Changes

For lengthy periods of time in the Edo period, there was a degree of fluidity of movement between Ainu and Japanese society, with some Japanese moving out beyond the borders of [[Matsumae han]], and essentially joining Ainu society, while some Ainu shaved their beards, cut their hair, and adopted Japanese customs and lifestyle. (Some Ainu also maintained, to a degree, their Ainu identity and lifestyle while living within Japanese society.) It is said that some Ainu even fought alongside the samurai armies of the Matsumae clan (then called the [[Kakizaki clan]]) in the Sengoku period, being known especially for their poisoned arrows. [[Tessa Morris-Suzuki]] points out the significance of this conception of Japanese as something people could become - something grounded more in culture and societal behavior than in racial or ethnic identity.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. ''Re-Inventing Japan''. p22.</ref>  

For lengthy periods of time in the Edo period, there was a degree of fluidity of movement between Ainu and Japanese society, with some Japanese moving out beyond the borders of [[Matsumae han]], and essentially joining Ainu society, while some Ainu shaved their beards, cut their hair, and adopted Japanese customs and lifestyle. (Some Ainu also maintained, to a degree, their Ainu identity and lifestyle while living within Japanese society.) It is said that some Ainu even fought alongside the samurai armies of the Matsumae clan (then called the [[Kakizaki clan]]) in the Sengoku period, being known especially for their poisoned arrows. [[Tessa Morris-Suzuki]] points out the significance of this conception of Japanese as something people could become - something grounded more in culture and societal behavior than in racial or ethnic identity.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. ''Re-Inventing Japan''. p22.</ref>  

Indeed, as the Japanese began to sense a threat from Russian encroachment in the 1730s-40s (when Ainu on [[Shumshu]] and other northerly islands quite close to Kamchatka began to be Russified),<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," 54.</ref> and especially around the 1790s-1800s, "Japanization" of the Ainu was pursued with greater fervor. The Ainu may have been considered outsiders, and on the periphery, but it was still considered "our" periphery in the eyes of the Japanese, a place and a people with whom the Japanese had a long relationship, and from whom the Japanese got fish, furs, and much other important commerce; there was a fear of losing all of this to the Russians, who were actively building Russian Orthodox churches in the Kurils and elsewhere, and converting the native peoples. The shogunate's assimilation efforts were directed, therefore, not at the Ainu living closer to Matsumae-chi, but at those living nearest the areas of Russian encroachment, in order to solidify the Japaneseness of the Ainu there. Intermarriage was encouraged, and ceremonies celebrating "''kaizoku no shûgi''" (改俗の祝儀, "the improvement of customs") were held, in which Ainu were given Japanese-style dress and haircuts. Since Japanese society was highly stratified, however, assimilating Ainu into it meant assigning them a place within the system, and signs of their new status; most Ainu were given castoff peasants' clothing, but their village headmen, elders, and the like were often given ''[[haori]]'' or other elements of a higher-status costume, signs of a status position above peasants but below samurai officials.<ref name=frontier13>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p13.</ref> By around 1800, Ainu constituted only about half of Ezo's population.<ref>Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 134.</ref>

Indeed, as the Japanese began to sense a threat from Russian encroachment in the 1730s-40s (when Ainu on [[Shumshu]] and other northerly islands quite close to Kamchatka began to be Russified),<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," 54.</ref> and especially around the 1790s-1800s, "Japanization" of the Ainu was pursued with greater fervor. The Ainu may have been considered outsiders, and on the periphery, but it was still considered "our" periphery in the eyes of the Japanese, a place and a people with whom the Japanese had a long relationship, and from whom the Japanese got fish, furs, and much other important commerce; there was a fear of losing all of this to the Russians, who were actively building Russian Orthodox churches in the Kurils and elsewhere, and converting the native peoples. The shogunate's assimilation efforts were directed, therefore, not at the Ainu living closer to Matsumae-chi, but at those living nearest the areas of Russian encroachment, in order to solidify the Japaneseness of the Ainu there. Intermarriage was encouraged, and ceremonies celebrating "''kaizoku no shûgi''" (改俗の祝儀, "the improvement of customs") were held, in which Ainu were given Japanese-style dress and haircuts. A volume on Confucianism, intended for the purposes of transformational moral instruction, became one of the first books ever translated into the Ainu language. Though attributed to [[Muro Kyuso|Muro Kyûsô]], this was actually Muro's translation of a work by [[Tei Junsoku]], a [[Kingdom of Ryukyu|Ryukyuan]] (i.e. non-Japanese, "barbarian")[[Ryukyuan aristocracy|scholar-official]].<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," 56.</ref>

 

Since Japanese society was highly stratified, however, assimilating Ainu into it meant assigning them a place within the system, and signs of their new status; most Ainu were given castoff peasants' clothing, but their village headmen, elders, and the like were often given ''[[haori]]'' or other elements of a higher-status costume, signs of a status position above peasants but below samurai officials.<ref name=frontier13>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p13.</ref> By around 1800, Ainu constituted only about half of Ezo's population.<ref>Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Japanese Civilization'', Wadsworth Cengage (2013), 134.</ref>

Some shogunate officials and other thinkers and writers suggested that the shogunate ought to seize Ezo, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin, in order to fend off the Russians and claim the Ainu (and the economic benefits they represented) more securely for Japan.

Some shogunate officials and other thinkers and writers suggested that the shogunate ought to seize Ezo, the Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin, in order to fend off the Russians and claim the Ainu (and the economic benefits they represented) more securely for Japan.

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 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. Ainu were in fact pressured to work for the fisheries, and discouraged - through intimidation and other forceful methods - from engaging in farming; Ainu agriculture noticeably declines in the 17th-18th centuries.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p21.</ref> 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.

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. Ainu were in fact pressured to work for the fisheries, and discouraged - through intimidation and other forceful methods - from engaging in farming; Ainu agriculture noticeably declines in the 17th-18th centuries.<ref>Morris-Suzuki. "Creating the Frontier." p21.</ref> 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.