Ezo

Ezo as depicted in a detail of the Sangoku tsûran zusetsu (1785). University of Hawaii Sakamaki-Hawley Collection

A map of Ezochi by Kondô Jûzô, dated 1804. Hokkaido Museum.

• 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 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." Japanese conceptions about the region are reflected in its depiction in a 1785 map by Hayashi Shihei (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 annexed the territory and established Hokkaidô as a prefecture in 1869/8; the term "Ezo" or "Ezochi" fell out of use shortly afterward.

History

It is unclear when the very first Japanese (Wajin) settlements in the region may have been established, but some small number of Japanese individuals are believed to have traveled in the region as early as the 12th or 13th centuries, and some small number of settlements certainly existed by the 15th century. Records show scattered examples of samurai power-holders who received tribute from Ainu groups on Sakhalin as early as 1475. Trade and other peaceful interactions took place alongside tensions and conflicts.

Edo Period

During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate charged Matsumae domain with overseeing matters pertaining to Ezochi, including trade, relations with the Ainu, and defending Japanese territory (Wajinchi) against either Ainu violence or foreign invasion. The Matsumae clan was officially granted no territory in fief, but even so governed an area known as Matsumaechi ("Matsumae land"). Because of their jurisdiction and authority regarding the large area of Ezo, the Matsumae lords were sometimes referred to as Ezo Dai-Ô (蝦夷大王, Great Kings of Ezo) or by similar terms. Guardposts stood at Kameda in the east and Kumaishi in the west, marking and defending the border between Matsumae lands and Ezochi.

Where Ainu had previously been able to move freely within and across the region, in the early 17th century Japanese authorities divided up the region, using guardposts (bansho) and checkpoints (sekisho) to strictly control movement of people and goods between four areas oversee by Matsumae, Hirosaki, and Morioka domains.

Like Ryûkyû, China, and other parts of the outside world beyond Japan, Ezo was the subject of numerous popular publications in the Edo period, which emerged out of and contributed to popular conceptions about the region and its peoples. Scholars such as Arai Hakuseki also wrote more formal studies which remained unpublished, bringing together information from a variety of Chinese, Matsumae, shogunate, and other sources.

The shogunate dispatched a mission to Ezo in 1785 to investigate the defenses, trade activities, and commercial potential of Matsumae domain, and to assess the Russian presence and the potential threat posed by it. This mission represents an important expansion of shogunate awareness of, or familiarity with, circumstances in Ezo. In 1799, the shogunate then officially incorporated portions of eastern Hokkaidô and the Kuril Islands into shogunate territory, in response to Russian encroachment. The shogunate then extended its authority over much of western Hokkaidô and southern Sakhalin, similarly, in 1807. Around this time, the shogunate also ordered that Ainu adopt Japanese customs, seeking to strengthen the Japanese character of the territory and combat Russian influence. These assimilation policies were relaxed, and portions of the territories were returned to Matsumae domain's oversight in 1821 when the threat from Russia seemed to have lessened.

Mamiya Rinzô conducted an important survey of Ezo at the orders of the shogunate. In 1808-1809, he became the first Japanese person to discover, or confirm, that Sakhalin was an island, and not connected to the Asian mainland.

In 1854/12, the shogunate signed the Treaty of Shimoda with Russia, formally establishing the border between the two as lying between the Japanese-held island of Iturup (Etorofu) and the Russian-held island of Urup; most of the Kuril Islands were thus recognized as Russian territory, but the status of Sakhalin was left unclear at this time. A few months later, in 1855/2, the shogunate reassigned jurisdiction and responsibility for Ezochi, dividing among Sendai, Kubota, Hirosaki, Morioka and Matsumae domains what had previously been overseen by Matsumae alone. Later that same year, in 1855/10, the shogunate permitted shogunal vassals, retainers of the various domains, and commoners to relocate to Ezo, and granted loans to those who engaged in developing (kaitaku, 開拓) the land.

Meiji Period

For about six months in 1868-1869, a group of loyalists to the former shogunate attempted to establish an independent state, known as the Republic of Ezo. Led by Enomoto Takeaki and based at Goryôkaku and Matsumae castle, they fought a number of battles against the armies of the newly-established Japanese state, which eventually defeated them and extended its rule over the region.

The 1875 Treaty of St. Petersburg established territorial boundaries with Russia; in exchange for Japan renouncing claims to Sakhalin, Russia recognized the Kuril Islands as Japanese territory. The treaty also provided stipulations for Japanese settlers being able live as permanent residents in Russian territories (e.g. Sakhalin) and Russian settlers as permanent residents in Japanese territory.