15 Fascinating Facts About The Ainu - Japan’s Indigenous People

Which aspect of Ainu culture fascinates you the most? 🤩

I am Japanese who was born and raised in a small town where is located 60 miles north of Tokyo. My physical characteristics are very close to Ainu people’s ones and I always looked differently from average Japanese. I have big eyes and light complexion, more hairy than average Japanese. I rather look more mix or Eurasian or Latinos. I had DNA test 10 years ago in the US and according to my test result, surprisingly, I am almost 100% Jomon/Ainu descendant which I always suspected.

This is one reason I like the internet you can learn so much about the world that wasn't taught

I am from West Africa. I visited the Ainu lakeside village in northern Hokkaido some years back when doing field research with some Japanese students. The Ainu art and craft looked so similar with some aspects of West African traditional art. I felt in love with the warm Ainu people and their way of life. I took a memorable photo with a Grandmother and her little granddaughter who had a lovely smile. I will always remember that beautiful encounter with such a wonderful people!

Polish ethnographer Bronisław Piłsudski for his participation in the plot to assassinate tsar Nicolas III was sentenced by the tsarist regime for 15 years of exile to the Far East, the southern part of Sakhalin. He was the first to research and describe in detail the Ainu language, customs and culture. After the 1904 outbreak of the Japanese-Russian war, through Japan and the USA returned to Poland, where in 1912 he published Materials for the Study of the Ainu Language and Folklore. BTW, he was brother of Józef Piłsudski, one of the most important persons in the last 120 year of the Polish history.

I met a Japanese missionary from Japan. Ask if he knew the manga/anime series Golden Kamuy, which he responded very surprised, as no one in the West has ever mentioned that series to him. When I brought up the topic of the Ainu's, he told me, that him himself didn't know of their existence till he watched the anime.

I really enjoyed this video. I love Japan and have traveled there several times. It's great to hear that the Ainu are completely part of greater Japan now. :thanksdoc:

Pre-christian Finnish people also had animism believes that everyhting had a soul (väki) and they believed that bear was a ancestor for people and that why it was treated like a god and they had similiar seremony as well called "Karhupeijainen". Where bear was sent back to heaven. Really interesting to see these similarities and it would be interesting to know more about Ainu culture.

Ainu very little about this until now. Thanks! 😅

I live in East Greenland, in 19th century there was a hypothesis that said Ainu people may be connected to the Inuit people. I saw their dogs in an old picture, it looks so much the dogs used here. I contacted the University of Hokaido to know if there have been any study, nothing was found. In the 20th century Knud Rasmussen planned a trip to meet all the eskimo/Inuit people through Greenland, canada and Alaska. Unfortunately USSR refused him the entrance to siberie. Here our dogs are protected and we still can hunt and fish to eat. Thank you for this documentary.

There are similarities between the Ainu people and the Native American cultures of the Pacific Norhtwest and coastal Canada. The use of native materials in clothing and homes is especially apparent. Carvings in posts and sticks are also similar. Much of the similarities may be due to comparable climates of both regions, but one wonders if there isn't a direct genetic trace, as well.

Clothing patterns are so beautiful!

I'm curious to hear about their native language so fascinating

It is amazing how similar so many native cultures are. All very connected with nature and spirits, stories, songs and dance

Excellent video. I am interested in all aspects of Japanese culture and knew of the Aino, but I learned more today.

I was in the Marines stationed in Japan in the mid-90s. We did a two-week training exercise on Hokkaido. We had a night out in Sapporo, and I noticed how many of the locals were taller, stockier and, well, just plain more Caucasian looking than the mainland Japanese, and I remembered hearing about the Ainu. Assimilation cuts both ways!

Prince Ashitaka comes from the Ainu tribe in the movie "Mononoke-hime".

Truly fascinating. I never knew about the Ainu until now. Many thanks.

Very informative and well-presented.

My Japanese cousin was shocked when i was born and said i resembled a Portuguese baby. The thumbnail is a photo of me at 2 yrs old with natural blond highlights. My mom had hairy arms and a moustache which she had removed with electrolysis procedures advertised in the newspaper. People nicknamed me La Bamba because i resembled Lou Diamond Phillips. In LA, Mexican immigrants would speak Spanish to me. In NYC people kept comparing me to Jack Palance and Henry Silva. A photog even thought i was Russian. So in 2016 my mom and i did DNA tests which showed we have Ainu DNA. The report said our M7 DNA came from India 50,000 years ago and crossed over into Japan 30,000 years ago. Our ancestors became the indigenous Jomon (Ainu) people of Japan.