Thank you for taking the time to learn, and do such a thoughtful, and respectful video about my people. I do my best to bring education about my people here in the States, and also help others become aware of their true heritage. It’s only been within my generation that we found out we weren’t just Japanese, but of Ainu descendent. I’m very proud of it, and hope we can bring more international awareness to our history, our culture, and help us have more of a future. Videos like yours help with that so much, so truly, thank you. 💗
Thanks for sharing so much. I’m Cherokee & descendant of the Ainu. We are slowly learning more about this blood connection. My daughter has connected with some Ainu Elders so I hope we can visit with them as soon as we can afford to go to Japan. It’s such an exciting prospect!
Ohh, Quinlan, that was so interesting to learn about the Ainu culture! I love how they thought of the bears as gods; that is a beautiful concept. The scenery looked gorgeous but the mosquitoes did not. Thank you so much for a fabulous vlog!
So glad that you enjoyed it! And yeah - I did get bit up a bit, but the worst ones were some kind of biting fly a bit. Didn't itch right away like mosquito bites, but swelled up a bit the next day.. I think that's the worst bugs have ever been up there in my experience.
I really enjoyed learning about the indigenous people of Hokkaido and would love to hear more about the history and the current events of indigenous people all over Japan; a topic that seems to elude the internet. Well done!
Glad to hear that you are interested! I will share more once I've gotten a bit more information or better still recorded some interviews or at least direct stories from people! I'm also really interested in the Emishi of northern Tohoku- and there's even less information on them since they were basically wiped out (conquered and absorbed) about 1,000 years ago.
@@s70driver2005 I don't think that most people don't care. They are not that well known. I think one problem is that it is really hard to enjoy their culture as it is 99% gone. Especially if you like me don't speak Japanese. I think the only thing that people could have heard about is the movie "Princess Mononoke". I think the male main charackter and his tribe, the one that is riding on the deer is leaned on the ainu.
Always happy to see more people talk about the Ainu. Glad to see that the culture is slowly getting more popular and more effort taken place to preserve it. Gives me hope that it will become a living culture again at some point.
ooh how interessting. I still regret not having gone to the ainu museum when it had a special exhibition in sapporo whilst i was there D: this was very interssting, thank you. Also, look how nice and lush everything is :o we've had such a dry spring everything is rather dead :| beautiful trail. Btw that throat singing was really cool too XD
New subscriber to your channel Quinlan so far I like the content and great showcase of Japan and its vast amount hiking opportunities! Love your honest curiosity and passion towards Japan’s people and culture, and geography. I personally believe there should be more people like you in the world with natural curiosity, going to less traveled places, and learning about the local communities wherever you go. 🤘 from 🇨🇦
Thank you for a fascinating tour - and thank you especially for the information about the Ainu. I would love to see Hokkaido someday; it looks like a beautiful and wild landscape. In several scenes I was struck by how much the terrain reminded me of some of the stark hills and mountains I have trekked in Ireland. Thank you again for your channel!
I just discovered this channel, this was amazing, really had no idea about this subject, the host made this really easy to understand and did a excellent job describing everything.
Aaah such a great video! At this point I'm certain to go to north Japan for my next visit for hiking and culture. There is not enough Ainu content when it comes to J-tubers, once you start learning about their culture. I know, Anime isn't a credible source for knowledge. But, if anyone wants to watch something entertaining to get further excited by Ainu culture (with actually well researched cultural traits surrounding bears, divinity, food, hunting and much more) I can HIGHLY recommend "Golden Kamuy". The manga has finished but the anime is ongoing. It actually also mentiones demon's castle and the bear ceremony.
Thanks! Yeah- I've heard of that manga/anime. To be honest I don't really read manga or watch anime particularly, but I may check this one out. It is supposed to be really good.
Hi and thanks, GoNorth Japan for sharing. I am excited to learn about Ainu indigenes people in Hokkaido. Ainu people do not overhunt bears recreationally like other countries used to. They are like Native American Indians who praise nature. I've never known Sasanoha are used to construct a house. Breathtaking@5:32! It seems you are above the clouds@9:43. I wonder if the Ainu people have some hatred toward the Japanese because of the history between the two countries??? I really enjoyed it and keep coming. 🤗
Yeah, it's a really interesting topic! I still only know a little so I'll wait until I learn more before I say too much, since I'm not confident in the topic just yet.
Your story made me smile. The national ainu museum in Shiraoin must now be open and renovated. I visited it 2018 just two weeks after it was a s closed for the renovation. So I took the opportunity to hike behind the lake. But taking a shortcut at the lake gave me very wet feet after sinking in 40cm at the shore line where the ground seemed firm but it was just floating 😆🙄🤔😉😂
Beautiful video! Great information that I hadn't seen elsewhere. Loved how you showed the plant on the trail and house that would be made from it. I never would have guessed that it had any use!
I'm looking forward to see more Ainu content! I learnt a lot about the Ainu from reading the Golden Kamuy manga in which one of the protagonists is an Ainu girl. The series just ended and it had become probably one of my favourite mangas. I was also really lucky to visit the 2020 Sapporo snow festival which had some Ainu themed sculptures and food stalls, in conjunction with the opening of the National Ainu Museum in Shiraoi. It was my first time to Japan and I immediately wanted to go back but as we know, everything grounded to a halt and I'm eagerly waiting for Japan to open up again.
@@GoNorthJapan I would absolutely recommend it. The author was very throughout in his research on Ainu culture and featured in great detail, a lot of Ainu folk tales, hunting, cooking, clothing, way of living, kamuys, superstitions, and general history etc.
The Ainu are a really interesting people, it was lovely to see you feature a little of their culture, spirituality and history on your channel, I really enjoyed it. It's really quite hot where I am so seeing those clouds and cool-looking mist on those mountains, as well as the lush green of the landscape, was rather delicious to say the least, even though it might not have been as cool feeling in reality, as I hear Japan has been having an intense heatwave. Though I'm assuming the mountains provide a welcome relief from the heat and humidity? Well done for persevering despite the mountain seeming to be the venue for a bug-convention that day :-) handled like a pro.
Hahaha, I went up to the same place today and the bugs weren't bad at all. As you said, a convention that day. Glad you liked it! I'll try to learn more on the Ainu!
Thanks so much for sharing this, it's always so interesting to hear about the Ainu people. A few years ago I watched a movie on Takeshiro Matsuura who named Hokkaido and mapped out many parts of it in the Ainu communities.
Hahaha, yeah - it was rather buggy. Summer is kind of my least favorite season for that reason. But it was unusually bad that day. Usually up that high there aren't so many...
Wonderful video! This is a challenging topic even for Japanese, but I think you covered the integral parts of the Ainu really well. I would say one of good textbooks to learn the Ainu culture is "Golden Kamuy" either in manga or anime. It's so long that you don't have read through. Just enjoy seeing the Ainu cuisine there! I will tell you if I come across good books or documentary about the Ainu. Thanks!
When I first came to Japan on JET, I was placed in a burakumin village. Even though they are ethnic Japanese, they tried to hide their status, too, and I was told never to mention the word, 'burakumin', around that area. They didn't originally have family names, but were given ones by the Meiji government. Unfortunately, the government gave them unflattering family names (eg. "dog's grave") so that people could tell what their ancestry was, and the prejudice against them continued. As a result, many found that the only place they could be accepted was in organizations like the yakuza. I was wondering if anything similar happened with the Ainu, in terms of names, employment opportunities and other discriminatory practices.
Yeah- I've read some and heard a lot about the burakumin. That discrimination definitely continues in some areas. (Though interestingly enough- that culture didn't exist in the impoverished rural north of Tohoku. People up here use the word buraku to be mean neighborhood, and buraku no hito would mean someone in that neighborhood, not an "untouchable.") I'm pretty sure just about all the common people received their family names only with the Meiji period's dawn. I'm not sure about the Ainu in terms of employment opportunities, etc. I'll try to learn more!
You covered a challenging topic well. I honestly wonder if authentic Ainu culture can be "saved" at this point. I certainly hope it's not only trotted out simply as a tourist thing. I will actually visit Hokkaido for the first time this summer. We will be visiting the north and northeast parts of the island so we will likely be able to check out some Ainu related sites.
Yeah- that's a fair point. There are no Ainu people living in the manner that they were 150 years ago, and no mechanism for anyone to return to that style of life. Still, if the oral traditions and language could survive, that would be something. Sounds like a great trip!!
@@GoNorthJapan omg, they’re awesome and super cheap. It’s like a common bug zapper we all know, but it’s shaped like a small tennis racket. Just runs with a couple AA’s, too.
There are two main types of lodges. The one I showed in this video is an "evacuation hut （避難小屋）" - and those are all free. Some of them have woodburning stoves, many don't, and they all have simple bathrooms and a place to sleep on a raised (though hard) surface. So for these you'd need to bring pretty much everything - padding, sleeping bag, food, water, etc. In more popular hiking areas like Nagano, there are full service lodges that provide meals, bedding, etc. that can be up to $100-ish a night. We don't have those here in Iwate - just one sort of limited service lodge near where I was that for 1700 yen ($14-ish) you have access to boiled water, better bathrooms, and a slightly nicer shared space that is heated and uses a generator for a few hours in the evening.
Quinlan, if you find some good books on the Ainu, especially their origins, I would be very interested! Most recently I have read a couple of scientific papers on the genetics of Ainu and First Nations people in North America which indicate they both came from a founder population in Beringea (now underwater) about 25,000 years ago.
Ah, as in stills? I haven't really been taking many photos, but since I film in 4K (and sometimes 5K on the GoPro) I can always grab still images from the video in that resolution. Is that what you're talking about?
I am not Ainu and don’t think I am one but my family is from Tohoku which means that I am part Ainu to some level just like other Tohoku people. I would like you to introduce the world has Tohoku has many names of places in Ainu language (and even Kanto has some like Nippori in Tokyo). What I want the world to know about Ainu is not the equivalent of Native American in North America. The mummifying culture in Tohoku is a typical remain of Ainu culture that used to mummify the dead. You know the mummified lords in Iwate The Buddhist monks mainly in the west Tohoku mummified themselves but their Buddhism is heavily influenced by the aboriginal culture in Tohoku.
The world misunderstand that diversity is a diversity of skin colors. However I am sure that you know that for example, people from Kansai and people from Tohoku are different genetically, historically , linguistically and culturally in many ways. I always thank you very much for introducing the beauty of nature and culture from Tohoku where few foreign tourists visit.
Are you sure that you mean Ainu and not Emishi? I know sometimes there may have been overlap. But I'm pretty sure the 3 generations of mummified lords in Hiraizumi (Hidehira, Motohira, etc.) were Emishi, not Ainu, at least in part. But I could be wrong! Yes! Tons of place names are from the Ainu language, definitely! I'll definitely share more after I learn more. Ideally, I'd like to interview some people or at least paraphrase some stories I hear directly from Ainu or their descendants.
Yamato, Ainu, and Okinawans are ancient Jomon people with the same Jomon genes (haplogroup D). (By the way, Chinese and Koreans do not have the Haplogroup D gene.) The Jomon period lasted for 10,000 years, there were no wars, and everyone lived in peace and harmony. After the Jomon period, during the Yayoi period, the Yamato Jomon people were invaded by military immigrants from the Korean Peninsula and China, and the Yamato Jomon people mixed with them and became Yayoi people. As a result, mixed-race Yayoi people became physically different from pure Ainu people, but that doesn't change the fact that both pure Ainu people and general Yamato people are Japanese. After Meiji period, the Ainu people have assimilated into the Japanese population, and most people do not even know that they have Ainu blood. There are almost no pure Ainu people left in Japan. Do you know kinds of Japanese? List of Jomon (Ainu and Okinawan and Yamato), Yayoi(Immigrants from China and the Korean Peninsula), and mixed Japanese celebrities. →ruclips.net/video/19Wk4-1QA7I/видео.html
I have bad memories of this bears as gods story so I looked it up again: "At the start of the ceremony, an elder offered a prayer first to the goddess of the fire and hearth, Fuchi. The elder led the men to the bear cage. They prayed. They released the bear to exercise and play, then shot him with two blunt arrows before strangling and beheading him, freeing the spirit. People feasted, they danced, they sang. They decorated the head and an old woman recited sagas of Ainu Mosir, the floating world that rested on the back of a fish." Bears are stil tortured today in the Hokkaido Ainu museum in Shiraoi. This is typical of bear enclosures across Japan, and not is not unique to the Ainu. Imagine the huge Kodiak bear in a grimy concrete cell smaller than a teenagers bedroom, which is one example of legal animal cruelty I saw in Hokkaido only a few years ago. Sorry to bring this up here, but it is one thing I want to see changed in Japan, perhaps by increasing awareness.
Still 100000% better than the factory farms that we all support by not being vegan. (I'm not a vegan either, though I try to consume less beef and pork for this and environmental reasons..) If you want to talk about animal cruelty- the meat we buy at the supermarket is created by hell on earth for millions of pigs and cows that have emotions and personalities. So rather than attack indigenous practices, maybe better to first do something about factory farming, which is on a MUCH larger scale. Also, I'm pretty sure the ceremony was outlawed by the government a long time ago. I was told that it doesn't happen anymore.
@@GoNorthJapan Indeed, I myself am surely a hypocrite to some for using animal products on a daily basis! By the way, I am not attacking this indigenous practice - just saying I have heard historical accounts of it that took all the romanticism out of it, which is to be expected of old world practices. Current modern practice however of imprisoning these animals in concrete cells whilst they go insane, just for our entertainment, I am certainly critical of. Thank you for all your videos including this one - I hope you do not mind my raising this topic here.
@@ichii-ka I haven't heard of these current modern practices. I thought that they weren't allowed to do anything with the bears now. I've seen a pretty depressing bear zoo in Akita that is just concrete pens, but that has nothing to do with the Ainu.
@@GoNorthJapan Had a further look online, and the Ainu museum in Shiraoi had relocated the bears to better conditions in Yorkshire England back in 2018. It is great that some progress was made in that case - well done to those involved. There are many more suffering, not least because the current laws allow these living conditions.
I'm fairly sure the stigma (at least in Japan) is near enough gone - the only people I think that take issue with the Ainu are Russian (and in part because there's Ainu who moved to Russia (due to both the Russians and the Japanese taking over their island-based homes). Russia is still very much against the Ainu being themselves (as they are with any other country they have invaded), and I think the Ainu living in Russia largely think the Japanese feel the same, so there's still some level of animosity over Japan wanting some of the islands north of Hokkaido back. These small numbers are still of the opinion that appealing to Russia (the country that currently controls those islands) is the best way forward, and so, the arguments over the islands continue. Russia's extreme level of control over media and communication is why the Russian Ainu are very much mistaken over the state of their historical homes.
Yeah- I actually heard that part of the reason why the Japanese government has been promoting Ainu culture since 2018 is a statement Putin made about the Ainu being Russian... That made it potentially an issue of international politics. And now the Japanese government is rushing to promote them as indigenous Japanese rather than Russian.
@@GoNorthJapan The interesting thing is, based on cultural analysis, there's reason to believe they're decended from Mongolian nomads (as a lot of the indigenous tribes of the Americas are). Considering the areas they settled in are primarily now a part of Japan, it makes sense for them to be recognised as indigenous Japanese. It's sad that a dumb thing Putin said was the motivator for this, but efforts to preserve the culture is better than being continually shunned like that.
@@Tazer_Silverscar Yeah- definitely makes sense that they would all have come from the same roots in Mongolia! And yeah, agreed.... but whatever the reason, nice that they are getting funding to preserve the culture now and history now!
what a great video mate. On an unrelated note chris keeps blathering abt losing weight and getting healthy any chance you can lure him out of his cave for a hike would love to see you 2 collab again
Ahahaha, I'll bug him about it soon. We did talk and he sort of agreed to come on a hike of Mt. Iwate this summer, but it's been a bit hot and buggy. Don't want to make him too miserable.
The Ainu, the Ainoko, are not the indigenous people of Japan. In fact, "evidence 1" Funadomari ruins in Hokkaido "about 3800 years ago" are Japanese Jomon people. There were no Ainu. In fact, "evidence 2" Hokkaido archaeological remains left Okhotsk cultural remains after Okhotsk bleachers invaded Hokkaido and killed Japanese Jomon people after 1200 in the Kamakura period. This is called Ainu ruins. Fact "Evidence 3" Okhotsk bleachers massacred Japanese Jomon people, women were raped and gave birth to Okhotsk children. The paper describes this as "suggesting that there was gene flow from the Ohuk people to the Ainu." When the Inca was destroyed by the Spanish army, she was raped and gave birth to the Ainoco mestizo. But the native Incas were not the mestizo, but the surviving Incas. Similarly, the Okhotsk bleachers made the Jomon people of Japan give birth to Ainoko, not the indigenous people of Japan.
Hokkaido 🏞🏔🏕
Thank you for taking the time to learn, and do such a thoughtful, and respectful video about my people. I do my best to bring education about my people here in the States, and also help others become aware of their true heritage. It’s only been within my generation that we found out we weren’t just Japanese, but of Ainu descendent. I’m very proud of it, and hope we can bring more international awareness to our history, our culture, and help us have more of a future. Videos like yours help with that so much, so truly, thank you. 💗
Oh wow, that's great!
@@GoNorthJapan I sent the video to my Elders, and they loved it, so thank you, again! ^.^
Thanks for sharing so much. I’m Cherokee & descendant of the Ainu. We are slowly learning more about this blood connection. My daughter has connected with some Ainu Elders so I hope we can visit with them as soon as we can afford to go to Japan. It’s such an exciting prospect!
Wow! That sounds fantastic!
Ohh, Quinlan, that was so interesting to learn about the Ainu culture! I love how they thought of the bears as gods; that is a beautiful concept. The scenery looked gorgeous but the mosquitoes did not. Thank you so much for a fabulous vlog!
So glad that you enjoyed it! And yeah - I did get bit up a bit, but the worst ones were some kind of biting fly a bit. Didn't itch right away like mosquito bites, but swelled up a bit the next day.. I think that's the worst bugs have ever been up there in my experience.
SO GREEN AND BEAUTIFUL .
Thanks!
Thanks so much for your professional productions and personable presence!
Thank you sooo much! I really appreciate it!
I really enjoyed learning about the indigenous people of Hokkaido and would love to hear more about the history and the current events of indigenous people all over Japan; a topic that seems to elude the internet. Well done!
Most people don't seem to care about the indigenous people of the past. I would very much enjoy further exploring of those people.
Glad to hear that you are interested! I will share more once I've gotten a bit more information or better still recorded some interviews or at least direct stories from people!
I'm also really interested in the Emishi of northern Tohoku- and there's even less information on them since they were basically wiped out (conquered and absorbed) about 1,000 years ago.
@@s70driver2005 I don't think that most people don't care. They are not that well known. I think one problem is that it is really hard to enjoy their culture as it is 99% gone. Especially if you like me don't speak Japanese.
I think the only thing that people could have heard about is the movie "Princess Mononoke". I think the male main charackter and his tribe, the one that is riding on the deer is leaned on the ainu.
@@blablup1214 yea true. It is gard to find out about them but a little easier now with the internet and databases.
I love that movie!!!
@@blablup1214 did a quick search and it seems Ashitaka is actually Emishi
Always happy to see more people talk about the Ainu.
Glad to see that the culture is slowly getting more popular and more effort taken place to preserve it.
Gives me hope that it will become a living culture again at some point.
Yeah, definitely hoping for that!
beautiful. Thank you for sharing this.
Thanks for watching!
I'm part Inuit and I love learning about the Ainu as my people are related to them culturally and genetically thanks for the video
Oh wow nice! And glad you liked the video!
Danke!
Super dank.
Thank you soooo much! I really appreciate it as always!!
I'm so looking forward to you learning and sharing more ainu stories with us!
Another nice hike with some history thrown in as well.
Gorgeous hike! So green. Thanks for the stories and taking us along 🙂
Thanks for coming!
So many bugs! eek
ooh how interessting. I still regret not having gone to the ainu museum when it had a special exhibition in sapporo whilst i was there D: this was very interssting, thank you.
Also, look how nice and lush everything is :o we've had such a dry spring everything is rather dead :| beautiful trail. Btw that throat singing was really cool too XD
Is that throat signing in that song you played at the summit?!? That’s amazing!!!!
Hahaha, Yes, I love throat singing!
New subscriber to your channel Quinlan so far I like the content and great showcase of Japan and its vast amount hiking opportunities! Love your honest curiosity and passion towards Japan’s people and culture, and geography. I personally believe there should be more people like you in the world with natural curiosity, going to less traveled places, and learning about the local communities wherever you go. 🤘 from 🇨🇦
Hey thanks! I really appreciate that and welcome to the channel!
Thank you for a fascinating tour - and thank you especially for the information about the Ainu. I would love to see Hokkaido someday; it looks like a beautiful and wild landscape. In several scenes I was struck by how much the terrain reminded me of some of the stark hills and mountains I have trekked in Ireland. Thank you again for your channel!
Thanks for watching!! Ooooh, someday I'll get to Ireland. I would love to explore the landscape there!
Great content! Your videos deserve more views!
I just discovered this channel, this was amazing, really had no idea about this subject, the host made this really easy to understand and did a excellent job describing everything.
So glad you like the videos!
Aaah such a great video! At this point I'm certain to go to north Japan for my next visit for hiking and culture. There is not enough Ainu content when it comes to J-tubers, once you start learning about their culture. I know, Anime isn't a credible source for knowledge. But, if anyone wants to watch something entertaining to get further excited by Ainu culture (with actually well researched cultural traits surrounding bears, divinity, food, hunting and much more) I can HIGHLY recommend "Golden Kamuy". The manga has finished but the anime is ongoing. It actually also mentiones demon's castle and the bear ceremony.
Thanks! Yeah- I've heard of that manga/anime. To be honest I don't really read manga or watch anime particularly, but I may check this one out. It is supposed to be really good.
Hi and thanks, GoNorth Japan for sharing. I am excited to learn about Ainu indigenes people in Hokkaido. Ainu people do not overhunt bears recreationally like other countries used to. They are like Native American Indians who praise nature. I've never known Sasanoha are used to construct a house. Breathtaking@5:32! It seems you are above the clouds@9:43. I wonder if the Ainu people have some hatred toward the Japanese because of the history between the two countries??? I really enjoyed it and keep coming. 🤗
Yeah, it's a really interesting topic! I still only know a little so I'll wait until I learn more before I say too much, since I'm not confident in the topic just yet.
@@GoNorthJapan Look forward to it. 🙋♀🛶
Would love to hear more about the Ainu, as you learn more! :)
Your story made me smile.
The national ainu museum in Shiraoin must now be open and renovated. I visited it 2018 just two weeks after it was a s closed for the renovation. So I took the opportunity to hike behind the lake. But taking a shortcut at the lake gave me very wet feet after sinking in 40cm at the shore line where the ground seemed firm but it was just floating 😆🙄🤔😉😂
Oh no! 40cm! You must have gotten your feet soaked!
I haven't been to that museum yet, but hopefully I'll get the opportunity soon!
Beautiful video! Great information that I hadn't seen elsewhere. Loved how you showed the plant on the trail and house that would be made from it. I never would have guessed that it had any use!
Glad you enjoyed it! People also eat the shoots from that plant when they're young.!
Lots of green on this hike.
Good to hear there is work to bring back and preserve Ainu culture.
We stayed at a ryokan on Lake Akan in Hokkaido once. There was a recreation of a historic Ainu village in the village. It was fascinating.
I'm looking forward to see more Ainu content! I learnt a lot about the Ainu from reading the Golden Kamuy manga in which one of the protagonists is an Ainu girl. The series just ended and it had become probably one of my favourite mangas. I was also really lucky to visit the 2020 Sapporo snow festival which had some Ainu themed sculptures and food stalls, in conjunction with the opening of the National Ainu Museum in Shiraoi. It was my first time to Japan and I immediately wanted to go back but as we know, everything grounded to a halt and I'm eagerly waiting for Japan to open up again.
Would you recommend that manga? I've heard about it from a few places now.
@@GoNorthJapan I would absolutely recommend it. The author was very throughout in his research on Ainu culture and featured in great detail, a lot of Ainu folk tales, hunting, cooking, clothing, way of living, kamuys, superstitions, and general history etc.
@@mejulesyap Ok, I'm sold! I'll pick up the manga!
Totally loved this you make the nicest videos .. and you had on my favourite shirt. xC
Ahahaha, glad you liked it! (and the shirt!)
The Ainu are a really interesting people, it was lovely to see you feature a little of their culture, spirituality and history on your channel, I really enjoyed it. It's really quite hot where I am so seeing those clouds and cool-looking mist on those mountains, as well as the lush green of the landscape, was rather delicious to say the least, even though it might not have been as cool feeling in reality, as I hear Japan has been having an intense heatwave. Though I'm assuming the mountains provide a welcome relief from the heat and humidity? Well done for persevering despite the mountain seeming to be the venue for a bug-convention that day :-) handled like a pro.
Hahaha, I went up to the same place today and the bugs weren't bad at all. As you said, a convention that day.
Glad you liked it! I'll try to learn more on the Ainu!
Beautiful, as always. Thank you for the lesson and the lovely views!
Thanks for watching!!
Thanks so much for sharing this, it's always so interesting to hear about the Ainu people. A few years ago I watched a movie on Takeshiro Matsuura who named Hokkaido and mapped out many parts of it in the Ainu communities.
Wow! What was the movie called?
@@GoNorthJapan It's Eien no Nishipa
Thank you for picking up this topic and the knowledge put into this video. The area around the (Lady)bug Mountain is really amazing.
Thanks for watching! Yes- Mt. Iwate was Ladybug Mountain that day.. the summit was unreal!
Awesome video as usual. Very insightful & the landscapes 🏞️ are breathtaking. Thank you for braving the 🐞🐞🐞.
So glad you liked it! Yeah- the bugs were out in force that day!
That Was A lot if insects 🪰 i would run away screaming
Hahaha, yeah - it was rather buggy. Summer is kind of my least favorite season for that reason. But it was unusually bad that day. Usually up that high there aren't so many...
@@GoNorthJapan It's the same for me on summer hikes. The bugs attack me...no matter how much spray I put on. Haha.
You ever watch mushishi? I get mushishi vibes from your channel even though we dont see spirits and all lol
I've never watched that. I'll have to check it out!
Great views and interesting history all combined. What is there not to like? Great video 🙂
Thanks!
The scenery and the content, loved it, well done 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
So glad you liked it! Thank you!
Thanks, I am very interested in the Ainu. Would love to know more.
I'll do my best to learn more and share it!
Wonderful video! This is a challenging topic even for Japanese, but I think you covered the integral parts of the Ainu really well.
I would say one of good textbooks to learn the Ainu culture is "Golden Kamuy" either in manga or anime. It's so long that you don't have read through. Just enjoy seeing the Ainu cuisine there! I will tell you if I come across good books or documentary about the Ainu. Thanks!
So glad you liked it! Ok- I'll have to read the Golden Kamuy then!
When I first came to Japan on JET, I was placed in a burakumin village. Even though they are ethnic Japanese, they tried to hide their status, too, and I was told never to mention the word, 'burakumin', around that area. They didn't originally have family names, but were given ones by the Meiji government. Unfortunately, the government gave them unflattering family names (eg. "dog's grave") so that people could tell what their ancestry was, and the prejudice against them continued. As a result, many found that the only place they could be accepted was in organizations like the yakuza. I was wondering if anything similar happened with the Ainu, in terms of names, employment opportunities and other discriminatory practices.
Yeah- I've read some and heard a lot about the burakumin. That discrimination definitely continues in some areas. (Though interestingly enough- that culture didn't exist in the impoverished rural north of Tohoku. People up here use the word buraku to be mean neighborhood, and buraku no hito would mean someone in that neighborhood, not an "untouchable.")
I'm pretty sure just about all the common people received their family names only with the Meiji period's dawn.
I'm not sure about the Ainu in terms of employment opportunities, etc. I'll try to learn more!
lovely!
Awesome video!
Thanks!
Good music choice!
9:01
Did you ever learn what type of snake that was?
Not conclusively, no...
You covered a challenging topic well. I honestly wonder if authentic Ainu culture can be "saved" at this point. I certainly hope it's not only trotted out simply as a tourist thing. I will actually visit Hokkaido for the first time this summer. We will be visiting the north and northeast parts of the island so we will likely be able to check out some Ainu related sites.
Yeah- that's a fair point. There are no Ainu people living in the manner that they were 150 years ago, and no mechanism for anyone to return to that style of life. Still, if the oral traditions and language could survive, that would be something.
Sounds like a great trip!!
That level of bugs drives me insane, I’d be carrying one of those electrified-tennis-racquets to stop them.
I've never seen this magic weapon of which you speak. I may have to acquire one to more properly fend off these assailants.
@@GoNorthJapan omg, they’re awesome and super cheap. It’s like a common bug zapper we all know, but it’s shaped like a small tennis racket. Just runs with a couple AA’s, too.
Are these lodges which you can find all over Japan free of charge for hikers?
There are two main types of lodges. The one I showed in this video is an "evacuation hut （避難小屋）" - and those are all free. Some of them have woodburning stoves, many don't, and they all have simple bathrooms and a place to sleep on a raised (though hard) surface. So for these you'd need to bring pretty much everything - padding, sleeping bag, food, water, etc. In more popular hiking areas like Nagano, there are full service lodges that provide meals, bedding, etc. that can be up to $100-ish a night. We don't have those here in Iwate - just one sort of limited service lodge near where I was that for 1700 yen ($14-ish) you have access to boiled water, better bathrooms, and a slightly nicer shared space that is heated and uses a generator for a few hours in the evening.
Quinlan, if you find some good books on the Ainu, especially their origins, I would be very interested! Most recently I have read a couple of scientific papers on the genetics of Ainu and First Nations people in North America which indicate they both came from a founder population in Beringea (now underwater) about 25,000 years ago.
That's fascinating!! I will definitely be looking for some good information sources and I'll share them if I find them.
Great video! if anyone like anime and want to know more about Ainu culture, I highly recommend the anime called Golden Kamuy.
Thanks! I may actually check that out!
yeeees storytime!
You got some fantastic shots in this one. You must have used to cameras right?
Thanks! For this one I just used my GoPro 10 and Sony ZV-1.
What a gorgeous hike, do you have any plans to ever release 4k shots?
Ah, as in stills? I haven't really been taking many photos, but since I film in 4K (and sometimes 5K on the GoPro) I can always grab still images from the video in that resolution. Is that what you're talking about?
@@GoNorthJapan Yes, for example the opening shot of this video looks superb and would make for a lovely framed picture and/or background.
What a great video, Quinlan! I loved all the info about the Ainu and the skeleton flower is very cool!
So glad you liked it! Thanks!
If anyone has any recommended books on the Ainu and their culture, please share!
where are the Ainu?
In Hokkaido!
I am not Ainu and don’t think I am one but my family is from Tohoku which means that I am part Ainu to some level just like other Tohoku people.
I would like you to introduce the world has Tohoku has many names of places in Ainu language (and even Kanto has some like Nippori in Tokyo).
What I want the world to know about Ainu is not the equivalent of Native American in North America.
The mummifying culture in Tohoku is a typical remain of Ainu culture that used to mummify the dead.
You know the mummified lords in Iwate
The Buddhist monks mainly in the west Tohoku mummified themselves but their Buddhism is heavily influenced by the aboriginal culture in Tohoku.
The world misunderstand that diversity is a diversity of skin colors. However I am sure that you know that for example, people from Kansai and people from Tohoku are different genetically, historically , linguistically and culturally in many ways.
I always thank you very much for introducing the beauty of nature and culture from Tohoku where few foreign tourists visit.
Are you sure that you mean Ainu and not Emishi? I know sometimes there may have been overlap. But I'm pretty sure the 3 generations of mummified lords in Hiraizumi (Hidehira, Motohira, etc.) were Emishi, not Ainu, at least in part. But I could be wrong!
Yes! Tons of place names are from the Ainu language, definitely! I'll definitely share more after I learn more. Ideally, I'd like to interview some people or at least paraphrase some stories I hear directly from Ainu or their descendants.
Yamato, Ainu, and Okinawans are ancient Jomon people with the same Jomon genes (haplogroup D). (By the way, Chinese and Koreans do not have the Haplogroup D gene.) The Jomon period lasted for 10,000 years, there were no wars, and everyone lived in peace and harmony. After the Jomon period, during the Yayoi period, the Yamato Jomon people were invaded by military immigrants from the Korean Peninsula and China, and the Yamato Jomon people mixed with them and became Yayoi people. As a result, mixed-race Yayoi people became physically different from pure Ainu people, but that doesn't change the fact that both pure Ainu people and general Yamato people are Japanese. After Meiji period, the Ainu people have assimilated into the Japanese population, and most people do not even know that they have Ainu blood. There are almost no pure Ainu people left in Japan.
Do you know kinds of Japanese? List of Jomon (Ainu and Okinawan and Yamato), Yayoi(Immigrants from China and the Korean Peninsula), and mixed Japanese celebrities. →ruclips.net/video/19Wk4-1QA7I/видео.html
I have bad memories of this bears as gods story so I looked it up again: "At the start of the ceremony, an elder offered a prayer first to the goddess of the fire and hearth, Fuchi. The elder led the men to the bear cage. They prayed. They released the bear to exercise and play, then shot him with two blunt arrows before strangling and beheading him, freeing the spirit. People feasted, they danced, they sang. They decorated the head and an old woman recited sagas of Ainu Mosir, the floating world that rested on the back of a fish." Bears are stil tortured today in the Hokkaido Ainu museum in Shiraoi. This is typical of bear enclosures across Japan, and not is not unique to the Ainu. Imagine the huge Kodiak bear in a grimy concrete cell smaller than a teenagers bedroom, which is one example of legal animal cruelty I saw in Hokkaido only a few years ago. Sorry to bring this up here, but it is one thing I want to see changed in Japan, perhaps by increasing awareness.
Still 100000% better than the factory farms that we all support by not being vegan. (I'm not a vegan either, though I try to consume less beef and pork for this and environmental reasons..)
If you want to talk about animal cruelty- the meat we buy at the supermarket is created by hell on earth for millions of pigs and cows that have emotions and personalities. So rather than attack indigenous practices, maybe better to first do something about factory farming, which is on a MUCH larger scale.
Also, I'm pretty sure the ceremony was outlawed by the government a long time ago. I was told that it doesn't happen anymore.
@@GoNorthJapan Indeed, I myself am surely a hypocrite to some for using animal products on a daily basis! By the way, I am not attacking this indigenous practice - just saying I have heard historical accounts of it that took all the romanticism out of it, which is to be expected of old world practices. Current modern practice however of imprisoning these animals in concrete cells whilst they go insane, just for our entertainment, I am certainly critical of. Thank you for all your videos including this one - I hope you do not mind my raising this topic here.
@@ichii-ka I haven't heard of these current modern practices. I thought that they weren't allowed to do anything with the bears now. I've seen a pretty depressing bear zoo in Akita that is just concrete pens, but that has nothing to do with the Ainu.
@@GoNorthJapan Had a further look online, and the Ainu museum in Shiraoi had relocated the bears to better conditions in Yorkshire England back in 2018. It is great that some progress was made in that case - well done to those involved. There are many more suffering, not least because the current laws allow these living conditions.
Bugs snakes and bears 👀
Oh my!
Sup my dude!
Hey man! How are these rainy days treating you?
I'm fairly sure the stigma (at least in Japan) is near enough gone - the only people I think that take issue with the Ainu are Russian (and in part because there's Ainu who moved to Russia (due to both the Russians and the Japanese taking over their island-based homes). Russia is still very much against the Ainu being themselves (as they are with any other country they have invaded), and I think the Ainu living in Russia largely think the Japanese feel the same, so there's still some level of animosity over Japan wanting some of the islands north of Hokkaido back. These small numbers are still of the opinion that appealing to Russia (the country that currently controls those islands) is the best way forward, and so, the arguments over the islands continue. Russia's extreme level of control over media and communication is why the Russian Ainu are very much mistaken over the state of their historical homes.
Yeah- I actually heard that part of the reason why the Japanese government has been promoting Ainu culture since 2018 is a statement Putin made about the Ainu being Russian... That made it potentially an issue of international politics. And now the Japanese government is rushing to promote them as indigenous Japanese rather than Russian.
@@GoNorthJapan The interesting thing is, based on cultural analysis, there's reason to believe they're decended from Mongolian nomads (as a lot of the indigenous tribes of the Americas are). Considering the areas they settled in are primarily now a part of Japan, it makes sense for them to be recognised as indigenous Japanese. It's sad that a dumb thing Putin said was the motivator for this, but efforts to preserve the culture is better than being continually shunned like that.
@@Tazer_Silverscar Yeah- definitely makes sense that they would all have come from the same roots in Mongolia! And yeah, agreed.... but whatever the reason, nice that they are getting funding to preserve the culture now and history now!
what a great video mate. On an unrelated note chris keeps blathering abt losing weight and getting healthy any chance you can lure him out of his cave for a hike would love to see you 2 collab again
Ahahaha, I'll bug him about it soon. We did talk and he sort of agreed to come on a hike of Mt. Iwate this summer, but it's been a bit hot and buggy. Don't want to make him too miserable.
The Ainu, the Ainoko, are not the indigenous people of Japan.
In fact, "evidence 1" Funadomari ruins in Hokkaido "about 3800 years ago" are Japanese Jomon people. There were no Ainu.
In fact, "evidence 2" Hokkaido archaeological remains left Okhotsk cultural remains after Okhotsk bleachers invaded Hokkaido and killed Japanese Jomon people after 1200 in the Kamakura period. This is called Ainu ruins.
Fact "Evidence 3" Okhotsk bleachers massacred Japanese Jomon people, women were raped and gave birth to Okhotsk children. The paper describes this as "suggesting that there was gene flow from the Ohuk people to the Ainu."
When the Inca was destroyed by the Spanish army, she was raped and gave birth to the Ainoco mestizo. But the native Incas were not the mestizo, but the surviving Incas. Similarly, the Okhotsk bleachers made the Jomon people of Japan give birth to Ainoko, not the indigenous people of Japan.