Kunashiri-Menashi Rebellion

• Date: 1789
• Japanese: クナシリ・メナシの戦い or 国後・目梨の戦い (Kunashiri Menashi no tatakai)

The Kunashiri-Menashi Rebellion was an Ainu uprising against Japanese authorities which took place in 1789, in Ezo (Hokkaidô). It was the largest conflict between Ainu and Japanese to take place after Shakushain's Revolt in 1669.

The rebellion grew out of a situation in which Matsumae han, granted by the Tokugawa shogunate authority and responsibility over Ezo, superimposed its political and economic structures over those of the indigenous Ainu, employing Ainu chiefs and networks of authority to effect Matsumae (Japanese) power. Traditional Ainu means of resolving conflicts, arranging alliances, and so forth were not suppressed, but rather were used by the Matsumae.

By 1788, however, Matsumae control over at least some regions began to unravel. The Ainu rebellion the following year emerged out of worker protests at one of the many fisheries on the island which was run by Japanese, and employed mainly Ainu workers. Hidaya Kyûbei opened his fishery in 1788, but the following year, many of his workers refused to return to work, citing low wages. This led to some Japanese in Hidaya's employ attempting to poison the Ainu; after an Ainu chief died (whether from poisoning or not is unclear), some one hundred and thirty Ainu from eighteen different communities united to attack Japanese workers at Hidaya's fishery. Some initial reports suggested the Russians played some role in inciting the violence, but this seems unlikely.

The Matsumae samurai authorities sent troops to quell the violence; they took quick action, and beheaded thirty-seven Ainu. In the end, Matsumae authorities had to rely on Chieftain Tsukinoe of Kunashiri (father of one of the rebel leaders) and other powerful Ainu elites for help in suppressing the revolt; that this was the case complicates somewhat the standard narrative of Ainu history overall, which is typically characterized entirely by discussions of exploitation, oppression, and subjugation.

Hidaya was stripped of his fisheries, but the Tokugawa shogunate saw Matsumae as having failed to keep the peace. Ten years later, Matsumae authority over the Ainu was reduced somewhat, and Tokugawa officials were dispatched to Ezo. Whereas the Matsumae worked with the Ainu in certain respects, Ainu chiefs were now granted less power and agency as they came more directly under Tokugawa authority.

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), 111-112.