The Ainu are an ethnic minority in Japan, living primarily on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido, although there were also small populations of Ainu living on the island of Sakhalin and in the Kuriles until the end of World War II, when the Soviet Union took control of Sakhalin and the Ainu there fled. Until the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Japan took formal possession of Hokkaido and began the systematic integration of the Ainu into the Japanese nation, the Ainu lived almost exclusively as hunter-gatherers north of the always advancing frontier of Japanese agriculture. 'Traditional' anthropological wisdom holds that the Ainu are descended from the aboriginal inhabitants of Japan who were gradually dispossessed of their land by the invading Japanese and their superior civilization. This view is held up by the fact that the Ainu generally do not look Japanese, by the apparently radical differences between the two languages, and by the large number of Ainu place-names in Japan proper. More recent anthropology, however, sees a far greater continuity between the two cultures, with many deep and ancient similarities. (Quote from wikipedia.org)
About the Author
Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850 - 1935)
Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850 - 15 February 1935), was a professor of Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late 19th century. (Others included E. M. Satow and W. G. Aston.) He also wrote some of the earliest translations of haiku into English. He is perhaps best remembered for his informal and popular one-volume encyclopedia Things Japanese, which first appeared in 1890 and which he revised several times thereafter. His interests were diverse, and his works included a volume of poetry in French. (Quote fr
About the Author
Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850 - 1935)
Basil Hall Chamberlain (18 October 1850 - 15 February 1935), was a professor of Tokyo Imperial University and one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late 19th century. (Others included E. M. Satow and W. G. Aston.) He also wrote some of the earliest translations of haiku into English. He is perhaps best remembered for his informal and popular one-volume encyclopedia Things Japanese, which first appeared in 1890 and which he revised several times thereafter. His interests were diverse, and his works included a volume of poetry in French. (Quote fr
