Ogawa Masahito

Ogawa Masahito has been described as the leading scholar in modern Ainu studies today. His most famous work deals with the iyomante bear-spirit-sending ritual.

Ogawa builds upon the work of Sasaki Toshikazu, Kikuchi Isao, and others, to further efforts to write an Ainu-centered (rather than Japan-centered) scholarship on the Ainu. He attempts to construct a narrative of Ainu history that is not limited to discussions of assimilation and resistance.

References

• David Howell, "Is Ainu History Japanese History?," in ann-elise lewallen, Mark Hudson, Mark Watson (eds.), Beyond Ainu Studies, University of Hawaii Press (2015), 109-.