The Ainu are a people who once inhabited the northern territories of Japan (modern Hokkaido, Sakhalin, Kamchatka). The Ainu were not Japanese - they had their own separate language and culture different from the Japanese.

The Ainu lived separately from everyone else, engaged in hunting and fishing; Ainu men never shaved, which is why they had long beards, and women made tattoos in the form of a "smile" on their lips. Unlike the Japanese, the Ainu did not practice Shinto - they had their own religion, the worship of nature spirits, so their traditions and culture were greatly influenced by this religion. For the Ainu, the connection with bears was very important: they considered bears sacred animals and worshiped them.

The most famous Ainu ritual was the worship of the bear god, Kim-un Kamui: the Ainu would catch a tiny bear and take good care of it all year round, feeding it only the most delicious food. A year later, they killed him with bows and ate the flesh to "release his spirit." The Ainu believed that this spirit flies to Kim-un Kamui and tells him about human kindness, and he, in turn, treats people more leniently.

But from around the 13th century, the territories where the Ainu lived began to be captured little by little by the Japanese, so they had to be in constant contact with them. Already in the 14th century, many Ainu were forced to submit to Japanese warlords and become their vassals.

This was the beginning of a large-scale assimilation of the Ainu, which lasted several centuries and led to their complete disappearance. In the 17th century, a period of active trade with the Ainu, who lived in the north of Hokkaido, began. The Ainu rejoiced at the new prospect of earning, but one of the traders caught smallpox. Smallpox spread rapidly through the Ainu settlements and greatly decimated their population.

And already at the beginning of the 18th century, the shogunate conquered the entire south of Hokkaido: men were then sent into slavery, and women were raped and forcibly married to Japanese men. This was another blow to the Ainu population, and if in the 18th century there were approximately 80 thousand of them, then in 1868 they were counted at about 17 thousand.

And in 1869, the Japanese government annexed Hokkaido and began a campaign of active forced assimilation of the Ainu. The Ainu began to be called Japanese, assigned Japanese names and surnames, and were also forbidden to speak the Ainu language. Reproducing their traditions and rituals, wearing long beards or getting tattoos was also forbidden. In society, the Ainu were treated with disdain - as dirty barbarians; they were considered cheap labor. At the same time, the Ainu were advised to marry the Japanese so that their "mixed" children would not suffer such discrimination.

The Ainu, a warlike people who had resisted enslavement for centuries, were exterminated. Currently, it is believed that 25 thousand Ainu descendants live in Hokkaido, but it is impossible to count the Ainu themselves - they simply do not exist.

References to the Ainu can be found in modern Japanese culture. For example, you can learn a detailed story about the life of the Ainu from the anime GOLDEN KAMUY. The language, food, traditions and many funny situations that the characters get into make you want to know more about them. I personally recommend starting an adventure with the Ainu world with this anime.