Ainu people

For the ethnic group of Western China, see Äynu people.
Ainu
アィヌ
Historical homeland and distribution of Ainu people[1]
Total population
c. 25,000
Regions with significant populations
16,786 or more[2]
109[3][4]–1,000
Languages
Ainu language family (Hokkaido in Japan; historically prominent, now critically endangered); Japanese or Russian [5]
Religion
Related ethnic groups
Ainu
PeopleAinu
LanguageAinu languages
This article contains Manchu text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Manchu alphabet.

The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and Southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Khabarovsk Krai. They have occupied these areas known to them as "Ainu Mosir" (Ainu: アイヌモシㇼ, lit. 'the land of the Ainu'), since before the arrival of the modern Yamato and Russians.[6][7][8] These regions are often referred to as Ezochi (蝦夷地) and its inhabitants as Emishi (蝦夷) in historical Japanese texts. Along with the Yamato and Ryukyu ethnic groups, the Ainu people are one of the primary historic ethnic groups of Japan.

Official estimates place the total Ainu population in Japan at 25,000. 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.[9]

The Ainu are one of the few ethnic minorities native to the Japanese islands. They were subject to forced assimilation and colonization by the Japanese since at least the 18th century. Japanese assimilation policies in the 19th century around the Meiji Restoration included forcing Ainu peoples off their land. This, in turn, forced them to give up traditional ways of life such as subsistence hunting and fishing. Ainu people were not allowed to practice their religion, and were placed into Japanese-language schools where speaking the Ainu language was forbidden. In 1966, there were about 300 native Ainu speakers; in 2008, there were about 100.[10][11] In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to revitalize the Ainu language.[12]

  1. ^ Vovin (2008).
  2. ^ "Ainu seikatsu jittai chōsa" アイヌ生活実態調査 [Survey on the actual living conditions of the Ainu] (in Japanese). 北海道. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2010 in relation to the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of individual nationalities". Federal State Statistics Service (in Russian). March 2019. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2013.
  4. ^ "2010 Census: Population by ethnicity". Federal State Statistics (in Russian). Archived from the original on April 24, 2012.
  5. ^ Gordon, Raymond G. Jr., ed. (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th ed.). Dallas: SIL International. ISBN 978-1-55671-159-6. OCLC 224749653.
  6. ^ Isabella, Jude (October 25, 2017). "The Untold Story of Japan's First People". SAPIENS. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023.
  7. ^ Cobb, Ellie (May 20, 2020). "Japan's forgotten indigenous people". BBC. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023.
  8. ^ Shibatani (1990), p. 3.
  9. ^ Poisson (2002), p. 5.
  10. ^ Honna, Nobuyuki; Tajima, Hiroko Tina; Minamoto, Kunihiko (2000). "Japan". In Kam, Ho Wah; Wong, Ruth Y. L. (eds.). Language Policies and Language Education: The Impact in East Asian Countries in the Next Decade. Singapore: Times Academic Press. ISBN 978-9-81210-149-5.
  11. ^ Hohmann (2008).
  12. ^ "Linguistic Revival: How Japan Restored the Native Ainu Language with "AI Pirika"". stanfordrewired.com. Retrieved December 8, 2023.