I want to know something about Ainu people in Hokkaido, Japan.

Ainu (Japanese: ァィヌ), or translated as Ainu, Ainu and Ainu, are aborigines living in Sakhalin Island and Hokkaido. Before other immigrants came to the Japanese archipelago, Ainu people crossed the ocean from Northeast Asia to come here. At that time, there was no vast strait between the mainland and nearby islands. They are now considered to be indigenous to Japan and once occupied the whole of Japan. However, they were gradually expelled from China, Koreans, Mongolians, Malays and Indonesians (including residents of zhina and South China) in northeast China, and retreated to the north, leaving only a few people in northern Japan. Ainu people look completely different from Yamato people. They have prominent eyebrows, thick hair, round and deep eyes, long and forked eyelashes, vertical noses and hairy faces and whole body. For centuries, Ainu people have been explaining the meaning of Ainu people to the world through exquisite handicrafts, traditional songs and religious ceremonies.

"Ainu" refers to "human" and "us". This word fits their national identity very well. Ainu people living in northern Japan enjoy a high spiritual and cultural level. They believe that all living and non-living things are the embodiment of kamuy. This belief rooted in the hearts of Ainu people has a history of more than 10 thousand years; The results of DNA research in recent years show that Ainu people are descendants of the ancient Japanese rope pattern family.

Until now, the origin of Ainu people is still controversial, the city by the sea; In 1860, westerners were surprised to find that the Ainu people living in Hokkaido, Japan looked very Caucasian. For a long time, Ainu people have been thought to have some connection with Caucasians because they don't look like yellow people at all. DNA tests also prove that Ainu people have the characteristics of non-yellow people, in other words, Caucasians or Central Asians. However, there is no clear answer to their origin. Some people say they are North American Indians, others think they are Alaskan Eskimos, and even Southeast Asians. Ainu people have nothing to do with Koreans or Japan in blood. It is speculated that they may be a group of people in the late Stone Age who were cut off by the sea at the end of the Ice Age and settled on the island, and then gradually merged with Asians to form today's Ainu people. Therefore, this group of people with a long history rooted in that land is extremely special and unusual.

Many Chinese documents directly refer to Ainu people as "Xiayi", a nation that once appeared in Japanese history, and think that they are the same nation. This view may be problematic.

Hokkaido was called "Xiayi" in ancient times (Japanese: ぇみし, ぇびす, ぇぞ). There are many records about "Xiayi people" in Japanese history books, but most of these records about Xiayi people being barbarians are fictitious. These documents are not obtained by actually observing the life of Xiayi or using reliable materials; Instead, it only quoted the vulgar records in China's ancient books. Among them, the description of Xiayi people only comes from their fear and discrimination. In Japan's Historical Records, the record of Xiayi wrote:

"I heard that he is also a foreigner and knows about sexual violence and bullying. If it is not as long as the village, it is not the first in the city. Their greed sealed the world and stole from each other. There are evil spirits in the mountains and evil spirits in the suburbs. ..... Among the barbarians in the East, Xiayi is particularly powerful. Men and women live together, there is no difference between father and son. Live in caves in winter and in summer. Clothes and blood, brother Kun is suspicious. ..... Therefore, since ancient times, it has not been dyed by Wang Hua. ..... that is, blarney words and swearing at ghosts. "

"Here, one day I will see this country. His compatriots, both men and women, are brave and tenacious. Yes, it's always called shrimp. Also, the land is fertile and vast, and it is desirable to strike it. "

In fact, the ancient Xiayi people in Northeast China are descendants of eastern or northeastern literati, and their customs and habits are not much different from Ainu people. These rope scholars later joined the ranks of the Japanese nation, that is, the Yamato nation, and Xiayi people joined at the latest. When Ainu people were formed in Hokkaido, Ainu people continued to exist independently without joining them.

Ainu people in Ainu village suffered serious institutionalized discrimination after Meiji period. 1868, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last general of the edo shogunate, returned the national policy to Emperor Meiji, and the Meiji era in Japanese history was officially launched. 1869, Emperor Meiji moved the capital to Edo and renamed it the new capital Tokyo. In the same year, without any formal consultation, the Ainu people's "Xiayi" was formally incorporated into the administrative scope of Japan and renamed as "Hokkaido". In the second year, the modern household registration system was officially implemented in Hokkaido, and all Ainu people became Japanese administratively. Later, the Japanese government not only confiscated the Ainu people's land, but also distributed it to new Japanese immigrants to encourage them to develop Hokkaido. Not long after, the population of Hokkaido exceeded 6.5438+0 million, and the indigenous Ainu people there became ethnic minorities in their own land.

During the Meiji period, the Japanese government assimilated the Ainu people. The Ainu people's long-standing living habits were officially banned and became "old natives" in the eyes of the Japanese people, and they were forced to accept Japanese living habits. 1899, the Japanese government enacted the law on the protection of the old aborigines in Hokkaido. Although its ostensible purpose is to help Ainu people and impart agricultural knowledge, while defining them as "old aborigines", it also causes institutionalized discrimination against Ainu people and deliberately distinguishes them from "harmonious people".