Week 2 (HIEA 112)

Discussion Questions: Put yourself in the shoes of an Ainu person who lived through the extension of the boundaries of the old Tokugawa regime to include your ancestral homelands. How might your life change on an everyday level? How might you respond, either individually or collectively to this imposition of colonial rule over you?

The “Hokkaido Former Natives Protection Law” is not entirely what it is made out to be. While it appeared to be beneficial for the Ainu people and did grant some small liberties, in reality, it was a public facade that masked the nation-state’s true intentions.

One example of this is Article 1, in which it is stated that Former Natives of Hokkaido who are engaged, or wish to engage, in farming would be granted no more than 12 acres of land per household entirely free of charge. The issue with this was the fact that the Ainu people significantly relied on fishing and hunting as their source for food. As Komori Yoichi states, “to force the practice of farming on a people who live by hunting and fishing is none other than an act of violence against their very right to livelihood” (13). In addition to this, to ensure that the Ainu people would convert to farming, many of the areas of land where they hunted and fished were expropriated from them and given as land to Japanese settlers. In order for the Ainu people to be recognized as Japanese citizens, they were required to practice farming — as that was characteristic of being ‘civilized’ and ‘modern’ .

Another example of this is Article 9, in which it is stated that elementary schools will be constructed in areas where there is a Former Native Village. The issue with this was that the nation-state was using this under the pretense of ‘protection’ but their intention was to ‘bestow the honor of becoming imperial subjects’ through intellectual and educational advancement. As Komori Yoichi summarizes, the Ainu people were subjugated under the facade of ‘protection’.

On an everyday level, as an Ainu person, my life would change drastically, for the worse. My cultural practices, traditions and language would become suppressed by the nation-state. For example, practices such as women getting cultural tattoos would become forbidden. In addition to this, I would also be forced to learn & write Japanese and abandon my native language. I would have no other choice than to adapt to this drastic change — and oblige to the colonial rule over my community.

Both individually and collectively, I think that it would be extremely difficult to effectively respond to this imposition of colonial rule. Any opposition towards the nation-state would result in backlash — such as increased restrictions. One effective collective response might be for the community to preserve the Ainu language — as that is something that the nation-state could not take away.