Work in progress

See also the
conversation
that prompted this.

The Ainu¹ are the native inhabitants of Hokkaido, the
northernmost island of Japan, and Sakhalin, the
neighbouring part of Russia.

The Ainu are racially distinct from the Japanese,
although their origins are uncertain. Although in
comparatively recent times the Ainu had a rich
tradition of oral literature, they never developed a
writing system. This necessarily means their history can mostly
only be inferred from the archaeological record and
written records of their contact with neighboring
peoples.

Much of the evidence for their migratory pattern comes
through research into the influence of Ainu on place
names. Ainu place names are in the majority in Hokkaido
and abound in Tohoku. Some sources go so far as to
claim Ainu origins for well-known Japanese place-names
such as Kamakura (the de-facto seat of Japanese
government in the 13th century). These researchers claim
that originally they occupied much of the Japanese
archipelago, but were gradually driven East and then
North over the last 2500 years.

Japanese Japan emerged from its Jomon ('rope pattern')
stone age period around 500BC, but amongst the Emishi
'barbarians', the direct ancestors of the Ainu,
development was much slower, and the Jomon culture
continued until around 600AD.

By the 8th century, through diplomatic and religious
contact with China and Korea, modern Japanese culture was
well established. The Emishi had been driven out into
Mutsu (present day Tohoku), and skirmishes with them
are recorded in the Shoku-Nihon-Gi
('contining-Japan-record) and other Japanese written
annals of the time.

Towards the end of the Century there is a record of a
great leader, Ateruy. At the battle of Ateruy in 789,
he commanded a force of 800 against a Japanese force of
2000. The Japanese record that they burnt out 800
houses in 14 villages, for their trouble losing 25 men
in hand-to-hand combat, 245 men to arrows, and 1036 men
to drowning when they were chased into a river. Ateruy
was eventually killed, along with his second-in-command
Mor, in 802.

This semi-Iron-Age² period in
Emishi history is known as the Satsumon era. At around
this time a distinct and more advanced, 'Ohotsk' culture
was flourishing in northern Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the
Kuriles. It seems likely the modern Ainu culture grew
out of a merger between the Ohotsk culture and the
Satsumon Emishi as they were driven north, but the
archaeological record has a gap of around 300 years
between the last Ohotsk finds and the earliest Ainu-
like ones in the 13th century.

Yuan Chinese annals record that in 1265 the Kuy
(Sakhalin Ainu) attacked the Giremi tribe in northern
Sakhalin, defeating them. By 1284 Khublai Khan had grown
tired of them, and in the following two years twice
ordered they be attacked by a force of 1,000 ships and
10,000 men. The skirmishes continued on both sides. In
1297 the Kuy twice crossed the ocean themselves in ships
built by the Giremi and attempted to carry off hostages,
but were beaten back on both occasions. The Kuy
eventually sued for peace with the Chinese in 1308.

There followed a relatively peaceful period of free trade.
One record from 1356, which talks of several tribes from
Sakhalin, the Kuriles and different parts of
Hokkaido³
crossing over the Tsugaru straits to trade , mentions
that the tribesmen ate animals and fish, and had no
agriculture. A record from 1423 documents the barter on
behalf of the Shogun of 20 horses, 5,000 birds, 20,0000
nuggets, 30 beaver skins, and 500 strips of Kombu
seaweed in return for a sword and 5 suits of armour.

There is evidence of continued relations with other
nations too. From the start of the 15th century, the
Japanese had established the fiefdom of Matsumae (near
Hakodate) on the southern tip of Hokkaido. The Matsumae
House Annals record a visit in 1485 from the leader of
the Karafuto ( Sakhalin) Ainu, bringing a gift of a
Chinese whetstone.

By the middle of the 15th century, Japanese refugees from
internal strife in Tohoku had spread throughout the south
of Hokkaido to a distance of 20 days travel along the
coast each way from Matsumae, as far as Mukawa in the
east and Yoichi in the north. In 1457 the Ainu, under
the command of Comashayn, fought back, bringing down
some of the fiefs until the remaining Japanese united
under one warlord and killed Comashayn and his son.
Howveer, for the next 75 years the attacks continued. In
1515 the Japanese assasinated the Ainu leaders of the
day, the Shoyakouji brothers, in the middle of a parlay,
a tactic they would repeat later. Neveretheless the
attacks continued, and by 1525 all those Japenese that
were left were driven back to Matsumae.

In 1551, in an effort to control the situation the
Japanese themselves set up one Hasitayn to be the
uber-ruler of the Ainu in western Hokkaido, and to a degree
peaceful relations resumed. In 1565, the Ainu are
mentioned in the letters of the Jesuit missionary Louis
Frois. He comments that many Ainu come to Akita to trade,
but notes there are few Japanese who venture into the
lands of the Ainu, since those who do rarely return
alive.

to be continued ...