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84-581: At the time of European contact, Simushir was inhabited by the Ainu . The island 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. Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov was marooned on Simushir in the early 1770s. He spent a full year subsisting on "scallops, grass, and roots". Sovereignty initially passed to Russia under

168-544: A 15.7% lower enrollment into college from high school. Due to this noticeable and growing gap, the Japanese government has been lobbied by activists to research the Ainu's standard of living nationwide. The Japanese government will provide ¥ 7 million ( US$ 63,000), beginning in 2015, to conduct surveys nationwide on this matter. The existence of the Ainu has challenged the notion of ethnic homogeneity in post-WWII Japan . After

252-404: A 1591 Latin manuscript titled De yezorum insula . This document gives the native name of Hokkaido as Aino moxori , or Ainu mosir , 'land of the Ainu'. The terms Aino and Ainu did not come into common use as ethnonyms until the early 19th century. The ethnonym first appeared in an 1819 German encyclopedia article. Neither European nor Japanese sources conceived of the Ainu as

336-797: A United Nations subcommittee accepted the Russian argument, and in March 2014 the full United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled in favor of the Russian Federation. Bowhead whales were first caught in 1847, and dominated the catch between 1852 and the late 1860s. Between 1850 and 1853 the majority of the fleet went to the Bering Strait region to hunt bowheads, but intense competition, poor ice conditions, and declining catches forced

420-599: A distinct ethnic group until the late 1700s. The Ainu were also called the Kuye by their neighbors. The Qing dynasty called Sakhalin Kuyedao ("island of the Ainu"). The island was also called Kuye Fiyaka . The word Kuye used by the Qing is "most probably related to kuyi , the name given to the Sakhalin Ainu by their Nivkh and Nanai neighbors." When the Ainu migrated onto

504-578: A fur tribute system, just as had the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Residents who were required to pay tributes had to register according to their hala ( ᡥᠠᠯᠠ , the clan of the father's side) and gashan ( ᡤᠠᡧᠠᠨ , village), and a designated chief of each unit was put in charge of district security as well as the annual collection and delivery of fur. By 1750, fifty-six hala and 2,398 households were registered as fur tribute payers, – those who paid with fur were rewarded mainly with Nishiki silk brocade , and every year

588-507: A group composed mostly of the Ulchi , Nanai , and Oroch peoples of the Amur River, commonly interacted with the Ainu people independent of the Japanese government, especially in the northern part of Hokkaido. In addition to their trading ventures, Santan traders sometimes kidnapped or purchased Ainu women from Rishiri to become their wives. This further escalated Japan's presence in the area, as

672-707: A hundred thousand years before the Children of the Sun came." The historical Ainu economy was based on farming as well as hunting, fishing, and gathering. The general consensus among historians is to associate the Ainu with the Satsumon culture , which was located in an area stretching from northern Honshu to Hokkaido. Linguists such as Juha Janhunen and Alexander Vovin argue for a Satsumon origin of Ainu dialects, with deeper links to cultures centered in Central or Northern Honshu . This

756-427: A parliamentary question on May 20, 2008, by stating, It is a historical fact that the Ainu are the earlier arrivers of the northern Japanese archipelago , in particular Hokkaido. The Japanese government acknowledges the Ainu to be an ethnic minority as it has maintained a unique cultural identity and has a unique language and religion. However, as there is no established international definition of "indigenous people",

840-540: A reference to their hairiness and savagery. The term is considered an insult by contemporary Ainu. The Ainu are considered the native people of Hokkaido , southern Sakhalin , and the Kurils . Ainu toponyms support the historical view that the Ainu people lived in several places throughout northern Honshu. There is also a possibility that Ainu speakers lived throughout the Amur region as suggested by various Ainu loanwords found in

924-569: A relatively isolated group of people to having their land, language, religion, and customs assimilated into those of the Japanese. Their land was distributed to the Yamato Japanese settlers to create and maintain farms in the model of Western industrial agriculture. It was known as "colonization" (拓殖) at the time, but later by the euphemism , "opening up undeveloped land" ( 開拓  [ jp ] ). Additionally, factories like flour mills and beer breweries, along with mining practices, resulted in

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1008-627: A society of hunter-gatherers, surviving mainly by hunting and fishing. They followed a religion that was based on natural phenomena. After the Mongols conquered the Jin dynasty (1234) , Karafuto (Sakhalin)-Ainu suffered raids by the Nivkh and Udege peoples . In response, the Mongols established an administration post at Nurgan (present-day Tyr, Russia ) at the junction of the Amur and Amgun rivers in 1263, and forced

1092-545: A source of photographs of the Japanese and Ainu close to the missions. The discrimination and negative stereotypes assigned to the Ainu have manifested in lower levels of education, income, and participation in the economy as compared to their ethnically Japanese counterparts. The Ainu community in Hokkaido in 1993 received welfare payments at a 2.3 times higher rate than that of Hokkaido as a whole. They also had an 8.9% lower enrollment rate from junior high school to high school and

1176-538: Is comparable to Reykjavík or the extremely foggy Sichuan Basin . Sunshine is actually most likely in the wettest months of September and October when the heavy rain removes the low-level fog, but clear days are extremely rare at any time of year. Météo Climat (records) In the spring crested and least auklet , Leach's storm petrel , and Japanese cormorant nest on the island. Ainu people The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and

1260-707: Is connected to the Sea of Japan on either side of Sakhalin: on the west through the Sakhalin Gulf and the Gulf of Tartary ; on the south through the La Pérouse Strait . In winter, navigation on the Sea of Okhotsk is impeded by ice floes . Ice floes form due to the large amount of freshwater from the Amur River , lowering the salinity of upper levels, often raising the freezing point of

1344-655: Is in part supported by Ainu-derived loanwords observed in Eastern Old Japanese and the probable distant link between the Ainu and the Emishi . It has also been noted that the Okhotsk culture played a role in the formation of the later Ainu culture. The origin of the Okhotsk culture itself is subject to research. While Okhotsk remains display affinity to the modern Nivkh people of northern Sakhalin, both also display affinities to

1428-914: The History of Yuan , a group of people known as the Guwei ( 骨嵬 ; Gǔwéi , the phonetic approximation of the Nivkh name for Ainu) from Sakhalin invaded and fought with the Jilimi (Nivkh people) every year. On November 30, 1264, the Mongols attacked the Ainu. The Karafuto-Ainu resisted the Mongol invasions but by 1308 had been subdued. They paid tribute to the Mongol Yuan dynasty at posts in Wuliehe, Nanghar, and Boluohe. The Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) placed Sakhalin under its "system for subjugated peoples" ( ximin tizhi ). From 1409 to 1411

1512-559: The Ainu language was forbidden. In 1966, there were about 300 native Ainu speakers; in 2008, there were about 100. In recent years, there have been increasing efforts to revitalize the Ainu language. This people's most widely known ethnonym , Ainu ( Ainu : アィヌ ; Japanese : アイヌ ; Russian: Айны ), means 'human' in the Ainu language , particularly as opposed to kamui , 'divine beings'. Ainu also identify themselves as Utari ('comrades' or 'people'). Official documents use both names. The name first appeared as Aino in

1596-543: The Jōmon peoples of Japan, pointing to a possible heterogeneous makeup of Okhotsk society. Satsumon pottery has been found among Okhotsk sites, pointing to a complex network of contacts in the wider area around the Sea of Okhotsk. The emergence of the Ainu culture is henceforth primarily attributed to the Satsumon culture, which later received some contributions from the Okhotsk culture via cultural contacts in northern Hokkaido after

1680-639: The Kuril Islands were administered by Japan until 1945. Japan claims the southern Kuril Islands and refers to them as Northern Territories . The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Sea of Okhotsk as follows: :: On the Southwest. The Northeastern and Northern limits on the Japan Sea [In La Perouse Strait (Sôya Kaikyô). A line joining Sôni Misaki and Nishi Notoro Misaki (45°55'N). From Cape Tuik (51°45'N) to Cape Sushcheva]. :: On

1764-736: The Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk , such as Sakhalin , the Kuril Islands , the Kamchatka Peninsula , and the Khabarovsk Krai . They have occupied these areas, known to them as "Ainu Mosir" ( Ainu : アイヌモシㇼ , lit.   'the land of the Ainu';), since before the arrival of the modern Yamato and Russians . These regions are often referred to as Ezochi ( 蝦夷地 ) and its inhabitants as Emishi ( 蝦夷 ) in historical Japanese texts. Along with

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1848-499: The Uilta and Ulch languages. Ainu shares a number of cognates with Old Korean , that appear to be unlikely to be the result of a Japonic intermediary. The ancestors of the Ainu, who were referred to as Emishi, came under Japanese subjugation starting in the 9th century and were pushed to the northern islands. Following the Zoku-Jōmon period , which began in the 5th century BC, and

1932-512: The indigenous Japanese hunter-gatherers who lived in Japan during the Jōmon period ( c. 14,000 to 300 BCE). The exact origins of the early Ainu remain unclear, but it is generally agreed to be linked to the Satsumon culture of the Epi-Jōmon period , with later influences from the nearby Okhotsk culture . The Ainu culture may be better described as an "Ainu cultural complex", taking into account

2016-632: The 1640s. The Dutch captain Maarten Gerritsz Vries in the Breskens entered the Sea of Okhotsk from the south-east in 1643, and charted parts of the Sakhalin coast and Kuril Islands, but failed to realize that either Sakhalin or Hokkaido are islands. During this period, the sea was sometimes known as the Sea of Kamchatka . The first and foremost Russian settlement on the shore was the port of Okhotsk , which relinquished commercial supremacy to Ayan in

2100-475: The 1840s. The Russian-American Company all but monopolized the commercial navigation of the sea in the first half of the 19th century. The Second Kamchatka Expedition under Vitus Bering systematically mapped the entire coast of the sea, starting in 1733. Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse and William Robert Broughton were the first non-Russian European navigators known to have passed through these waters other than Vries. Ivan Krusenstern explored

2184-430: The 1899 Hokkaido Former Aborigines Protection Act . This law and its associated policies were designed to fully integrate the Ainu into Japanese society while erasing Ainu culture and identity. The Ainu's position as manual laborers and their forced integration into larger Japanese society have led to discriminatory practices by the Japanese government that can still be felt today. Intermarriage between Japanese and Ainu

2268-557: The 18th century, there were 80,000 Ainu, but by 1868, there were only about 15,000 Ainu in Hokkaido, 2,000 in Sakhalin, and around 100 in the Kuril Islands. Despite their growing influence in the area in the early 19th century as a result of these policies, the Tokugawa shogunate was unable to gain a monopoly on Ainu trade with those on the Asian mainland, even by the year 1853. Santan traders,

2352-410: The Ainu as an ethnically distinct group, political figures in Japan continue to define ethnic homogeneity as key to the overall Japanese national identity. For example, then Deputy Prime Minister Tarō Asō notably claimed in 2020, "No other country but this one has lasted for as long as 2,000 years with one language, one ethnic group, and one dynasty ." The Ainu are regarded as having descended from

2436-636: The Ainu') or "Kuye Fiyaka" ( ᡴᡠᠶᡝ ᡶᡳᠶᠠᡴᠠ ). The Manchus called it "Sagaliyan ula angga hada" (Island at the Mouth of the Black River). The Qing first asserted influence over Sakhalin after the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk , which defined the Stanovoy Mountains as the border between the Qing and the Russian Empires . In the following year the Qing sent forces to the Amur estuary and demanded that

2520-455: The Ainu. The Emishi may, however, have also included non-Ainu groups, which can either be associated with groups distantly related to the Ainu (Ainu-like groups) but forming their own ethnicity, or early Japonic-speakers outside the influence of the Yamato court. The Emishi display clear material culture links to the Ainu of Hokkaido. Based on Ainu-like toponyms throughout Tohoku, it is argued that

2604-640: The Emishi, like the Ainu, descended from the Epi-Jōmon tribes and initially spoke Ainu-related languages. The term "Emishi" in the Nara period (710–794) referred to people who lived in the Tohoku region and whose lifestyle and culture differed markedly from that of the Yamato people ; it was originally a highly cultural and political concept with no racial distinction. From the mid-Heian period onward, Emishi who did not fall under

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2688-679: The Japanese government and mainstream population regarded them as dirty and primitive barbarians. The majority of Ainu were forced to be petty laborers during the Meiji Restoration , which saw the introduction of Hokkaido into the Japanese Empire and the privatization of traditional Ainu lands. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Japanese government denied the rights of the Ainu to their traditional cultural practices, such as hunting, gathering, and speaking their native language. The legal denial of Ainu cultural practices mostly stemmed from

2772-408: The Japanese government passed an act labeling the Ainu as "former aborigines", with the idea that they would assimilate . This resulted in the Japanese government taking the land where the Ainu people lived and placing it under Japanese control. Also at this time, the Ainu were granted automatic Japanese citizenship, effectively denying them the status of an indigenous group. The Ainu went from being

2856-489: The Jomon and Epi-Jomon periods, which were anterior to the Ainu cultural period. This implies that the Okhotsk culture contributed to the formation of the Ainu culture. While the view that the ancient Emishi were identical to the Ainu has been largely disproven by current research, the exact relationship between them is still under dispute. It is agreed that at least some Emishi spoke Ainu languages and were ethnically related to

2940-603: The Matsumae, took control of Sakhalin in 1807. Mogami's interest in the Sakhalin trade intensified when he learned that Yaenkoroaino, the above-mentioned elder from Nayoro, possessed a memorandum written in Manchurian, which stated that the Ainu elder was an official of the Qing state. Later surveys on Sakhalin by shogunal officials such as Takahashi Jidayú and Nakamura Koichiró only confirmed earlier observations: Sakhalin and Sóya Ainu traded foreign goods at trading posts, and because of

3024-842: The Ming established an outpost called the Nurgan Regional Military Commission near the ruins of Tyr on the Siberian mainland, which continued operating until the mid-1430s. There is some evidence that the Ming eunuch Admiral Yishiha reached Sakhalin in 1413 during one of his expeditions to the lower Amur, and granted Ming titles to a local chieftain. The Ming recruited headmen from Sakhalin for administrative posts such as commander ( 指揮使 ; zhǐhuīshǐ ), assistant commander ( 指揮僉事 ; zhǐhuī qiānshì ), and "official charged with subjugation" ( 衛鎮撫 ; wèizhènfǔ ). In 1431, one such assistant commander, Alige, brought marten pelts as tribute to

3108-835: The Ming took tribute from Sakhalin and the Amur River region. Due to Ming rule in Manchuria, Chinese cultural and religious influence such as Chinese New Year , the " Chinese god ", and motifs such as dragons, spirals, and scrolls spread among the Ainu, Nivkh, and Amur natives such as the Udeghes , Ulchis , and Nanais . These groups also adopted material goods and practices such as agriculture, husbandry, heating, iron cooking pots, silk, and cotton. The Manchu Qing dynasty , which came to power in China in 1644, called Sakhalin "Kuyedao" ( Chinese : 库页岛 ; pinyin : Kùyè dǎo ; lit. 'island of

3192-452: The Qing dynasty when the Qing exercised jurisdiction in Sakhalin and took tribute from them. In 1635, Matsumae Kinhiro , the second daimyō of Matsumae Domain in Hokkaidō, sent Satō Kamoemon and Kakizaki Kuroudo on an expedition to Sakhalin. One of the Matsumae explorers, Kodō Shōzaemon, stayed in the island in the winter of 1636 and sailed along the east coast to Taraika (now Poronaysk ) in

3276-418: The Qing office. The Ainu also sold the silk uniforms ( mangpao , bufu , and chaofu ) given to them by the Qing, which made up the majority of what the Japanese knew as nishiki and jittoku . As dynastic uniforms, the silk was of considerably higher quality than that traded at Nagasaki , and enhanced Matsumae prestige as exotic items. Eventually the Tokugawa government, realizing that they could not depend on

3360-450: The Qing sent officials directly to these regions every year to collect tribute and to present awards. By the 1730s, the Qing had appointed senior figures among the indigenous communities as "clan chief" ( hala-i-da ) or "village chief" ( gasan-da or mokun-da ). In 1732, 6 hala , 18 gasban , and 148 households were registered as tribute bearers in Sakhalin. Manchu officials gave tribute missions rice, salt, other necessities, and gifts during

3444-640: The Russian EEZ, any country could fish there, and some began doing so in large numbers in 1991, catching perhaps as much as one million metric tons of pollock in 1992. This was seen by the Russian Federation as presenting a danger to Russian fish stocks, since the fish move in and out of the Peanut Hole from the Russian EEZ. The Russian Federation petitioned the United Nations to declare the Peanut Hole to be part of Russia's continental shelf . In November 2013,

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3528-448: The Russian oil drilling rig Kolskaya capsized and sank in a storm in the Sea of Okhotsk, some 124 km (77 mi) from Sakhalin island, where it was being towed from Kamchatka . Reportedly, its pumps failed, causing it to take on water and sink. The platform carried 67 people, of which 14 were rescued by the Magadan and the tugboat Natftogaz-55 . The platform was subcontracted to

3612-450: The Satsumon culture expanded northwards and into Sakhalin. This view has been corroborated by later analyses. Archaeologists have considered that bear worship, which is a religious practice widely observed among the northern Eurasian ethnic groups (including the Ainu, Finns, Nivkh, and Sami), was also shared by the Okhotsk people. On the other hand, no traces of such a religious practice have ever been discovered from archaeological sites of

3696-401: The Sea of Okhotsk as a nesting site. The Okhotsk culture and the later Ainu people , a coastal fishing and hunter-gatherer people, were located around the lands surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as in northern Japan. Russian explorers Vassili Poyarkov (1639) and Ivan Moskvitin (1645) were the first Europeans to visit the Sea of Okhotsk (and, probably, the island of Sakhalin ) in

3780-407: The Sea of Okhotsk is the subject of the most famous novel of the Japanese writer Takiji Kobayashi , The Crab Cannery Ship (1929). The Peanut Hole (named for its shape) was an area of open ocean at the center of the Sea of Okhotsk, about 55 km (30 mi) wide and 480 km (300 mi) long, that was surrounded by Russia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Since the Peanut Hole was not in

3864-619: The Southeast. A line running from Nosyappu Saki (Cape Noshap, 43°23'N) in the Island of Hokusyû (Yezo) through the Kuril or Tisima Islands to Cape Lopatka (South point of Kamchatka ) in such a way that all the narrow waters between Hokusyû and Kamchatka are included in the Sea of Okhotsk. Some of the Sea of Okhotsk's islands are quite large, including Japan's second-largest island, Hokkaido, as well as Russia's largest island, Sakhalin. Practically all of

3948-533: The Tokugawa shogunate believed a monopoly on the Santan trade would better protect the Ainu people. In 1869, the imperial government established the Hokkaidō Development Commission as part of the Meiji Restoration . Researcher Katarina Sjöberg quotes Baba 's 1890 account of the Japanese government's reasoning: ... The development of Japan's large northern island had several objectives: First, it

4032-568: The Wuliehe post. In 1437, four other assistant commanders (Zhaluha, Sanchiha, Tuolingha, and Alingge) also presented tribute. According to the Ming Veritable Records , these posts, like the position of headman, were hereditary and passed down the patrilineal line. During these tributary missions, the headmen would bring their sons, who later inherited their titles. In return for tribute, the Ming awarded them with silk uniforms. Nivkh women in Sakhalin married Han Chinese Ming officials when

4116-433: The Yamato and Ryukyu ethnic groups, the Ainu people are one of the primary historic ethnic groups of Japan . Official estimates place the total Ainu population in Japan at 25,000. Unofficial estimates place the total population at 200,000 or higher, as the near-total assimilation of the Ainu into Japanese society has resulted in many individuals of Ainu descent having no knowledge of their ancestry. The Ainu are one of

4200-527: The base can be seen clearly on satellite images. Today the island is uninhabited. It is now administered as part of the Sakhalin Oblast of the Russian Federation . Simushir is highly elongated, consisting of a series of stratovolcanos . The island has a length of 59 kilometres (37 mi) with a width of 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), and an area of 227.6 square kilometres (87.9 sq mi). At

4284-428: The creation of infrastructure such as roads and railway lines during a development period that lasted until 1904. During this time, the Ainu were ordered to cease religious practices such as animal sacrifice and the custom of tattooing. The same act applied to the native Ainu on Sakhalin after its annexation as Karafuto Prefecture . The Ainu have historically suffered from economic and social discrimination, as both

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4368-534: The demise of the multi-ethnic Empire of Japan in 1945, successive governments forged a single Japanese identity by advocating monoculturalism and denying the existence of more than one ethnic group in Japan. Following the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, Hokkaido politicians pressured the government to recognize Ainu rights. Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo answered

4452-402: The duration of their mission. Tribute missions occurred during the summer months. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–95), a trade post existed at Delen, upstream of Kiji (Kizi) Lake, according to Rinzo Mamiya . There were 500–600 people at the market during Mamiya's stay there. Local native Sakhalin chiefs had their daughters taken as wives by Manchu officials as sanctioned by

4536-478: The dynasty supplied the chief of each clan and village with official silk clothes ( mangpao , duanpao ), which were the gowns of the mandarin. Those who offered especially large fur tributes were granted the right to create a familial relationship with officials of the Manchu Eight Banners (at the time equivalent to Chinese aristocrats) by marrying an official's adopted daughter. Further, the tribute payers were allowed to engage in trade with officials and merchants at

4620-440: The eastern coast of Sakhalin in 1805. Mamiya Rinzō and Gennady Nevelskoy determined that Sakhalin was indeed an island separated from the mainland by a narrow strait. The first detailed summary of the hydrology of the Sea of Okhotsk was prepared and published by Stepan Makarov in 1894. The Sea of Okhotsk is rich in biological resources, with various kinds of fish, shellfish and crabs. The harsh conditions of crab fishing in

4704-442: The end of World War II in 1945. Afterward, the Soviet Union occupied the territory. During the Cold War , the Sea of Okhotsk was the scene of several successful U.S. Navy operations (including Operation Ivy Bells ) to tap Soviet Navy undersea communications cables. These operations were documented in the 1998 book Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage . The sea (and surrounding area) were also

4788-519: The few ethnic minorities native to the Japanese islands. They were subject to forced assimilation and colonization by the Japanese since at least the 18th century. Japanese assimilation policies in the 19th century around the Meiji Restoration included forcing Ainu peoples off their land. This, in turn, forced them to give up traditional ways of life such as subsistence hunting and fishing. Ainu people were not allowed to practice their religion and were placed into Japanese-language schools, where speaking

4872-467: The fleet back to the Sea of Okhotsk. From 1854 to 1856, an average of over 160 vessels cruised in the sea each year. As catches declined between 1858 and 1860 the fleet shifted back to the Bering Strait region. The Russian military marine mammal program reportedly sources some of its animals from the Sea of Okhotsk. South Sakhalin was administered by Japan as Karafuto Prefecture from 1907 to 1949. The Kuril Islands were Japanese from 1855 and 1875 till

4956-421: The global mean. Warming inhibits the formation of sea ice and also drives fish populations north. The salmon catch on the northern Japanese coast has fallen 70% in the last 15 years, while the Russian chum salmon catch has quadrupled. With the exception of Hokkaido , one of the Japanese home islands , the sea is surrounded on all sides by territory administered by the Russian Federation. South Sakhalin and

5040-407: The governance of the Yamato Kingship were singled out as northern Emishi. They began to be referred to as "Ezo" (Emishi). Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean . It is located between Russia 's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan 's island of Hokkaido on the south, the island of Sakhalin along

5124-439: The government is not in a position to conclude whether the Ainu should be referred as "indigenous people"... On June 6, 2008, the National Diet of Japan passed a non-binding, bipartisan resolution calling upon the government to recognize the Ainu as indigenous people . In 2019, eleven years after this resolution, the Diet finally passed an act recognizing the Ainu as an indigenous people of Japan. Despite this recognition of

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5208-439: The mainland, the Chinese described a "strong Kui (or Kuwei, Kuwu, Kuye, Kugi, i.e. Ainu) presence in the area otherwise dominated by the Gilemi or Jilimi (Nivkh and other Amur peoples)." Related names were in widespread use in the region, for example the Kuril Ainu called themselves koushi . The Old Japanese exonym 蝦夷 ( Emi 1 si ) was coined according to the Kojiki-den from 蝦 ("shrimp") + 夷 ("barbarian") as

5292-453: The name of Hokkaidō's Okhotsk Subprefecture , which faces the Sea of Okhotsk and is also known as the Okhotsk region ( オホーツク地方 , Ohōtsuku-chihō ) . Twenty-nine zones of possible oil and gas accumulation have been identified on the Sea of Okhotsk shelf, which runs along the coast. Total reserves are estimated at 3.5 billion tons of equivalent fuel, including 1.2 billion tons of oil and 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas. On 18 December 2011,

5376-575: The north end of the island is a half-submerged caldera, Brouton Bay, with an entrance only 2.5 meters deep, plunging to 240 meters in the center. In spite of its temperate latitude, the powerful Oyashio Current on the western flank of the Aleutian Low gives Simushir a chilly and very wet subarctic climate ( Köppen Dfc ) that amazingly almost qualifies as a polar climate ( ET ), which in low-lying areas would be expected only at latitudes about 20 degrees or 2,200 kilometres (1,370 mi) further north. Unlike typical subarctic or polar climates, however,

5460-425: The population. In an early colonization attempt, a Japanese settlement was established at Ōtomari on Sakhalin's southern end in 1679. In the 1780s, the influence of the Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate on the Ainu of southern Sakhalin increased significantly. By the beginning of the 19th century, the Japanese economic zone extended midway up the east coast, to Taraika. With the exception of the Nayoro Ainu located on

5544-500: The pressure to meet quotas, they fell into debt. These goods, the officials confirmed, originated at Qing posts, where continental traders acquired them during tributary ceremonies. The information contained in these types of reports turned out to be a serious blow to the future of Matsumae's trade monopoly in Ezo. From 1799 to 1806, the Tokugawa shogunate took direct control of southern Hokkaido. Japan proclaimed sovereignty over Sakhalin in 1807, and in 1809 Mamiya Rinzō claimed that it

5628-490: The regional variable subgroups of Ainu peoples. While the Ainu can be considered a continuation of the indigenous Jomon culture, they also display links to surrounding cultures, pointing to a larger cultural complex flourishing around the Sea of Okhotsk . Some authors have also described the development of the Ainu culture as the "resistance" of a Jomon society to the emerging Japanese state. One of their Yukar Upopo , or legends, tells that "[T]he Ainu lived in this place

5712-428: The residents, including the Sakhalin Ainu, pay tribute. This was followed by several further visits to the island as part of the Qing effort to map the area. To enforce its influence, the Qing sent soldiers and mandarins across Sakhalin, reaching most parts of the island except the southern tip. The Qing imposed a fur-tribute system on the region's inhabitants. The Qing dynasty ruled these regions by imposing upon them

5796-409: The scene of the Soviet attack on Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983. The Soviet Pacific Fleet used the sea as a ballistic missile submarine bastion , a strategy that Russia continues. Despite its proximity to Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk has no native etymology in the Japanese language ; its name, Ohōtsuku-kai ( オホーツク海 ), is a transcription of the Russian name. This is also reflected in

5880-522: The sea surface. The distribution and thickness of ice floes depends on many factors: the location, the time of year, water currents, and the sea temperatures. Cold air from Siberia forms sea ice in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk. As the ice forms, it expels salt into the deeper layers. This heavy water flows east toward the Pacific, carrying oxygen and nutrients, supporting abundant sea life. The Sea of Okhotsk has warmed in some places by as much as 3°C (5.4°F) since preindustrial times, three times faster than

5964-544: The sea's islands are either in coastal waters or belong to the various islands making up the Kuril Islands chain. These fall either under undisputed Japanese or Russian ownership or disputed ownership between Japan and Russia. Iony Island is the only island located in open waters and belongs to the Khabarovsk Krai of the Russian Federation . The majority of the sea's islands are uninhabited, making them ideal breeding grounds for seals , sea lions , seabirds , and other sea island fauna. Large colonies of crested auklets use

6048-686: The southeastern or Hidaka region of Hokkaido where ethnic Ainu live, such as in Nibutani ( Niputay ). From the early 1870s, Christian missionary work was conducted among the Ainu. The Anglican Communion missionaries included the Rt. Rev. Philip Fyson , Bishop of Hokkaido , and the Rev. John Batchelor . Batchelor wrote extensively in English about the beliefs and daily life of the Ainu in Yezo (or Ezo ), and his publications are

6132-447: The spring of 1637. The Tokugawa bakufu (feudal government) granted the Matsumae clan exclusive rights to trade with the Ainu in the northern part of the island. Later, the Matsumae began to lease out trading rights to Japanese merchants, and contact between Japanese and Ainu became more extensive. Throughout this period, Ainu groups competed with each other to import goods from the Japanese, and epidemic diseases such as smallpox reduced

6216-580: The submission of the two peoples. In 1264, the Krafuto-Ainu invaded the land of the Nivkh people. They also started an expedition into the Amur region, which was then controlled by the Yuan dynasty , resulting in reprisals by the Mongols who invaded Sakhalin . From the Nivkh perspective, their surrender to the Mongols essentially established a military alliance against the Ainu who had invaded their lands. According to

6300-553: The subsequent Satsumon period , from around the 13th century the Ainu established their own culture by absorbing the surrounding culture while engaging in transit trade between Honshu and north-east Asia. This is called the Ainu Culture period or Nibutani period. Active contact between the Wa-jin (ethnonym for Japanese, also known as Yamato people) and the Ainu of Ezogashima (now known as Hokkaidō ) began in this period. The Ainu formed

6384-554: The terms of the Treaty of Shimoda , but was returned to the Empire of Japan per the Treaty of Saint Petersburg along with the rest of the Kuril islands. The island was formerly administered as part of Shimushiru District of Nemuro Subprefecture of Hokkaidō . Settlers on the island were engaged in fishing, and the raising of Arctic fox and reindeer . During World War II , the civilian population

6468-531: The tribute location. By these policies, the Qing dynasty brought political stability to the region and established the basis for commerce and economic development. The Qing dynasty established an office in Ningguta , situated midway along the Mudan River , to handle fur from the lower Amur and Sakhalin. Tribute was supposed to be brought to regional offices, but the lower Amur and Sakhalin were considered too remote, so

6552-526: The west coast in close proximity to China, most Ainu stopped paying tribute to the Qing dynasty. The Matsumae clan was nominally in charge of Sakhalin, but they neither protected nor governed the Ainu there. Instead they extorted the Ainu for Chinese silk, which they sold in Honshu as Matsumae's special product. To obtain Chinese silk, the Ainu fell into debt, owing much fur to the Santan ( Ulch people ), who lived near

6636-514: The west, and a stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and north. Its northeast corner is the Shelikhov Gulf . The sea is named for the port of Okhotsk , itself named for the Okhota River . The Sea of Okhotsk covers an area of 1,583,000 square kilometres (611,000 sq mi), with a mean depth of 859 metres (2,818 ft) and a maximum depth of 3,372 metres (11,063 ft). It

6720-497: The winters are only moderately severe and there is no permafrost since the mean annual temperature is around 2.8 °C (37.0 °F), whilst temperatures have never fallen below −22.2 °C (−8 °F). However, the extreme winds, which in winter average as much as 43 kilometres per hour (27 mph), make it feel much colder. Summers are mild, but extraordinarily cloudy with fogs occurring on six-sevenths of all days in summer and annual sunshine hours less than 1,100 per year, which

6804-444: Was actively promoted by the Ainu to lessen the chances of discrimination against their offspring. As a result, many Ainu today are indistinguishable from their Japanese neighbors, but some Ainu-Japanese are interested in traditional Ainu culture. For example, Oki , born as the child of an Ainu father and a Japanese mother, became a musician who plays the traditional Ainu instrument, the tonkori . There are also many small towns in

6888-415: Was an island. During this period, Ainu women were separated from their husbands and either subjected to rape or forcibly married to Japanese men. Meanwhile, Ainu men were deported to merchant subcontractors for five- and ten-year terms of service. Policies of family separation and assimilation, combined with the impact of smallpox, caused the Ainu population to drop significantly in the early 19th century. In

6972-679: Was evacuated to the Japanese home islands and Simushir was garrisoned by a detachment from the Imperial Japanese Army . It was surrendered to Soviet forces during the Battle of the Kuril Islands without resistance. Under the Soviet Union , Brouton Bay was used by the Soviet Navy as a secret submarine base between 1987 and 1994, and had a population of approximately 3000 people. The remains of

7056-495: Was seen as a means to defend Japan from a rapidly developing and expansionist Russia . Second ... it offered a solution to the unemployment for the former samurai class ... Finally, development promised to yield the needed natural resources for a growing capitalist economy. As a result of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875) , the Kuril Islands—along with their Ainu inhabitants—came under Japanese administration. In 1899,

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