Changes

==Ainu-Japanese Relations==

==Ainu-Japanese Relations==

==Early Interactions==

===Early Interactions===

Japanese expanded into Tôhoku as early as the 8th-9th centuries, and into Ezo by the 15th century, if not earlier, establishing small centers of control and either pushing the Emishi further north, or assimilating them. Some of these Japanese leaders were agents of the [[Yamato state]]; some sought independence from the Yamato state; and some were in fact Emishi chiefs or their descendants who had taken on Japanese identity. Meanwhile, those Japanese who sought to break from the Yamato state and to establish their own independent polities in the north were sometimes designated "Emishi" by the center.

Japanese expanded into Tôhoku as early as the 8th-9th centuries, and into Ezo by the 15th century, if not earlier, establishing small centers of control and either pushing the Emishi further north, or assimilating them. Some of these Japanese leaders were agents of the [[Yamato state]]; some sought independence from the Yamato state; and some were in fact Emishi chiefs or their descendants who had taken on Japanese identity. Meanwhile, those Japanese who sought to break from the Yamato state and to establish their own independent polities in the north were sometimes designated "Emishi" by the center.

Indeed, in [[1799]], and again in [[1807]], the shogunate laid claim to lands in these areas, returning them to the responsibility of the Matsumae clan only in [[1821]], after fears of Russian encroachment subsided. At that time, policies or attitudes about the Japanization of the Ainu were reversed. Discursively, it lent greater power and legitimacy to the Matsumae clan, and to the shogunate, to appear to have a foreign people submitting themselves to Japanese dominion; the [[Shimazu clan]] of [[Satsuma han]] engaged in similar discursive activities in their relations with the [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Kingdom of Ryûkyû]].

Indeed, in [[1799]], and again in [[1807]], the shogunate laid claim to lands in these areas, returning them to the responsibility of the Matsumae clan only in [[1821]], after fears of Russian encroachment subsided. At that time, policies or attitudes about the Japanization of the Ainu were reversed. Discursively, it lent greater power and legitimacy to the Matsumae clan, and to the shogunate, to appear to have a foreign people submitting themselves to Japanese dominion; the [[Shimazu clan]] of [[Satsuma han]] engaged in similar discursive activities in their relations with the [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Kingdom of Ryûkyû]].

Though continuing to exert direct control over only a very small portion of the island, in the 18th century the Matsumae clan began licensing Japanese merchants to establish commercial operations in Ainu lands, setting up small permanent outposts of Japanese settlement, and cottage industries such as fisheries, where Ainu served as hired labor. This, combined with severe increases in prices for Japanese goods frustrated the Ainu, who saw this as a betrayal by people who had, up until then, kept to their own territory, traded fairly and amicably, and treated the Ainu with respect. Several Ainu rebellions would occur over the course of the Edo period, one of the largest or most famous being [[Shakushain's Revolt]] in [[1669]]-[[1672]].

Though continuing to exert direct control over only a very small portion of the island, in the 18th century the Matsumae clan began licensing Japanese merchants to establish commercial operations in Ainu lands, setting up small permanent outposts of Japanese settlement, and cottage industries such as fisheries, where Ainu served as hired labor. This, combined with severe increases in prices for Japanese goods frustrated the Ainu, who saw this as a betrayal by people who had, up until then, kept to their own territory, traded fairly and amicably, and treated the Ainu with respect. Several Ainu rebellions would occur over the course of the Edo period, one of the largest or most famous being [[Shakushain's Revolt]] in [[1669]]-[[1672]], but all were eventually suppressed.

 

The Ainu continued to trade not only with the Japanese, but with various mainland Asian peoples, throughout the Edo period. Though the volume of this trade is unclear, some amount of goods from Russia, and from indigenous tribal groups such as the Nivkh and Uilta, were then in turn traded to the Japanese.

===Bakumatsu and Meiji Period===

===Bakumatsu and Meiji Period===