Changes

For most of the Edo period, the Japanese continued to directly control very little of the island, but the economic benefits, and political or discursive benefits of having Ezo (and its people, the Ainu) within Japan's sphere of influence was of importance to the shogunate. Relations with the Ainu were handled almost exclusively by the [[Matsumae clan]] beginning in [[1604]], the only clan to be based on Ezo. Japanese and Ainu engaged in trade, with the Ainu providing items such as furs, fish, hawks for [[takagari|hunting]], as well as items obtained from the Asian continent, in exchange for [[lacquer]]ware, swords, and other Japanese craft-goods. Many of these Japanese craft-goods were actually rather out of reach for the average Japanese peasant of the time, so the fact that Ainu had access to them is actually quite significant.<ref name=frontier45/>

For most of the Edo period, the Japanese continued to directly control very little of the island, but the economic benefits, and political or discursive benefits of having Ezo (and its people, the Ainu) within Japan's sphere of influence was of importance to the shogunate. Relations with the Ainu were handled almost exclusively by the [[Matsumae clan]] beginning in [[1604]], the only clan to be based on Ezo. Japanese and Ainu engaged in trade, with the Ainu providing items such as furs, fish, hawks for [[takagari|hunting]], as well as items obtained from the Asian continent, in exchange for [[lacquer]]ware, swords, and other Japanese craft-goods. Many of these Japanese craft-goods were actually rather out of reach for the average Japanese peasant of the time, so the fact that Ainu had access to them is actually quite significant.<ref name=frontier45/>

A system or tradition was established in which Ainu chiefs regularly visited [[Matsumae castle|Matsumae]], bringing gifts and paying respects to the samurai lords; the Matsumae clan saw this as a paying of [[tribute]], in the ideological mode of Chinese or Japanese political worldview, but it is not clear that the Ainu saw it in that way, as an expression of submission or subordination.

In the early Edo period, Ainu who had been living among ''Wajin'' were encouraged, or even forced, to relocate, deeper into Ezochi. As the shogunate's constructions of its ideological legitimacy developed, it became increasingly desirable, even necessary, that the Ainu be a foreign, exotic, people who paid [[tribute]] or otherwise formally recognized the superiority, or centrality, of Japanese civilization.<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," 51.</ref> A system or tradition was thus established in which Ainu chiefs regularly visited [[Matsumae castle|Matsumae]], bringing gifts and paying respects to the samurai lords; the Matsumae clan saw this as a paying of tribute, in the ideological mode of Chinese or Japanese political worldview, but it is not clear that the Ainu saw it in that way, as an expression of submission or subordination.

For lengthy periods of time in the Edo period, there was a degree of fluidity of movement between Ainu and Japanese society, with some Japanese moving out beyond the borders of [[Matsumae han]], and essentially joining Ainu society, while some Ainu shaved their beards, cut their hair, and adopted Japanese customs and lifestyle. (Some Ainu also maintained, to a degree, their Ainu identity and lifestyle while living within Japanese society.) It is said that some Ainu even fought alongside the samurai armies of the Matsumae clan (then called the [[Kakizaki clan]]) in the Sengoku period, being known especially for their poisoned arrows. [[Tessa Morris-Suzuki]] points out the significance of this conception of Japanese as something people could become - something grounded more in culture and societal behavior than in racial or ethnic identity.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. ''Re-Inventing Japan''. p22.</ref>  

For lengthy periods of time in the Edo period, there was a degree of fluidity of movement between Ainu and Japanese society, with some Japanese moving out beyond the borders of [[Matsumae han]], and essentially joining Ainu society, while some Ainu shaved their beards, cut their hair, and adopted Japanese customs and lifestyle. (Some Ainu also maintained, to a degree, their Ainu identity and lifestyle while living within Japanese society.) It is said that some Ainu even fought alongside the samurai armies of the Matsumae clan (then called the [[Kakizaki clan]]) in the Sengoku period, being known especially for their poisoned arrows. [[Tessa Morris-Suzuki]] points out the significance of this conception of Japanese as something people could become - something grounded more in culture and societal behavior than in racial or ethnic identity.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. ''Re-Inventing Japan''. p22.</ref>