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Yoshihiro built Matsumae castle that same year, and made it the primary seat of governance and administration for his newly-renamed Matsumae clan. The shogunate granted the clan exclusive rights and responsibilities by the shogunate for overseeing relations with the Ainu, management of the vast northern frontier zone, and defense of the realm against threats from the north. However, unlike all other daimyô clans, the Matsumae were not formally enfeoffed in any designated territory, nor associated with a specified ''[[kokudaka]]'' (numerical ranking of power or wealth based on a presumed rice productivity of their land).

Yoshihiro built Matsumae castle that same year, and made it the primary seat of governance and administration for his newly-renamed Matsumae clan. The shogunate granted the clan exclusive rights and responsibilities by the shogunate for overseeing relations with the Ainu, management of the vast northern frontier zone, and defense of the realm against threats from the north. However, unlike all other daimyô clans, the Matsumae were not formally enfeoffed in any designated territory, nor associated with a specified ''[[kokudaka]]'' (numerical ranking of power or wealth based on a presumed rice productivity of their land).

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. Japanese and Ainu engaged in trade, with the Ainu providing items such as furs, fish, hawks for [[takagari|hunting]], as well as items obtained from the Asian continent, in exchange for [[lacquer]]ware, swords, and other Japanese craft-goods. Many of these Japanese craft-goods were actually rather out of reach for the average Japanese peasant of the time, so the fact that Ainu had access to them is actually quite significant.<ref>Tessa Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," in Stein Tønnesson and Hans Antlöv (eds.), ''Asian Forms of the Nation'', Psychology Press (1996), 45.</ref> Ainu chiefs also met with the Matsumae lords, and with shogunate officials, in two separate audience rituals, known respectively as ''[[uimamu]]'' (J: ''omemie'', "audience") and ''[[omusha]]''; both of these rituals included the exchange of gifts, and thus resembled [[tribute|tributary]] relations to some extent. However, samurai authorities explicitly did not recognize the Ainu as a sovereign people, i.e. as a country, in the same way that they recognized Korea, China, or [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]]; instead, Japanese rhetoric of the time emphasized the notion of the Ainu as living under the protection (撫育, ''buiku'') of the samurai authorities, and represented these rituals as indicating Ainu gratitude for that protection.<ref>Arano Yasunori, "[http://www.nippon.com/en/features/c00104/#back03 Foreign Relations in Early Modern Japan: Exploding the Myth of National Seclusion]," Nippon.com, 18 Jan 2013.</ref>

For most of the Edo period, the Japanese continued to directly control very little of the island. The island was essentially divided into two parts in the minds of the Japanese authorities. The area most immediately controlled by the Matsumae clan was known simply as ''Matsumae chi'' (松前地, lit. "Matsumae lands"), while the rest of the island was called Ezo-chi (蝦夷地, lit. "Ezo lands"). Guardposts stood at either end of the border between the two, which ran from Kameda in the east to Kumaishi in the west.<ref>Morris-Suzuki, "Creating the Frontier," p5.</ref> Initially, trading rights within Ezo-chi were divvied up between major vassals of the Matsumae clan, with each vassal family receiving rights to a given portion of land. Beginning in [[1717]], however, these rights began to be sold to wealthy merchants, who began to move farther and farther north. The first trading post in the [[Kuril Islands|Kurils]] was established at [[Kunashir]] in [[1754]], and the first on [[Sakhalin]] in [[1790]]. The expansion of these merchant operations was mainly along the coasts, and up into the northern islands, and not into the interior of Ezo, which remained largely unexplored (by Japanese).

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.

Japanese and Ainu engaged in trade, with the Ainu providing items such as furs, fish, hawks for [[takagari|hunting]], and items obtained from the Asian continent, as well as a category of maritime goods known as ''[[Nagasaki tawaramono]]'' which included things such as [[abalone]] and [[sea cucumber]]. In exchange, Ainu received [[lacquer]]ware, swords, iron tools, and other Japanese craft-goods. Many of these Japanese craft-goods were actually rather out of reach for the average Japanese peasant of the time, so the fact that Ainu had access to them is actually quite significant.<ref>Tessa Morris-Suzuki, "The Frontiers of Japanese Identity," in Stein Tønnesson and Hans Antlöv (eds.), ''Asian Forms of the Nation'', Psychology Press (1996), 45.</ref> Ainu chiefs also met with the Matsumae lords, and with shogunate officials, in two separate audience rituals, known respectively as ''[[uimamu]]'' (J: ''omemie'', "audience") and ''[[omusha]]''; both of these rituals included the exchange of gifts, and thus resembled [[tribute|tributary]] relations to some extent. However, samurai authorities explicitly did not recognize the Ainu as a sovereign people, i.e. as a country, in the same way that they recognized Korea, China, or [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]]; instead, Japanese rhetoric of the time emphasized the notion of the Ainu as living under the protection (撫育, ''buiku'') of the samurai authorities, and represented these rituals as indicating Ainu gratitude for that protection.<ref>Arano Yasunori, "[http://www.nippon.com/en/features/c00104/#back03 Foreign Relations in Early Modern Japan: Exploding the Myth of National Seclusion]," Nippon.com, 18 Jan 2013.</ref>

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.

 

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, two of the largest or most famous being [[Shakushain's Revolt]] in [[1669]]-[[1672]] and the [[Kunashir-Menashi Revolt]] of [[1789]], 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>