modest quantities in order not
to disturb these gods. Animals were visitors from the other world temporarily
assuming animal shapes. The bear, striped owl, and killer whale received the
greatest respect as divine incarnations.The most important god in the home was the
female god of fire. Every house had a firepit where cooking, eating, and rituals
took place. The main offerings made to this and to other gods were wine and inau, a
whittled twig or pole, usually of willow, with shavings still attached and
decoratively curled. A fence-like row of taller inau stood outside between the main
house and the raised storehouse. Outdoor rituals were observed before this sacred
altar area.
LIVING CONDITIONS
Formerly, an Ainu house was made of poles and thatch plant. It was well insulated
and had a fire pit at the center of the main room. An opening below each end of
the ridge allowed smoke to escape. Between three and twenty such houses formed a
village community called kotan. Houses were built close enough together that a
voice would reach in case of emergency, and far enough apart that fire would not
spread. A kotan was usually located by waters for convenient fishing but also in
the woods to remain safe from floods and close to gathering grounds. If necessary,
the kotan moved from place to place in search of a better livelihood

EDUCATION
Traditionally children were educated at home. Grandparents recited poems and tales
while parents taught practical skills and crafts. From the late nineteenth century
on, Ainu were educated in Japanese schools. Many concealed their Ainu background.

FOOD
Traditional staple foods of the Ainu were salmon and deer meat, in addition to
millet raised at home and herbs and roots gathered in the woods. Millet was largely
replaced by rice earlier in this century. Fresh salmon was cut up and boiled in
soup. A rice porridge called cipro sayo was prepared by adding salmon roe (eggs) to
boiled grains. As in other cold regions, Ainu children used to enjoy making maple
ice candy.

CRAFTS AND HOBBIES

Weaving, embroidery, and carving are among the most important forms of folk art.
Some types of traditional Ainu weaving were once almost lost, but were revived
around the 1970s. Chikap Mieko, a second-generation professional embroiderer,
builds her original embroidery on the foundation of the traditional art. Carved
trays and bears are treasured tourist items.Among the many traditional items made
are the poison arrow, unattended trap arrow, rabbit trap, fish trap, ceremonial
sword, mountain knife, canoe, woven bag, and loom

FOLKLORE
According to mythic poetry, the world was created when oil floating in the ocean
rose like a flame and became the sky. What was left turned into land. Vapor
gathered over the land and a god was created. From the vapor of the sky, another
god was created who descended on five colored clouds. Out of those clouds, the two
gods created the sea, soil, minerals, plants, and animals. The two gods married and
produced many gods including two shining gods—the Sun god and the Moon god, who
rose to Heaven in order to illuminate the fog-covered dark places of the world.
Okikurmi of the Saru region is a semidivine hero who descended from Heaven to help
humans. Humans lived in a beautiful land but did not know how to build fire or make
bows and arrows. Okikurmi taught them to build fire, to hunt, to catch salmon, to
plant millet, to brew millet wine, and to worship the gods. He married and stayed
in the village, but eventually returned to the divine land.
Ainu historical heroes include Kosamainu and Samkusainu. Kosamainu, who lived in
eastern Hokkaido, led an Ainu rebellion against the mainland Japanese ruling the
southern tip of Hokkaido, called Matsumae. He destroyed ten out of the twelve
Japanese bases but was killed in 1457. Samkusainu organized Ainu in the southern
half of the island during a 1669 uprising, but after two months they were destroyed
by Matsumae forces armed with guns.
AINU PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Ainu have light skin, lots of facial and body hair, round eyes, wavy hair and large
bodies. Unlike most Japanese men, Ainu men can grow thick, wiry beards. The first
Western anthropologists who encountered them theorized the Ainu might have
descended from Europeans, a theory that has since been discredited. Some people
insist that Ainu don’t really look that much different from Japanese. According to
one estimate there are probably less than 200 pure-blood Ainu left. Some
anthropologists regard the Ainus as a collection of different ethnic groups rather
than one single ethnic group that spoke different languages and had different
cultures.

AINU CLOTHES AND TATTOOS

In the old days, Ainu women had black tattoos, resembling clown smiles, around
their lips. Their primary purpose was to help unmarried women to attract husbands
and were regarded as a sign of virtue. These tattoos were made by injecting cooking
ash into small knife cuts made around the women's lips. The first cuts were made in
a small semicircle on a girl's upper lip when she was only two or three years of
age and a few incisions were added every year until she was married.

SOCIETY
POPULATION:
Until 400 years ago, the Ainu controlled Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan 's
four main islands. Indigenous people of Northern Japan, Hokkaido, and Kuril
Islands. In 2008, the Japanese government recognized the Ainu people as indigenous
to Japan. Now they are around 2 lakh people.
SUBGROUPS:
Tohoku Ainu (from Honshu, no known living population) , Hokkaido Ainu , Sakhalin
Ainu , Kuril Ainu (no known living population) , Kamchatka Ainu(extinct since
prehistoric times) , Amur Valley Ainu (probably none remain)
INTERDEPENDENCE:
They are nature worshipers hence they are interdependent of nature for their
livelihood. Houses were built close enough together that a voice would reach in
case of emergency, and far enough apart that fire would not spread.
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS:
The Ainu have been unable to articulate systemic elements with those of the host
society in order to achieve viability either on a symbiotic or conflict model of
sub-cultural pluralism.
CULTURAL FUNDAMENTALS FOR THE SURVIVAL OF SOCIETIES:
The Ainu culture is distinctive, with a language that is unrelated to Japanese, a
spirituality that holds, that spirits dwell in every part of the natural world,
traditional dances that are performed at family events and festivals, and crafts
such as wood carving and embroidery that incorporate unique patterns.
SOCIALIZATION:
Ainu culture has been rich in intracultural variation In preparation for adulthood,
boys traditionally learned hunting, carving, and making tools such as arrows; girls
learned weaving, sewing, and embroidery. In mid-teen years, girls were tattooed
around the mouth by a skilled older woman; long ago they were also tattooed on the
forearms. The Ainu have handed down a vast body of oral traditions. Yukar usually
refers to heroic poetry, chanted mainly by men, dealing with demigods and humans.
Weaving, embroidery, and carving are among the most important forms of folk art.
DYNAMISM:
 The Ainu of Japan are a sub-group whose cultural continuity appears to be rapidly
coming to an end. The accompanying phenomenon of alienation is partly explained by
a century-old Japanese colonial policy which completely transformed the Ainu's
economic and political institutions.

CULTURAL HERITAGE
The Ainu have handed down a vast body of oral traditions. The main categories are
yukar and oina (longer and shorter epic poems in literary Ainu), uwepekere and
upasikma (old tales and autobiographical stories, both in prose), lullabies, and
dance songs. Yukar usually refers to heroic poetry, chanted mainly by men, dealing
with demigods and humans. It also includes oina, or kamui yukar, shorter epics
chanted principally by women about the gods. The Saru region of south central
Hokkaido is particularly known as the homeland of many bards and storytellers.
Yukar was narrated by the fireside for a mixed gathering of men, women, and
children. Men sometimes reclined and beat time on their bellies. Depending upon the
piece, yukar lasted all night or even for a few nights. There were also festival
songs, group dance-songs, and stamping dances.

EMPLOYMENT
Since the mid-nineteenth century, the traditional subsistence activities of
hunting, fishing, gathering of wild plants, and millet raising have been replaced
by rice and dry crop cultivation and commercial fishing. Other activities in
Hokkaido include dairy farming, forestry, mining, food processing, wood working,
pulp, and paper industries. The Ainu contribute to all these activities.

CLOTHING
The Ainu traditional robe was made of the woven fibers of inner elm bark. It was
worn with a woven sash similar in shape to the sash worn with a mainland Japanese
kimono.
The male robe was calf-length. In winter a short sleeveless jacket of deer or other
animal fur was also worn. The female robe was ankle-length and worn over a long
undershirt with no front opening. The robes were hand-embroidered or applique with
rope designs. A pointed edge at the tip of each front flap was characteristic of
the Saru region.The traditional Ainu costume is still worn on special occasions.
However, in everyday life the Ainu wear international style clothing similar to
that worn by other Japanese people

ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION OF AINU

Today the Ainu live a lifestyle similar to other Japanese in all aspects. However,
they have inherited their ethnic identity as Ainu, in spite of experiences of
discrimination as well as assimilation policies in the modern era. With ethnic
pride and dignity, Ainu individuals and groups make efforts to preserve and develop
the Ainu language and other traditional culture. It should be noted that each
individual leads a life that sometimes ethnically identifies with the Ainu, and has
a life similar to other Japanese at other times. Such dynamics are dependent upon
one’s circumstances, and should be generously understood and respected.

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