Is the Japanese nation the Yamato nation? Are there other ethnic groups?

Japan’s ethnic composition is relatively simple. Except for a few Ainu (also known as Ezo) people, they are all Yamato people.

The Ainu people are the original inhabitants of Japan and are a branch of the Equatorial race. According to Japanese historical records. The Ainu people were called "Hairy People" in the fifth century AD because they were characterized by darker skin, thick, long, and wavy hair, a lot of hair on their faces and bodies, and a short stature. The height of an adult man About 1.6 meters. Their faces have European features, their language bears no resemblance to that of the neighboring peoples and countries, and the men have red beards. The clothes they wear are very similar to the costumes of the tribes living in the Far North. Their legends and the many narrative poems circulated have many similarities with the folk (oral) creations of the indigenous peoples of Oceania and Australia. In short, this mixed culture is incredible, and there is still no explanation for this phenomenon. How they came to Japan is unknown.

Some people believe that their ancestors migrated to Japan from Southeast Asia in the early Neolithic Period (about six or seven thousand years ago). Some scholars believe that the Ainu are Arab immigrants who were distributed across the Honshu Islands after controlling the vast area of ??the Far East for a certain period of time. As some Japanese tribes gradually migrated north, their territory was shrinking. From the second half of the seventh century AD, the Ainu people were called "Ezo", which means Yi Di. This was a contemptuous name given to them by the reactionary rulers of Japan's dominant Yamato clan. From about the middle of the fourteenth century AD, they gradually changed their name to the Ainu. The word "Ainu" means "people" in the language of this ethnic group. Since the 16th century AD, some Ainu people have migrated to the Sakhalin area. From the 17th to the 18th century, most of the Ainu were wiped out. Today, there are less than 20,000 people left. Most of them have moved to Hidaka, Asahikawa, Kushiro and other places in central and northern Hokkaido. A few have moved as far away as Kuhaye. Islands and the Kuril Islands, some are also scattered in some parts of Honshu.

The Ainu people originally made a living mainly by fishing and hunting. At the end of the 18th century AD, the Tokugawa shogunate directly sent officials to manage the Thousand Islands, opened up more than a dozen fishing grounds, and implemented an assimilation policy, requiring the Ainu people to change their customs and habits, shave their beards, clean their hair, wear kimonos, and change their names according to Japanese style. surname. After the 19th century AD, Japan began to develop Hokkaido and other islands to popularize the civilization of the Yamato nation. As a result, the traditional lifestyle of the Ainu people has further changed. They gave up traditional fishing and hunting and became farmers living a settled life.

The Ainu people have their own festivals and sacrificial activities, the most famous of which is the "Bear Festival". They like to use chisels to carve animals, especially the image of bears, on peeled logs, which is called in Japan It's called "Ainu sculpture". The Ainu people have rich cultural heritage, are good at embroidery, and love to dance. They composed many poems and passed them down from generation to generation based on their memories. There are some long narrative poems in the Ainu language that have been handed down from history. They are so rich in content that it takes a long time to recite them.

The Ainu people have their own language - Ainu, which is a Baohe language. It is an independent language belonging to the Malayo-Lynesian (Austronesian) language family. Currently, apart from the Ainu, only Eskimos and American Indians speak this language. Many place names in northeastern Japan are derived from the Ainu language. For example: "Reiboro", the original meaning is "big river valley"; "Otaru", the original meaning is "Sunagawa"; "Nayo", the original meaning is "crow-infested city", etc. The Ainu people have contributed to the development of the Japanese archipelago, including cultural development.