Ainu Education

History

Early Years

Research suggests that the Ainu may have originated from the ancient Jōmon, Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures. These early inhabitants of Japan did not speak the Japanese language and were conquered by the Japanese early in the 9th century.

13th-16th Centuries

Contact between the ethnic Japanese (known as Wa-Jin) and the Ainu of Hokkaidō-the northernmost Japanese island, and closest to Russia- began in the 13th century. The Ainu formed a society of hunter-gatherers, surviving mainly by hunting and fishing and developed a religion based off of natural phenomena.

During the Ashikaga or Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Japanese and Ainu went to war over various disputes. The samurai Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain. Many Ainu were subject to Japanese rule, which led to violent Ainu revolts such as Koshamain's Revolt in 1456, which led to Ainu defeat.

16th-18th Centuries

During the Edo period (1601–1868), the Ainu, who controlled Hokkaidō, became increasingly involved in trade with the Japanese who controlled the southern portion of the island. Throughout this period the Ainu became increasingly dependent on goods imported by the Japanese, and were suffering from epidemic diseases such as smallpox.

Although this increase in contact created by the trade between the Japanese and the Ainu contributed to increased mutual understanding, it also led to conflict which occasionally intensified into further violent Ainu revolts.