Ainu people

Ainu

Group of Ainu people, 1902 photograph
Total population
(The official Japanese government estimate is 25,000, although this number has been disputed with unofficial estimates of upwards of 200,000. 109 (Russian Census of 2010))
Regions with significant populations
Japan	25,000–200,000
Russia	109–1,000  Kamchatka Krai: 94–900
Languages
Historically Ainu and other Ainu languages; today, most Ainu speak Japanese or Russian.
Religion
Animism, Buddhism, Russian Orthodox Christianity, Atheism
Related ethnic groups
Kamchadal, Ryukyuan people,Yamato people

109–1,000

The Ainu or the Aynu (Ainu アィヌ Aynu; Japanese: アイヌ Ainu; Russian: Айны Ajny), in the historical Japanese texts Ezo/Emishi/Ebisu (蝦夷) or Ainu (アイヌ), are an indigenous people of Japan (Hokkaido, and formerly northeastern Honshu) and Russia (Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and formerly the Kamchatka Peninsula).

Many Ainu today have been completely assimilated into Japanese identity. The official number of the Ainu is 25,000, but unofficially is estimated at 200,000 due to many Ainu having been completely assimilated into Japanese society as to have no knowledge of their ancestry.

Recent research suggests that Ainu culture originated in a merger of the Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures. In 1264, Ainu invaded the land of Nivkh people controlled by the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia, resulting in battles between Ainu and the Chinese. Active contact between the Wajin (the ethnically Japanese) and the Ainu of Ezochi (now known as Hokkaido) began in the 13th century. The Ainu formed a society of hunter-gatherers, living mainly by hunting and fishing, and the people followed a religion based on natural phenomena.

During the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the disputes between Japanese and Ainu eventually developed into a war. Takeda Nobuhiro killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain. Many Ainu were subject to Japanese rule which led to violent Ainu revolt such as Koshamain's Revolt () in 1456.

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