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''Omusha'' were ritual meetings between representatives of [[Ainu]] communities and [[Matsumae han]] retainers. They stemmed out of a traditional Ainu practice known as ''umusa'', in which gifts were exchanged as a polite custom when meeting someone again that one had met before. However, over the course of the [[Edo period]], these ritual meetings and gift exchanges evolved from something performed voluntarily by the Ainu out of a sense of tradition, propriety, and etiquette, into something the Japanese obliged them to perform each time Matsumae domain retainers or officials made their annual visit to a given village.
''Omusha'' were ritual meetings between representatives of [[Ainu]] communities and [[Matsumae han]] retainers. They stemmed out of a traditional Ainu practice known as ''umusa'', in which gifts were exchanged as a polite custom when meeting someone again that one had met before. However, over the course of the [[Edo period]], these ritual meetings and gift exchanges evolved from something performed voluntarily by the Ainu out of a sense of tradition, propriety, and etiquette, into something the Japanese obliged them to perform each time Matsumae domain retainers or officials made their annual visit to a given village.
A painting held by the Hakodate City Central Library depicts an ''omusha'' ceremony performed in connection with the visit of [[Aizu han]] officials to [[Kushun kotan]] on [[Sakhalin Island]] in [[1808]]. It illustrates an outdoor area defined on several sides by large curtains and paper lanterns emblazoned with the [[Matsudaira clan]] [[kamon|crest]]. A row of samurai officials sit on mats to one side, in front of a row of suits of samurai armor, while other samurai sit on mats alone or in small groups in several other locations around the space. A group of Ainu elders are seated in the center of the gathering, without mats, directly on the ground. Some are shown bowing to the samurai. Larger groups of Ainu sit to one side. A number of casks of [[sake]], bushels of [[rice]], [[tobacco]], ''[[tsuba]]'' (hilt guards for Japanese swords), bows and arrows, ''[[teppo|teppô]]'' firearms, and other goods are displayed as well, presumably being presented as gifts from one side to the other.
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