Long before the people who would come to be known as "the Japanese"
completed their migrations from the Asia mainland, the islands of Japan
were already inhabited by a race of people known as the Ainu.

These early hunting and fishing groups were driven northward in a series of
military campaigns waged against them by the technically advanced warrior
clans from Asia. The Ainu retreat eventually ended in Hokkaido where they
attempted to continue their customs, religious rituals and way of life.

On this northernmost island, in the "snow country," there still may be found
remnants of this once proud and vigorous people who roamed the Japan
islands long before the "Japanese" themselves arrived. Unfortunately, too
little is known of these native people since they have no written language
and once the spoken word is gone, there is nothing left. Governmental and
private efforts to document the ways of the Ainu also began quite late.

The first comprehensive attempt to study Ainu culture was not undertaken until 1968 and by that
time, the Ainu population had already dwindled considerably and they themselves had, in large part,
begun assimilating with the Japanese and became absorbed into the general population.

Some anthropologists have viewed the Ainu's round eyes, curly eyelashes and abundant hair notably lacking in most
Mongoloids as evidence of Caucasoid ancestry while
others argue for a link with the bushmen of Australia.
Many anthropologists believe that the Ainu may be a
separate race; recent findings suggest that the Ainu
may be the last survivors of a people who inhabited
the islands of Japan for at least 7,000 years.

"Hairy Ainu" is the phrase Japanese use to describe these people; today, it is perhaps
more appropriate to term these aborigines of Japan, the"vanishing Ainu ."

Hunting and fishing sustained them and the bear figured prominently in their festivals
and religious rites as well.The bear was central to their lives; its meat was their food,
its fur their clothing, and from its bones, they fashioned tools and weapons. In
many ways, the bear and the Ainu shared a relationship similar to that of the
bison and the Plains Indian of the western United States.

Ainu legends, customs and festivals have no counterpart anywhere else in Japan
and although the government specifically prohibited certain Ainu customs and
practices which it felt were cruel and barbaric, many were slow to be abandoned.

One such rather unusual custom was the first tattooing of a girl's lips at puberty
(the process was later completed at around age seventeen or eighteen); Ainu women
submitted to this facial coloration to signify that they were ready for marriage.
Men came of marriageable age when their beards had grown to full length.

Government edicts prohibiting lip tattooing were issued as early as 1871 but
some Ainu women continued to have it done secretly until fairly recent times;
one can still see women in their sixties and seventies with the purple lip tattoo.

This custom, now extinct, is rapidly being joined by many other practices as the Ainu
themselves move along the road to extinction. Perhaps 20,000 people today
can claim some Ainu heritage; however, estimates of 'full-blooded'
individuals range from a few hundred to a few dozen.

Ainu, or those claiming to be Ainu, may still be seen in various scenic locales
in Hokkaido where hot springs are found and where tourist bureaus have
advertised the scenic beauty of the region and the comfort of first class hotels.

Here, one can listen to Ainu women sing their songs and play their bamboo "jaw harps"
while the men can be seen carving wooden souvenirs for the tourist trade; posing for
snapshots with weekend visitors also augments the Ainu income.

For a few dollars, it is still possible for the tourist, Japanese or Western,
to be garbed in full Ainu regalia and photographed standing proudly
alongside a "genuine" Ainu and for an additional sum,
they will even add a stuffed bear!

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