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===Edo Period===
===Edo Period===
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[[File:Omusha-hidaka.jpg|center|thumb|800px|Painting of an ''[[omusha]]'' ritual meeting between Ainu and Japanese officials at [[Hidaka]]. [[Hakodate]] City Central Library. Reproduced on a gallery label at [[Hokkaido Museum]], [[Sapporo]].]]<br>
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 Matsumae 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 Matsumae 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.