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==Origins==
==Origins==
As in many indigenous cultures around the world, in their own language, the word "Ainu" simply means "human being" or "person." The relationship of the Ainu to the [[Emishi]] or other indigenous groups pushed back from Eastern Japan to Tôhoku, and eventually to Hokkaidô, in earlier periods is unclear, as is the identification of the Ainu people and the Japanese, or "[[Yamato people]]," to the [[Jomon Period|Jômon]]/[[Yayoi Period|Yayoi]] divide.
As in many indigenous cultures around the world, in their own language, the word "Ainu" simply means "human being" or "person." The relationship of the Ainu to the [[Emishi]] or other indigenous groups pushed back from Eastern Japan to Tôhoku, and eventually to Hokkaidô, in earlier periods is unclear, as is the relationship of the Ainu and the Japanese ("[[Yamato people]]") to the [[Jomon Period|Jômon]]/[[Yayoi Period|Yayoi]] divide.
That said, the term "Ainu" is generally used only in discussions of the 16th century or so, and beyond; whether they are technically the same people or not, "Emishi" and other words are generally used to refer to indigenous groups in earlier periods.
That said, the term "Ainu" is generally used only in discussions of the 14th century and beyond. Ainu/Emishi history is generally divided into the following periods:
*Jômon (before 100 BCE)
*''[[Zoku-Jomon Period|Zoku-Jômon]]'' (lit. "continued Jômon"; 100 BCE - 800 CE)
*[[Emishi|Satsumon culture]] (800 - 1300 CE)
*Ainu (1300 CE to present)
==Ainu Society==
==Ainu Society==
==Ainu-Japanese Relations==
==Ainu-Japanese Relations==
==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.
The mid-15th century saw a new surge of instability in Tôhoku and Ezo, as Japanese traders, fishermen, trappers and the like made further inroads into Ainu territories. Japanese and Ainu got into conflict, and some studies indicate that the Ainu won most of these scattered skirmishes. The zone of Japanese control shrank, and receded, for a time; at the opening of the 17th century (the time of the establishment of the [[Tokugawa shogunate]]), it was the Kakizaki clan who controlled the only remaining ''Wajin'' (Japanese) territory on the island of Ezo. Controlling that territory from [[Matsumae castle]], they came to be known as the [[Matsumae clan]], and remained the only daimyô on Ezo, in control of the northernmost ''[[han]]'' in the realm, throughout the [[Edo period]].
===Edo Period===
===Edo Period===
Though the Japanese had had some interactions and dealings with the Ainu (or Emishi) of Hokkaidô in earlier periods<ref>Including as early as the late 15th century, when the [[Ando clan|Andô clan]] and [[Takeda Nobuhiro]], ancestor of the Matsuemae clan, were active in Ezo.</ref>, it was in the Edo period that directed policy was first aimed at the island of Hokkaidô, then called [[Ezo]].
Though the Japanese had had some interactions and dealings with the Ainu (or Emishi) of Hokkaidô in earlier periods<ref>Including as early as the late 15th century, when the [[Ando clan|Andô clan]] and [[Takeda Nobuhiro]], ancestor of the Matsuemae clan, were active in Ezo.</ref>, it was in the Edo period that directed policy was first aimed at the island of Hokkaidô, then called Ezo.
For most of the Edo period, the Japanese continued to directly control very little of the island, but the economic benefits, and political or discursive benefits of having Ezo (and its people, the Ainu) within Japan's sphere of influence was of importance to the shogunate. Relations with the Ainu were handled almost exclusively by the [[Matsumae clan]] beginning in [[1604]], the only clan to be based on Ezo. Japanese and Ainu engaged in trade, with the Ainu providing items such as furs, fish, hawks for [[takagiri|hunting]], as well as items obtained from the Asian continent, in exchange for [[lacquer]]ware, swords, and other Japanese craft-goods. A system or tradition was established in which Ainu chiefs regularly visited [[Matsumae castle|Matsumae]], bringing gifts and paying respects to the samurai lords; the Matsumae clan saw this as a paying of [[tribute]], in the ideological mode of Chinese or Japanese political worldview, but it is not clear that the Ainu saw it in that way, as an expression of submission or subordination.
For most of the Edo period, the Japanese continued to directly control very little of the island, but the economic benefits, and political or discursive benefits of having Ezo (and its people, the Ainu) within Japan's sphere of influence was of importance to the shogunate. Relations with the Ainu were handled almost exclusively by the [[Matsumae clan]] beginning in [[1604]], the only clan to be based on Ezo. Japanese and Ainu engaged in trade, with the Ainu providing items such as furs, fish, hawks for [[takagiri|hunting]], as well as items obtained from the Asian continent, in exchange for [[lacquer]]ware, swords, and other Japanese craft-goods. A system or tradition was established in which Ainu chiefs regularly visited [[Matsumae castle|Matsumae]], bringing gifts and paying respects to the samurai lords; the Matsumae clan saw this as a paying of [[tribute]], in the ideological mode of Chinese or Japanese political worldview, but it is not clear that the Ainu saw it in that way, as an expression of submission or subordination.
==References==
==References==
*Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. ''Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation''. M.E. Sharpe, 1998. pp9-25ff.
*Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. ''Re-Inventing Japan: Time, Space, Nation''. M.E. Sharpe, 1998. pp9-25ff.
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[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Edo Period]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
[[Category:Meiji Period]]
[[Category:Foreigners]]
[[Category:Foreigners]]