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Wajin settlement during this period remained extremely sparse and thin compared to the extent of the Japanese population in Hokkaidô today. Still, as Wajin traders, fishermen, trappers, and the like made further inroads into Ainu lands, and as various sorts of exploitative economic structures were established and developed, tensions grew, occasionally erupting into outright clashes or revolts.
Wajin settlement during this period remained extremely sparse and thin compared to the extent of the Japanese population in Hokkaidô today. Still, as Wajin traders, fishermen, trappers, and the like made further inroads into Ainu lands, and as various sorts of exploitative economic structures were established and developed, tensions grew, occasionally erupting into outright clashes or revolts.
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 declined in the 17th-18th centuries.<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "Creating the Frontier," 21.</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.
Throughout this period, while Wajin and Ainu remained distinct populations for the most part, that distinction was porous. In the early Edo period, Ainu who had been living among Wajin were encouraged, or even forced, to relocate, deeper into Ezochi. They were forbidden to speak Japanese, or to dress in the Japanese fashion, and were discouraged from farming. As the shogunate's constructions of its ideological legitimacy developed, it became increasingly desirable, even necessary, that the Ainu be a foreign, exotic, people who paid tribute or otherwise formally recognized the superiority, or centrality, of Japanese civilization.<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," 51.</ref>
Throughout this period, while Wajin and Ainu remained distinct populations for the most part, that distinction was porous. In the early Edo period, Ainu who had been living among Wajin were encouraged, or even forced, to relocate, deeper into Ezochi. They were forbidden to speak Japanese, or to dress in the Japanese fashion, and were discouraged from farming. As the shogunate's constructions of its ideological legitimacy developed, it became increasingly desirable, even necessary, that the Ainu be a foreign, exotic, people who paid tribute or otherwise formally recognized the superiority, or centrality, of Japanese civilization.<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," 51.</ref>
