Changes

[[File:Ezo-map.jpg|right|thumb|400px|A map of Ezochi by [[Kondo Juzo|Kondô Jûzô]], dated [[1804]]. Hokkaido Museum.]]

[[File:Ezo-map.jpg|right|thumb|400px|A map of Ezochi by [[Kondo Juzo|Kondô Jûzô]], dated [[1804]]. Hokkaido Museum.]]

*''Japanese'': 蝦夷 ''(Ezo)'', 蝦夷地 ''(Ezochi)''

*''Japanese'': 蝦夷 ''(Ezo)'', 蝦夷地 ''(Ezochi)''

"Ezo" or "Ezochi" is an old name for the region historically beyond the northern edges of Japanese settlement and governance, comprising [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]], [[Sakhalin]], and the [[Kuril Islands]], the homelands of indigenous peoples including the [[Ainu]]. The term ''Ezo'' uses the same characters as the term ''[[emishi]]'', which is often translated as "barbarian."

"Ezo" or "Ezochi" is an old name for the region historically beyond the northern edges of Japanese settlement and governance, comprising [[Hokkaido|Hokkaidô]], [[Sakhalin]], and the [[Kuril Islands]], the homelands of indigenous peoples including the [[Ainu]]. The term ''Ezo'' uses the same characters as the term ''[[emishi]]'', which is often translated as "barbarian."

Over the course of the [[Edo period]], [[Matsumae han]] (and at times the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] directly) took over parts of the region, incorporating them into ''Wajinchi'' (lit. "the land of Japanese people") and thus shrinking the space the Japanese saw as "Ezochi" (i.e. "the land of 'barbarians'"). That remaining as "Ezochi" was consistently seen as ''iiki'' 異域, a "foreign region," outside of "Japan."<ref>By comparison, consider the terms ''takoku'' 他国 used to mean "another province" or "another domain" within Japan, and ''ikoku'' 異国 used to refer to "foreign countries" outside of Japan such as [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Ryûkyû]] or [[Joseon|Korea]]. Luke Roberts, ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press, 1998., pp5-6.</ref>

Over the course of the [[Edo period]], [[Matsumae han]] (and at times the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] directly) took over parts of the region, incorporating them into ''Wajinchi'' (lit. "the land of Japanese people") and thus shrinking the space the Japanese saw as "Ezochi" (i.e. "the land of 'barbarians'"). That remaining as "Ezochi" was consistently seen as ''iiki'' 異域, a "foreign region," outside of "Japan."<ref>By comparison, consider the terms ''takoku'' 他国 used to mean "another province" or "another domain" within Japan, and ''ikoku'' 異国 used to refer to "foreign countries" outside of Japan such as [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Ryûkyû]] or [[Joseon|Korea]]. Luke Roberts, ''Mercantilism in a Japanese Domain: The Merchant Origins of Economic Nationalism in 18th-Century Tosa'', Cambridge University Press, 1998., pp5-6.</ref> Japanese conceptions about the region are reflected in its depiction in a [[1785]] map by [[Hayashi Shihei]] (''[[Sangoku tsuran zusetsu|Sangoku tsûran zusetsu]]''), in which the blue of Japanese territory fades into the yellow of "foreign" territory, without a sharp border.

The [[Meiji government]] officially established Hokkaidô as a prefecture in [[1869]]/8; the term "Ezo" or "Ezochi" fell out of use shortly afterward.

The [[Meiji government]] officially established Hokkaidô as a prefecture in [[1869]]/8; the term "Ezo" or "Ezochi" fell out of use shortly afterward.