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Map of Traditional Ainu Settlement Areas Shibatani, Masayoshi. The Languages of Japan(1990) 日本語: ...
Map of the pre-1945 distribution of Ainu languages and dialects. In 2008, the news block World Watch gave an estimate of fewer than 100 remaining speakers of the Ainu language. [10] In 1993, linguist Alexander Vovin placed the number at fewer than 15 speakers, characterizing the language as "almost extinct". [104]
Hokkaido (Japanese: 北海道, Hepburn: Hokkaidō, pronounced [hokkaꜜidoː] ⓘ, lit. ' Northern Sea Circuit; Ainu: Ainu Moshiri ') [2] is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. [3]
Own work, based on "Historical and present distribution of Ainu in Japan and the Russian Federation - W.Dallmann & K.Uzawa, April 2007" map from ANSIPRA: Author: ArnoldPlaton: Other versions: Derivative works of this file: Map of Ainu in Hokkaido de.svg
At the very end of the 19th century, the Japanese administration started the forced assimilation of the native Ainu people. [18] [19] Also at this time the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them the status of an indigenous group. Many Japanese moved onto former Ainu lands, including the Kuril islands.
In 1979, the USSR removed the term "Ainu" from the list of living ethnic groups of Russia, the government proclaiming that the Ainu as an ethnic group was now extinct in its territory. According to the 2002 Russian Federation census, no one marked the Ainu option in boxes 7 or 9.2 in the K-1 form.
Onekotan, with a number of shallow bays and sandy beaching providing landing points, was inhabited by the Ainu prior to European contact. It appears on an official map showing the territories of Matsumae Domain, a feudal domain of Edo period Japan dated 1644, and these holdings were officially confirmed by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1715.
However, the Tsugaru clan made two big pushes to assimilate the Ainu, the first came in 1756 and the second came in 1809. Records show that the clan was successful in wiping out the Ainu culture in their holdings, though some geographic names in Aomori Prefecture still retain their original Ainu names. [24]