Ainu Cultural Overview
A summary of the geography, history, daily life, society, economy, beliefs, and arts & music of the Ainu culture.
The Ainu are in an indigenous people of Northern Japan and Eastern Russia.
Geography
Historically, the Ainu have occupied Japan’s Hokkaido and Northern Honshu as well as Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. Through gradual displacement, their population is now concentrated on Hokkaido. Hokkaido is a mountainous, heavily forested island with lower-lying plains suited to agriculture. The island is also home to plentiful lakes, rivers, and wetlands.
Climate: Mild summers and cold, snowy winters
Total Population: 24,381 (1984 census est.)
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History
Ainu culture in its modern form developed around 1200 CE. They are the descendants of earlier island peoples, who merged across multiple regions to form separate but related Ainu cultures. For the most part, they maintained their independence until the early modern era. At this time, trade with Japan gradually restricted their access to the outside world. By the late 19th century, the Japanese had moved to fully incorporate the island of Hokkaido and its people. This led to cultural erasure and increasing poverty within Ainu communities. Modern activists have worked to preserve their languages and customs and gain recognition as a distinct indigenous people in Japan.
Daily Life
The historic Ainu were traders, hunters, gatherers, fishermen, and small-scale farmers. As a general rule, men hunted, fished, and worshipped, while women gathered, crafted, farmed, and raised children. Their staple foods included venison, salmon, millet grains, deccan grass, wild bulbs, and occasionally bear meat. Both men and women wore embroidered robes made from cotton, silk, attush bark fibers, or other natural materials. Their homes in most regions, or chise, were constructed from reed mats with a central hearth.
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Society
Ainu societies typically consisted of small villages, or kotan, many of which shared family ties. These villages were almost always built near rivers, lakes, or coastlines. They were typically led by respected elders; in the same way, the oldest male member of a household acted as its head. Villages could unite politically but for the most part remained independent. Children learned the duties of adulthood from their parents and reached maturity through marriage. The social structures of the Ainu were disrupted in the 19th and 20th century. Many Ainu people are still in touch with their family and indigenous culture, while others have integrated into Japanese society and may not even be aware of their Ainu ancestry.
Major Languages: Japanese and the surviving Hokkaido Ainu language
Economy
The Ainu of past centuries were mostly self-sufficient but relied on outside trade for luxury goods. During Japan’s period of isolation, they were a valuable source of trade items from China and Russia. After the opening of Japan, however, the Meiji-era government looked for new ways to profit from Hokkaido. Its policies included the arrival of settlers from the south and the suppression of Ainu culture. Instead of hunting and gathering, Ainu people began to work for wages at fisheries, farms, mines, and lumber mills. Another significant industry today revolves around crafts and tourism, often through folk villages.
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Beliefs
The traditional faith of the Ainu is an animistic, polytheistic form of worship and lifestyle. It recognizes a universal life force, or ramat, within every object and living being. That ramat is concentrated in deities, or kamuy, who may choose to extend it into the human world. There are many kamuy, each governing another aspect of nature and human life. Some of the most popular among them were Kamuy Fuchi, the fire goddess, and Repun Kamuy, god of the sea. When a being dies or an object breaks, their ramat returns to their kamuy. The Ainu believed that by offering prayers and sacrifices before consuming food or using an item, they could ensure that the kamuy would return again. This is perhaps best demonstrated by the Iyomante bear-sending ritual.
Native Ainu worship is still practiced in some areas of Hokkaido. Other people of Ainu descent now practice religions such as Shinto, Buddhism, and Christianity.
Arts & Music
The Ainu are notable for a number of crafts, arts, and musical customs. Their oral literature encouraged a strong tradition of storytelling, often told through music and dance. In addition, women needed to be skilled in embroidery, weaving, and dying to outfit their families. When they reached maturity, young women received ornate, geometric tattoos on their arms and faces. Men tended to work with wood instead, including carvings for both sacred and practical use. In the 20th century, their sculptures and carved knife handles became popular tourist items. Today, Ainu communities and scholars produce a wide variety of art and work to preserve the languages that contain their epic stories.
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References
Batchelor, John. The Ainu and Their Folk-Lore. Religious Tract Society. 1901.
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko. Illness and Healing Among the Sakhalin Ainu. Cambridge Univeristy Press. 2014.
Siddle, Richard. Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan. Routledge. 2012.
Sjoberg, Katarina. The Return of Ainu: Cultural Mobilization and the Practice of Ethnicity in Japan. Routledge. 2013.
“The Ainu People.” Ainu History and Culture, Ainu Museum, www.ainu-museum.or.jp/en/study/eng01.html.
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