The indigenous people of Japan are the Ainu! Small Peoples The largest concentrations of Ainu families are now located in Hokaido

Few people know, but the Japanese are not the indigenous population of Japan. Before them, people lived on the islands Ainu, mysterious people, the origin of which still has many mysteries. The Ainu lived alongside the Japanese for some time until they were pushed north.

That the Ainu are the ancient masters of the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, written sources indicate and numerous names of geographical objects, the origin of which is associated with Ainu language.

Scientists still argue about the origin of the Ainu. Ainu territory was quite extensive: Japanese islands, Sakhalin, Primorye, Kuril Islands and southern Kamchatka. The fact that the Ainu are not related to other indigenous peoples of the Far East and Siberia is already a proven fact.

It is known for certain that The Ainu came to the islands of the Sea of Japan and founded the Neolithic Jomon culture there (13,000 BC - 300 BC).

The Ainu did not engage in agriculture, they got food hunting, gathering and fishing. They lived along the rivers on the islands of the archipelago, in small settlements quite distant from each other.

Hunting weapons The Ainu consisted of a bow, a long knife and a spear. Various traps and snares were widely used. In fishing, the Ainu have long used a “marek” - a spear with a movable rotating hook that catches fish. Fish were often caught at night, attracted by the light of torches.

As the island of Hokkaido became increasingly populated by the Japanese, hunting lost its dominant role in the life of the Ainu. At the same time, the share of agriculture and livestock raising increased. The Ainu began to cultivate millet, barley, and potatoes.

Hunters and fishermen, the Ainu created an unusual and rich Jomon culture , characteristic of peoples with a very high level of development. For example, they have wooden products with unusual spiral ornaments and carvings, amazing in beauty and invention.

The ancient Ainu created an extraordinary ceramics without a potter's wheel, decorating it with fancy rope patterns. The Ainu amaze with their talented folklore heritage: songs, dances and stories.

The legend of the origin of the Ainu.

That was a long time ago. There was a village among the hills. An ordinary village in which ordinary people lived. Among them is a very kind family. The family had a daughter, Aina, who was the kindest of all. The village lived its usual life, but one day at dawn a black cart appeared on the village road. The black horses were driven by a man dressed all in black. He was very happy about something, smiled widely, and sometimes laughed. There was a black cage on the cart, and a small fluffy Teddy Bear was sitting in it on a chain. He sucked his paw, and tears flowed from his eyes. All the people of the village looked out the windows, went out into the street and were indignant: how shameful is it not for a black man to be kept on a chain and tormented? white bear cub. People were only indignant and said words, but did nothing. Only a kind family stopped the black man's cart, and Aina began to ask him to released the unfortunate Little Bear. The stranger smiled and said that he would release the beast if someone gave up his eyes. Everyone was silent. Then Aina stepped forward and said that she was ready for this. The black man laughed loudly and opened the black cage. The white fluffy Teddy Bear came out of the cage. And kind Aina lost her sight. While the villagers looked at the Little Bear and spoke sympathetic words to Aina, the black man on the black cart disappeared to no one knows where. The little bear didn't cry anymore, but Aina cried. Then the white Bear cub took the string in his paws and began to lead Aina everywhere: around the village, along the hills and meadows. This didn't last very long. And then one day the people of the village looked up and saw that The white fluffy Teddy Bear leads Aina straight into the sky,

and leads Aina across the sky. The Big Dipper leads the Little Dipper and is always visible in the sky, so that people remember about good and evil... The Ainu have a cult of the bear. differed sharply from similar cults in Europe and Asia. Only

The Ainu fed a sacrificial bear cub at the breast of a female nurse! The main celebration of the Ainu is the bear festival, on which Relatives and invitees from many villages gathered. For four years, one of the Ainu families raised a bear cub. The best food was given to him, and the bear cub was prepared for ritual sacrifice. In the morning, on the day of the sacrifice of the bear cub, After which the animal was taken out of the cage and decorated with shavings, and ritual jewelry was put on. Then he was led through the village, and while those present distracted the animal’s attention with noise and shouts, the young hunters, one after another, jumped on the bear, pressing against it for a moment, trying to touch its head, and immediately jumped away: a peculiar ritual of “kissing” the beast. They tied the bear in a special place and tried to feed it festive food. The elder pronounced a farewell word in front of him, described the works and merits of the village residents who raised the divine beast, and outlined the wishes of the Ainu, which the bear had to convey to his father - the mountain taiga god. It is an honor to “send” the beast to the forefather, i.e. killing a bear with a bow Any hunter could be awarded, at the request of the animal’s owner, but he must have been a visitor. Had hit right in the heart. The meat of the animal was placed on spruce paws and distributed taking into account seniority and birth. The bones were carefully collected and taken into the forest. Silence reigned in the village. It was believed that the bear was already on the way, and the noise could lead him off the road.

The genetic relationship of the Ainu with the people of the Neolithic Jomon culture, who were the ancestors of the Ainu, has been proven.

It has long been believed that the Ainu may have common roots with the peoples of Indonesia and the Pacific Aborigines, as they have similar facial features. But genetic research This option was also excluded.

The Japanese are sure that the Ainu are related to Paleo-Asian (?) peoples and came to the Japanese islands from Siberia. Recently there have been suggestions that The Ainu are relatives of the Miao-Yao, living in Southern China.

Appearance of the Ainu

The appearance of the Ainu is quite unusual: they have Caucasian features, they have unusually thick hair, wide eyes, and fair skin. A characteristic feature of the appearance of the Ainu is very thick hair and beard in men, what representatives of the Mongoloid race are deprived of. Thick long hair, matted into tangles, replaced helmets for the Ainam warriors.

Russian and Dutch travelers left many stories about the Ainu. According to their testimony, The Ainu are very kind, friendly and open people. Even Europeans who visited the islands over the years noted the characteristic Ainu gallantry of manners, simplicity and sincerity.

Russian explorers - Cossacks, conquering Siberia, reached the Far East. Arrived On the island of Sakhalin, the first Russian Cossacks even mistook the Ainu for Russians, they were so unlike the Siberian tribes, but rather resembled Europeans.

This is what I wrote Cossack captain Ivan Kozyrev about the first meeting: “About fifty people dressed in skins poured out. They looked without fear and had an extraordinary appearance - hairy, long-bearded, but with white faces and not slanted, like the Yakuts and Kamchadals.”

It can be said that The Ainu looked like anyone: the peasants of the south of Russia, the inhabitants of the Caucasus, Persia or India, even the gypsies - but not the Mongoloids. These unusual people called themselves Ainami, which means “real person”, but the Cossacks dubbed them “Kurils”, adding an epithet - "shaggy". Subsequently Cossacks met Kurils throughout the Far East - on Sakhalin, southern Kamchatka, and the Amur region.

The Ainu pay a lot of attention education and training of children. First of all, they believe, a child must learn to obey his elders! In the child's unquestioning obedience to his parents, older brothers and sisters, adults in general, a future warrior was being raised. The obedience of a child, from the Ainu point of view, is expressed, in particular, in the fact that a child speaks to adults only when asked when he is addressed. The child must be in sight of adults at all times, but at the same time do not make noise, do not bother them with your presence.

The Ainu do not give names to children immediately after birth, as Europeans do, but at the age of one to ten years, or even later. Most often, the name Aina reflects a distinctive property of his character, an individual trait inherent in him, for example: Selfish, Dirty, Fair, Good Orator, Stutterer, etc. Ainu have no nicknames, these are their names.

Ainu boys are raised by the father of the family. He teaches them to hunt, navigate the terrain, choose the shortest road in the forest, hunting techniques and use of weapons. The upbringing of girls is entrusted to the mother. In cases where children violate established rules of behavior, commit mistakes or misdeeds, parents tell them various instructive legends and stories, preferring this means of influencing the child’s psyche to physical punishment.

War of the Ainu with the Japanese

IN Soon the idealistic life of the Ainu on the Japanese archipelago was interrupted by migrants from Southeast Asia and China - Mongoloid tribes who later became the ancestors of the Japanese. New settlers brought culture with them rice , which made it possible to feed a large population in a relatively small area. Having formed Yamato State, they began to threaten the peaceful life of the Ainu, so some of them moved to Sakhalin, the lower Amur, Primorye and the Kuril Islands. The remaining Ainu began an era of constant wars with the state of Yamato, which lasted about a thousand years.

The first samurai were not Japanese at all.

The Ainu were skilled warriors, fluent in their use of bows and swords, and the Japanese were unable to defeat them for a long time. A very long time, almost 1500 years .

The new state of Yamato, which arose in the 3rd-4th centuries, begins an era of constant war with the Ainu. IN 670 Yamoto renamed Nippon (Japan). "Among the Eastern Savages the strongest are emisi", - testify to Japanese chronicles, where the Ainu appear under the name “Emisi”.

The Japanese demonized the rebellious people, calling the Ainu savages, but the Japanese for quite a long time were inferior to the savages - the Ainu - militarily. A recording by a Japanese chronicler made in 712 : « When our exalted ancestors descended from the sky on a ship, on this island (Honshu) they found several savage peoples, among them the most savage were the Ainu.”

Ainu. 1904

The Japanese were afraid of an open battle with the Ainu and recognized that one warrior is worth a hundred Japanese . There was a belief that particularly skilled Ainu warriors could create fog in order to hide unnoticed by their enemies.

The Ainu knew how to deal with two swords, and on the right hip they wore two daggers . One of them (cheyki-makiri) served as a knife for committing ritual suicide - hara-kiri.

The origins of the cult of samurai are in the martial art of the Ainu, not the Japanese. As a result of thousands of years of war with the Ainu, the Japanese adopted a special military style from the Ainu culture - samurai, originating from the thousand-year-old military traditions of the Atsni. And some of the samurai clans, by their origin, are still considered Ainu.

Even the symbol of Japan - the great Mount Fuji - has in its name The Ainu word is "fuji", which means "hearth deity".

The Japanese were able to defeat the Ainu only after the invention of guns, having managed to adopt many techniques of military art from the Ainu. The samurai code of honor, the ability to wield two swords and the mentioned hara-kiri ritual - considered by many to be characteristic attributes of Japanese culture, but in fact these military traditions were borrowed by the Japanese from the Ainu.

In ancient times, the Ainu had the tradition of drawing mustaches on women, so they looked like young warriors. This tradition suggests that Ainu women were also warriors, along with men they fought like Despite all the bans from the Japanese government, even in the 20th century, Ainu got tattoos, it is believed that the latter the tattooed woman died in 1998.

Tattoos in the form of a lush mustache above the upper lip were applied exclusively by women , it was believed that this ritual was taught to the ancestors of the Ainu gods, the mother-progenitor of all living things - Oki-kurumi Turesh Mahi (Okikurumi Turesh Machi) younger sister of the Creator God Okikurumi .

The tradition of tattooing was passed down through the female line; the design was applied to the daughter’s body by her mother or grandmother.

In the process of “Japanization” of the Ainu people in 1799, a strict ban on tattooing Ainu girls was introduced , and in 1871 In Hokkaido, a second strict ban was proclaimed because it was believed that the procedure was too painful and inhumane.

The Ainu language is also a mystery; it has Sanskrit, Slavic, Latin, and Anglo-Germanic roots. Ainu language strongly stands out from the modern linguistic picture of the world, and a suitable place has not yet been found for it. During prolonged isolation the Ainu lost contact with all other peoples of the Earth, and some researchers even identify them as a special Ainu race.

Ethnographers struggling with the question - where in these harsh lands did people wearing loose (southern) type of clothing come from? Their national everyday clothing - dressing gowns , decorated with traditional ornaments, festive - white.

National clothes of the Ainu - robe decorated bright ornament, fur hat or wreath. Previously, clothing material was woven from strips of bast and nettle fibers. Now the Ainu national clothes are sewn from purchased fabrics, but they are decorated with rich embroidery. Almost Each Ainu village has its own special embroidery pattern. When you meet an Ainu in national clothes, you can unmistakably determine which village he is from. Embroidery on men's and women's clothing differ. A man would never wear clothes with “feminine” embroidery, and vice versa.

Russian travelers were also amazed that In summer, the Ainu wore a loincloth.

Today there are very few Ainu left, about 30,000 people, and they live mainly in the north of Japan, in the south and southeast of Hokkaido. Other sources voice a figure of 50 thousand people, but this includes first-generation mestizos with an admixture of Ainu blood - there are 150,000 of them, they are almost completely assimilated with the population of Japan. The Ainu culture is fading into oblivion along with its secrets.

Decree of Empress Catherine II of 1779: “...leave the shaggy Kuril residents free and not demand any tax from them, and in the future do not force the peoples living there to do so, but try with friendly treatment and affection... to continue the acquaintance already established with them.”

The empress's decree was not fully observed, and yasak was collected from the Ainu until the 19th century. The trusting Ainu took their word for it, and if the Russians somehow held him in relation to them, then There was a war with the Japanese until the last breath...

In 1884, the Japanese resettled all the Northern Kuril Ainu to the island of Shikotan, where the last of them died in 1941.The last Ainu man on Sakhalin died in 1961, when he buried his wife. he, as befits a warrior and the ancient laws of his amazing people, made himself “erythokpa”, ripping open the belly and releasing the soul to the divine ancestors...

It is believed that there are no Ainu in Russia. This small people who once inhabited lower reaches of the Amur, Kamchatka, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands , completely assimilated. It turned out that the Russian Ainu were not lost in the common ethnic sea. At the moment they are in Russia – 205 people .

As reported by “National Accent” through the mouth of Alexey Nakamura, leader of the Ainu community, « the Ainu or Kamchadal Kurils never disappeared, They just didn’t want to recognize us for many years. The self-name "Ainu" comes from our word for "man" or "worthy man" and is associated with military activities. We fought the Japanese for 650 years.”

The Japanese captured the "Japanese" islands, destroying the indigenous inhabitants

Everyone knows that Americans are not the indigenous population of the United States, just like the current population of South America. Did you know that the Japanese are also not the indigenous population of Japan? Who then lived on these islands before them?...

Before them, the Ainu lived here, a mysterious people whose origins still have many mysteries. The Ainu lived next to the Japanese for some time, until the latter managed to push them north. The fact that the Ainu are the ancient masters of the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands is evidenced by written sources and numerous names of geographical objects, the origin of which is associated with the Ainu language. And even the symbol of Japan - the great Mount Fuji - has in its name the Ainu word “fuji”, which means “deity of the hearth”. According to scientists, the Ainu settled the Japanese islands around 13,000 BC and formed the Neolithic Jomon culture there.

The Ainu did not engage in agriculture; they obtained food by hunting, gathering and fishing. They lived in small settlements, quite distant from each other. Therefore, their habitat was quite extensive: the Japanese islands, Sakhalin, Primorye, the Kuril Islands and the south of Kamchatka.

Around the 3rd millennium BC, Mongoloid tribes arrived on the Japanese islands, who later became the ancestors of the Japanese. The new settlers brought with them the rice crop, which allowed them to feed a large population in a relatively small area. Thus began difficult times in the life of the Ainu. They were forced to move to the north, leaving their ancestral lands to the colonialists.

But the Ainu were skilled warriors, fluent with bows and swords, and the Japanese were unable to defeat them for a long time. A very long time, almost 1500 years. The Ainu knew how to wield two swords, and on their right hip they carried two daggers. One of them (cheyki-makiri) served as a knife for committing ritual suicide - hara-kiri.

The Japanese were able to defeat the Ainu only after the invention of cannons, by which time they had learned a lot from them in terms of military art. The samurai code of honor, the ability to wield two swords and the mentioned hara-kiri ritual - these seemingly characteristic attributes of Japanese culture were actually borrowed from the Ainu.

Scientists are still arguing about the origin of the Ainu.

But the fact that this people is not related to other indigenous peoples of the Far East and Siberia is already a proven fact. A characteristic feature of their appearance is very thick hair and a beard in men, which representatives of the Mongoloid race lack. It has long been believed that they may have common roots with the peoples of Indonesia and the Pacific Aborigines, as they have similar facial features. But genetic studies ruled out this option as well.

And the first Russian Cossacks who arrived on the island of Sakhalin even mistook the Ainu for Russians, they were so unlike the Siberian tribes, but rather resembled Europeans. The only group of people from all the analyzed variants with whom they have a genetic relationship were the people of the Jomon era, who presumably were the ancestors of the Ainu. The Ainu language is also very different from the modern linguistic picture of the world, and a suitable place has not yet been found for it. It turns out that during their long isolation the Ainu lost contact with all other peoples of the Earth, and some researchers even distinguish them into a special Ainu race.

Ainu in Russia

The Kamchatka Ainu first came into contact with Russian merchants at the end of the 17th century. Relations with the Amur and North Kuril Ainu were established in the 18th century. The Ainu considered the Russians, who were racially different from their Japanese enemies, as friends, and by the middle of the 18th century, more than one and a half thousand Ainu accepted Russian citizenship. Even the Japanese could not distinguish the Ainu from the Russians because of their external similarity (white skin and Australoid facial features, which are similar to Caucasoid ones in a number of ways). Compiled under the Russian Empress Catherine II, the “Spatial Land Description of the Russian State” included not only all the Kuril Islands, but also the island of Hokkaido into the Russian Empire.

The reason is that ethnic Japanese did not even populate it at that time. The indigenous population - the Ainu - were recorded as Russian subjects following the expedition of Antipin and Shabalin.

The Ainu fought with the Japanese not only in the south of Hokkaido, but also in the northern part of the island of Honshu. The Cossacks themselves explored and taxed the Kuril Islands back in the 17th century. So, Russia can demand Hokkaido from the Japanese.

The fact of Russian citizenship of the inhabitants of Hokkaido was noted in a letter from Alexander I to the Japanese Emperor in 1803. Moreover, this did not cause any objections from the Japanese side, much less official protest. To Tokyo, Hokkaido was a foreign territory like Korea. When the first Japanese arrived on the island in 1786, they were met by Ainu bearing Russian names and surnames. And what’s more, they are true Christians! Japan's first claims to Sakhalin date back to 1845. Then Emperor Nicholas I immediately gave a diplomatic rebuff. Only the weakening of Russia in subsequent decades led to the occupation of the southern part of Sakhalin by the Japanese.

It is interesting that in 1925 the Bolsheviks condemned the previous government, which gave Russian lands to Japan.

So in 1945, historical justice was only restored. The army and navy of the USSR resolved the Russian-Japanese territorial issue by force. Khrushchev signed the Joint Declaration of the USSR and Japan in 1956, Article 9 of which stated:

“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, meeting the wishes of Japan and taking into account the interests of the Japanese state, agrees to the transfer to Japan of the islands of Habomai and the island of Shikotan, however, that the actual transfer of these islands to Japan will be made after the conclusion of the Peace Treaty between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Japan” .

Khrushchev's goal was the demilitarization of Japan. He was willing to sacrifice a couple of small islands in order to remove American military bases from the Soviet Far East. Now, obviously, we are no longer talking about demilitarization. Washington clung to its “unsinkable aircraft carrier” with a death grip. Moreover, Tokyo’s dependence on the United States even intensified after the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Well, if this is so, then the gratuitous transfer of the islands as a “gesture of goodwill” loses its attractiveness. It is reasonable not to follow Khrushchev’s declaration, but to put forward symmetrical claims based on known historical facts. Shaking ancient scrolls and manuscripts, which is normal practice in such matters.

An insistence on giving up Hokkaido would be a cold shower for Tokyo. It would be necessary to argue at the negotiations not about Sakhalin or even about the Kuril Islands, but about our own territory at the moment. I would have to defend myself, make excuses, prove my right. Russia would thus go from diplomatic defense to offensive. Moreover, China’s military activity, nuclear ambitions and readiness for military action by the DPRK and other security problems in the Asia-Pacific region will give another reason for Japan to sign a peace treaty with Russia.

But let's go back to the Ainu

When the Japanese first came into contact with the Russians, they called them the Red Ainu (Ainu with blond hair). Only at the beginning of the 19th century did the Japanese realize that the Russians and the Ainu were two different peoples. However, to the Russians the Ainu were "hairy", "swarthy", "dark-eyed" and "dark-haired". The first Russian researchers described the Ainu as looking like Russian peasants with dark skin or more like gypsies.

The Ainu sided with the Russians during the Russo-Japanese Wars of the 19th century. However, after defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, the Russians abandoned them to their fate. Hundreds of Ainu were killed and their families were forcibly transported to Hokkaido by the Japanese. As a result, the Russians failed to recapture the Ainu during World War II. Only a few Ainu representatives decided to stay in Russia after the war. More than 90% went to Japan.

Under the terms of the St. Petersburg Treaty of 1875, the Kuril Islands were ceded to Japan, along with the Ainu living there. 83 Northern Kuril Ainu arrived in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on September 18, 1877, deciding to remain under Russian control. They refused to move to reservations on the Commander Islands, as the Russian government suggested to them. After which, from March 1881, for four months they traveled on foot to the village of Yavino, where they later settled.

Later the village of Golygino was founded. Another 9 Ainu arrived from Japan in 1884. The 1897 census indicates a population of 57 in Golygino (all Ainu) and 39 in Yavino (33 Ainu and 6 Russians). Both villages were destroyed by the Soviet authorities, and the residents were resettled to Zaporozhye, Ust-Bolsheretsk region. As a result, three ethnic groups assimilated with the Kamchadals.

The Northern Kuril Ainu are currently the largest Ainu subgroup in Russia. The Nakamura family (South Kuril on the paternal side) is the smallest and has only 6 people living in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. There are a few on Sakhalin who identify themselves as Ainu, but many more Ainu do not recognize themselves as such.

Most of the 888 Japanese living in Russia (2010 census) are of Ainu origin, although they do not recognize it (pure-blooded Japanese are allowed to enter Japan without a visa). The situation is similar with the Amur Ainu living in Khabarovsk. And it is believed that none of the Kamchatka Ainu are left alive.

Epilogue

In 1979, the USSR deleted the ethnonym “Ainu” from the list of “living” ethnic groups in Russia, thereby declaring that this people had become extinct on the territory of the USSR. Judging by the 2002 census, no one entered the ethnonym “Ainu” in fields 7 or 9.2 of the K-1 census form. There is information that the Ainu have the most direct genetic connections through the male line, oddly enough, with the Tibetans - half of them are carriers of the close haplogroup D1 (the D2 group itself is practically not found outside the Japanese archipelago) and the Miao-Yao peoples in southern China and in Indochina.

As for female (Mt-DNA) haplogroups, the Ainu group is dominated by group U, which is also found among other peoples of East Asia, but in small numbers. During the 2010 census, about 100 people tried to register themselves as Ainu, but the government of the Kamchatka Territory rejected their claims and recorded them as Kamchadals.

In 2011, the head of the Ainu community of Kamchatka, Alexey Vladimirovich Nakamura, sent a letter to the Governor of Kamchatka Vladimir Ilyukhin and the Chairman of the local Duma Boris Nevzorov with a request to include the Ainu in the List of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation. The request was also rejected. Alexey Nakamura reports that in 2012 there were 205 Ainu registered in Russia (compared to 12 people registered in 2008), and they, like the Kuril Kamchadals, are fighting for official recognition. The Ainu language became extinct many decades ago.

In 1979, only three people on Sakhalin could speak Ainu fluently, and the language became completely extinct there by the 1980s. Although Keizo Nakamura spoke Sakhalin-Ainu fluently and even translated several documents into Russian for the NKVD, he did not pass on the language to his son. Take Asai, the last person who knew the Sakhalin Ainu language, died in Japan in 1994.

Until the Ainu are recognized, they are noted as people without nationality, like ethnic Russians or Kamchadals. Therefore, in 2016, both the Kuril Ainu and the Kuril Kamchadals were deprived of the rights to hunting and fishing, which the small peoples of the Far North have.

There is one ancient People on earth that we have simply ignored for more than one century, and more than once was subjected to persecution and genocide in Japan due to the fact that with its existence it simply breaks the established official false history of both Japan and Russia.

Now, there is reason to believe that not only in Japan, but also on the territory of Russia there is a part of this ancient indigenous people. According to preliminary data from the latest population census, held in October 2010, there are more than 100 Ainov in our country. The fact itself is unusual, because until recently it was believed that the Ainu live only in Japan. They guessed about this, but on the eve of the population census, employees of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences noticed that, despite the absence of Russian peoples in the official list, some of our fellow citizens stubbornly continue to consider themselves Ain and have good reason for this.

As research has shown, the Ainu, or Kamchadal Kurils, did not disappear anywhere, they just did not want to recognize them for many years. But Stepan Krasheninnikov, a researcher of Siberia and Kamchatka (XVIII century), described them as Kamchadal Kurils. The name "Ainu" itself comes from their word for "man", or "worthy man", and is associated with military activities. And as one of the representatives of this nation claims in a conversation with the famous journalist M. Dolgikh, the Ainu fought with the Japanese for 650 years. It turns out that this is the only people remaining to this day who, from ancient times, restrained the occupation, resisted the aggressor - now the Japanese, who were, in fact, Koreans with perhaps a certain percentage of the Chinese population, who moved to the islands and formed another state.

It has been scientifically established that the Ainu already inhabited the north of the Japanese archipelago, the Kuril Islands and part of Sakhalin and, according to some data, part of Kamchatka and even the lower reaches of the Amur about 7 thousand years ago. The Japanese who came from the south gradually assimilated and pushed the Ainu to the north of the archipelago - to Hokkaido and the southern Kuril Islands.

The largest concentrations of Ainu families are now located in Hokaido.

But the topic of the Ainu’s hostility towards the Japanese probably exists not only because of the ridiculous nicknames addressed to them, but also probably because the Ainu, let me remind you, were subjected to genocide and persecution by the Japanese for centuries.

At the end of the 19th century. About one and a half thousand Ainu lived in Russia. After World War II, they were partly evicted, partly they left along with the Japanese population, others remained, returning, so to speak, from their difficult and centuries-long service. This part mixed with the Russian population of the Far East.

In appearance, representatives of the Ainu people very little resemble their closest neighbors - the Japanese, Nivkhs and Itelmens.
The Ainu are the White Race.

According to the Kamchadal Kurils themselves, all the names of the islands of the southern ridge were given by the Ainu tribes who once inhabited these territories. By the way, it is wrong to think that the names of the Kuril Islands, Kuril Lake, etc. originated from hot springs or volcanic activity. It’s just that the Kurils, or Kurils, live here, and “Kuru” in Ainsk means the People.

Therefore, according to experts, it is very strange to say that the Ainu have never been in the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, as the Japanese are doing now, assuring everyone that the Ainu live only in Japan (after all, archeology says the opposite), so they, the Japanese, supposedly the Kuril Islands need to be given back. This is completely untrue. In Russia there are Ainu - the indigenous White People who have the direct right to consider these islands their ancestral lands.

American anthropologist S. Lorin Brace, from Michigan State University, in the journal Science Horizons, No. 65, September-October 1989, writes: “a typical Ainu can be easily distinguished from the Japanese: he has lighter skin, thicker body hair, beards , which is unusual for Mongoloids, and a more protruding nose.”

Brace studied about 1,100 crypts of Japanese, Ainu and other ethnic groups and came to the conclusion that members of the privileged samurai class in Japan are in fact descendants of the Ainu, and not the Yayoi (Mongoloids), the ancestors of most modern Japanese.

The story of the Ainu classes is reminiscent of the story of the upper castes in India, where the highest percentage of the White man's haplogroup is R1a1

Brace further writes: “.. this explains why the facial features of representatives of the ruling class are so often different from modern Japanese. The real Samurai, the descendants of Ainu warriors, gained such influence and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with the rest of the ruling circles and introduced Ainu blood into them, while the rest of the Japanese population were mainly descendants of Yayoi."

It should also be noted that in addition to archaeological and other features, the language has been partially preserved. There is a dictionary of the Kuril language in “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” by S. Krasheninnikov. In Hokkaido, the dialect spoken by the Ainu is called saru, but in SAKHALIN it is called reichishka.
As it is not difficult to understand, the Ainu language differs from the Japanese language in syntax, phonology, morphology and vocabulary, etc. Although there have been attempts to prove that they are related, the vast majority of modern scientists reject the assumption that the relationship between the languages goes beyond contact relations, involving the mutual borrowing of words in both languages. In fact, no attempt to link the Ainu language to any other language has gained widespread acceptance.

We have neither the people nor the funds for the development of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, but the Ainu do. The Ainu who migrated from Japan, according to experts, can give impetus to the economy of the Russian Far East by forming national autonomy not only in the Kuril Islands, but also within Russia and reviving their clan and traditions in the land of their ancestors.

The Ainu were not allies of Japan and never will be, but they can become allies of Russia. But unfortunately, we still ignore this ancient People.

As noted by leading researcher at the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Academician K. Cherevko, Japan exploited these islands. Their law includes such a concept as “development through trade exchange.” And all the Ainu - both conquered and unconquered - were considered Japanese and were subject to their emperor. But it is known that even before that the Ainu gave taxes to Russia. True, this was irregular.

Thus, we can say with confidence that the Kuril Islands belong to the Ainu, but, one way or another, Russia must proceed from international law. According to him, i.e. According to the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan renounced the islands. Today there are simply no legal grounds for revising the documents signed in 1951 and other agreements. But such matters are resolved only in the interests of big politics, and I repeat that only its Brotherly people, that is, We, can help this people.

Twenty years ago, the magazine “Around the World” published an interesting article “Real People Who Arrived from Heaven.” We present a small fragment from this interesting material:

“...The conquest of huge Honshu progressed slowly. Even at the beginning of the 8th century AD, the Ainu held its entire northern part. Military happiness passed from hand to hand. And then the Japanese began to bribe the Ainu leaders, reward them with court titles, resettle entire Ainu villages from the occupied territories to the south, and create their own settlements in the vacated areas. Moreover, seeing that the army was unable to hold the captured lands, the Japanese rulers decided to take a very risky step: they armed the settlers who were leaving to the north. This was the beginning of the serving nobility of Japan - the samurai, who turned the tide of the war and had a huge impact on the history of their country. However, the 18th century still finds small villages of incompletely assimilated Ainu in the north of Honshu. Most of the indigenous islanders partly died, and partly managed to cross the Sangar Strait even earlier to their fellow tribesmen in Hokkaido - the second largest, northernmost and most sparsely populated island of modern Japan.

Until the end of the 18th century, Hokkaido (at that time it was called Ezo, or Ezo, that is, “wild,” “land of barbarians”) was not of much interest to the Japanese rulers. Written in the early 18th century, Dainniponshi (History of Greater Japan), consisting of 397 volumes, mentions Ezo in the section on foreign countries. Although already in the middle of the 15th century, the daimyo (large feudal lord) Takeda Nobuhiro decided at his own risk to oust the Ainu of southern Hokkaido and built the first permanent Japanese settlement there. Since then, foreigners have sometimes called Ezo Island differently: Matmai (Mats-mai) after the name of the Matsumae clan founded by Nobuhiro.

New lands had to be taken with battle. The Ainu put up stubborn resistance. People's memory has preserved the names of the most courageous defenders of their native land. One of these heroes is Shakusyain, who led the Ainu uprising in August 1669. The old leader led several Ainu tribes. In one night, 30 merchant ships arriving from Honshu were captured, then the fortress on the Kun-nui-gawa river fell. Supporters of the Matsumae house barely had time to hide in the fortified town. A little more and...

But the reinforcements sent by the besieged arrived in time. The former owners of the island retreated beyond Kun-nui-gawa. The decisive battle began at 6 o'clock in the morning. The Japanese warriors clad in armor looked with a grin at the crowd of hunters untrained in regular formation running to attack. Once upon a time, these screaming bearded men in armor and hats made of wooden plates were a formidable force. And now who will be afraid of the shine of the tips of their spears? The cannons responded to the falling arrows...

(Here I immediately remember the American film “The Last Samurai” with Tom Cruise in the title role. Hollywood people clearly knew the truth - the last samurai was really a white man, but they twisted it, turning everything upside down, so that people would never know it. The Last the samurai was not a European, did not come from Europe, but was a native inhabitant of Japan. His ancestors lived on the islands for thousands of years!..)

The surviving Ainu fled to the mountains. The contractions continued for another month. Deciding to rush things, the Japanese lured Shakusyain along with other Ainu military leaders into negotiations and killed them. Resistance was broken. From free people who lived according to their own customs and laws, all of them, young and old, turned into forced laborers of the Matsumae clan. The relations established at that time between the victors and the vanquished are described in the diary of the traveler Yokoi:

“...Translators and overseers committed many bad and vile deeds: they cruelly treated the elderly and children, raped women. If the Esosians began to complain about such atrocities, then in addition they received punishment ... "

Therefore, many Ainu fled to their fellow tribesmen on Sakhalin, the southern and northern Kuril Islands. There they felt relatively safe - after all, there were no Japanese here yet. We find indirect confirmation of this in the first description of the Kuril ridge known to historians. The author of this document is Cossack Ivan Kozyrevsky. He visited the north of the ridge in 1711 and 1713 and asked its inhabitants about the entire chain of islands, right up to Matmaya (Hokkaido). The Russians first landed on this island in 1739. The Ainu who lived there told the expedition leader, Martyn Shpanberg, that on the Kuril Islands “... there are a lot of people, and those islands are not subject to anyone.”

In 1777, Irkutsk merchant Dmitry Shebalin was able to bring one and a half thousand Ainu into Russian citizenship in Iturup, Kunashir and even Hokkaido. The Ainu received from the Russians strong fishing gear, iron, cows, and over time, rent for the right to hunt near their shores.

Despite the arbitrariness of some merchants and Cossacks, the Ainu (including the Ezo) sought protection from Russia from the Japanese. Perhaps the bearded, big-eyed Ainu saw in the people who came to them natural allies, who were so sharply different from the Mongoloid tribes and peoples who lived around them. After all, the external similarity between our explorers and the Ainu was simply amazing. It even deceived the Japanese. In their first messages, Russians are referred to as “red-haired Ainu” ... "

Indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation (hereinafter referred to as the indigenous peoples of the North) are peoples of less than 50 thousand people living in the northern regions of Russia, Siberia and the Russian Far East in the territories of the traditional settlement of their ancestors, preserving their traditional way of life , management and crafts and realizing themselves as independent ethnic communities.

general information

Indigenous peoples of the Far North, Siberia and the Far East - this is the official name; more briefly, they are usually called the peoples of the North. The birth of this group dates back to the very beginning of the formation of Soviet power, to the 1920s, when a special resolution “On Assistance to the Peoples of the Northern Outskirts” was adopted. At that time, it was possible to count about 50, if not more, different groups that lived in the Far North. They, as a rule, were engaged in reindeer herding, and their way of life was significantly different from what the first Soviet Bolsheviks saw for themselves.

As time passed, this category continued to remain as a special accounting category, gradually this list crystallized, more precise names of individual ethnic groups appeared, and in the post-war period, at least since the 1960s, especially in the 1970s, this category began to include 26 nations. And when they talked about the peoples of the North, they meant 26 indigenous peoples of the North - they were called back in their time the small peoples of the North. These are different language groups, people speaking different languages, including those whose close relatives have not yet been discovered. This is the language of the Kets, whose relations with other languages are quite complex, the language of the Nivkhs, and a number of other languages.

Despite the measures taken by the state (at that time it was called the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Soviet government), separate resolutions were adopted on the economic development of these peoples, on how to facilitate their economic existence - still the situation remained quite difficult: alcoholism was spreading , there were a lot of social ills. So gradually we lived until the end of the 1980s, when suddenly it turned out that 26 peoples did not fall asleep, did not forget their languages, did not lose their culture, and even if something happened, they want to restore it, reconstruct it, and so on, want to use it in their modern life.

At the very beginning of the 1990s, this list suddenly began to live a second life. Some peoples of Southern Siberia were included in it, and so there were not 26, but 30 nations. Then gradually, during the 1990s - early 2000s, this list expanded, expanded, and today there are about 40-45 ethnic groups, starting from the European part of Russia and ending with the Far East, a significant number of ethnic groups are included in this the so-called list of indigenous peoples of the north of Siberia and the Far East.

What does it take to be on this list?

First of all, you as a people are officially forbidden to be fruitful and multiply in the sense that, let it sound rude, you should not be more than 50,000 people. There is a limit on numbers. You must live in the territory of your ancestors, engage in traditional farming, preserve traditional culture and language. Everything is actually not so simple, it is not easy to have a special self-name, but you must consider yourself an independent people. Everything is very, very difficult, even with the same self-name.

Let's try to look at, say, the Altai people. Altaians themselves are not included in the list of indigenous peoples. And for a long time in Soviet ethnography and Soviet science it was believed that this was a single people, formed, however, from different groups, but they formed into a single socialist nation. When the late 1980s and early 1990s arrived, it turned out that those who made up the Altaians still remember that they are not completely Altaians. This is how new ethnic groups appeared on the map of the Altai Republic and on the ethnographic map: Chelkans, Tubalars, Kumandins, Altaians themselves, Telengits. Some of them were included in the list of indigenous peoples of the North. There was a very difficult situation - the 2002 census, when the power structures of the Altai Republic were very afraid that due to the fact that a significant part of the former Altaians suddenly enrolled in the indigenous peoples, the population of the republic, that is, the titular people, would significantly decrease and then they would be taken away portfolios - there will be no republic, and people will lose their positions. Everything turned out well: in our country there is no such direct correlation between the titular ethnic group and the status of the entity in which it lives - it could be a republic, an autonomous district or something else.

But when it comes to ethnic identity, the situation is much more complicated. We said that several groups of these Altaians emerged. But if we take each of them, we will find that each of them consists of 5, 10, and maybe 20 divisions. They are called genus, or, in Altai, “syok” (‘bone’), some of them have a very ancient origin. In the same 2002, the leaders of the clans - they are called zaisans - when they learned that the people’s answer would not affect the status of the republic in any way, they said: “Oh, how good. So, maybe now we’ll write ourselves down as Naimans, Kipchaks (by the name of the clan).” That is, it really turns out that a person is generally an Altai, but at the same time he can be a representative of some ethnic group within the Altaians. He may be a member of his own family. If you dig around, you can find even smaller ones.

Why should you be on this list?

Since there is a list, you can get into it, you can sign up for it. If you are not on this list, then you will not have any benefits. About benefits, as a rule, they say: “They signed up there because they want benefits.” Of course, there are some benefits if you know about them and can take advantage of them. Some people don't know that they exist. These are benefits for medical care, for receiving firewood (relevant in villages), it could be preferential admission for your children to university, there is another list of these benefits. But that's really not the most important thing. There is such a moment: you want to live on your own land, and you have no other land. If you are not included in this list of indigenous peoples of the North, then you will be treated like everyone else, although you are already a citizen of the Russian Federation. Then you will not have additional leverage in terms of protecting the territory on which you and your ancestors lived, hunted, fished, and practiced that traditional way of life, which is very important to you.

Why is it so important? Sometimes with laughter, sometimes without laughter they say: “Well, what can we take from him? Even if he is a “white collar” worker, the time comes for poutine or to collect cones in the taiga, he goes to the taiga to collect cones or to poutine, disappears into the sea and catches fish.” A man works in an office, but he cannot live without it. Here they tell it with laughter or even disdain. If we find ourselves, say, in the United States, then we will simply find that self-respecting companies will provide a person with vacation for this time, because they understand that he cannot live without it, and not because it is his whim, that he wants to go fishing, just like any of us might want to go somewhere on the weekend to relax. No, it’s something in the blood that drives a person from the office back to the taiga, to the lands of his ancestors.

If you do not have the opportunity to further protect this land, then various difficult life situations may occur. It is no secret that the territory inhabited by small indigenous peoples of the North is rich in mineral resources. It can be anything: gold, uranium, mercury, oil, gas, coal. And these people live on lands that seem very important from the point of view of the strategic development of the state.

7 smallest nations of Russia

Chulym people

Chulym Turks or Yus Kizhiler (“Chulym people”) live on the banks of the Chulym River in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and have their own language. In former times, they lived in uluses, where they built dugouts (odyg), half-dugouts (kyshtag), yurts and tents. They were engaged in fishing, hunting fur-bearing animals, extracting medicinal herbs, pine nuts, growing barley and millet, harvesting birch bark and bast, weaving ropes and nets, making boats, skis, and sledges. Later they began to grow rye, oats and wheat and live in huts. Both women and men wore trousers made from burbot skins and shirts trimmed with fur. Women braided many braids and wore coin pendants and jewelry. Dwellings are characterized by chuvals with open hearths, low clay stoves (kemega), bunks and chests. Some Chulymch residents converted to Orthodoxy, others remained shamanists. The people have preserved traditional folklore and crafts, but only 17% of 355 people speak their native language.

Oroks

Indigenous people of Sakhalin. They call themselves Uilta, which means “deer”. The Orok language has no written language and is spoken by almost half of the 295 remaining Oroks. The Japanese nicknamed the Orok people. The Uilta are engaged in hunting - sea and taiga, fishing (they catch pink salmon, chum salmon, coho salmon and salmon), reindeer husbandry and gathering. Nowadays, reindeer husbandry has fallen into decline, and hunting and fishing are under threat due to oil development and land problems. Scientists assess the prospects for the continued existence of the nation with great caution.

Enets

The Enets shamanists, also known as the Yenisei Samoyeds, call themselves Encho, Mogadi or Pebai. They live on Taimyr at the mouth of the Yenisei in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The traditional dwelling is a conical tent. Of the 227 people, only a third speak their native language. The rest speak Russian or Nenets. The national clothing of the Enets is a parka, fur pants and stockings. Women have a swing parka, men have a one-piece parka. Traditional food is fresh or frozen meat, fresh fish, fish meal - porsa. From time immemorial, the Enets have been engaged in reindeer hunting, reindeer husbandry, and Arctic fox. Almost all modern Enets live in permanent settlements.

Basins

The Tazy (Tadzy, Datzy) are a small and fairly young people living on the Ussuri River in the Primorsky Territory. It was first mentioned in the 18th century. The Taz originated from the mixing of the Nanai and Udege with the Manchus and Chinese. The language is similar to the dialects of northern China, but very different. Now there are 274 Tazis in Russia, and almost none of them speak their native language. If at the end of the 19th century 1,050 people knew it, now it is owned by several elderly women in the village of Mikhailovka. The Taz live by hunting, fishing, gathering, farming and animal husbandry. Recently, they have been striving to revive the culture and customs of their ancestors.

Izhora

The Finno-Ugric people Izhora (Izhora) lived on the tributary of the Neva of the same name. The self-name of the people is Karyalaysht, which means “Karelians”. The language is close to Karelian. They profess Orthodoxy. During the Time of Troubles, the Izhorians fell under the rule of the Swedes, and fleeing the introduction of Lutheranism, they moved to Russian lands. The main occupation of the Izhors was fishing, namely the extraction of smelt and herring. The Izhors worked as carpenters, weaving and basket weaving. In the middle of the 19th century, 18,000 Izhoras lived in the St. Petersburg and Vyborg provinces. The events of World War II had a catastrophic impact on the population. Some of the villages burned down, the Izhorians were taken to Finland, and those who returned from there were transported to Siberia. Those who remained in place disappeared among the Russian population. Now there are only 266 Izhors left.

Vod

The self-name of this Orthodox Finno-Ugric vanishing people of Russia is Vodyalayn, Vaddyalaizyd. In the 2010 census, only 64 people classified themselves as Vod. The language of the nationality is close to the southeastern dialect of the Estonian language and to the Livonian language. From time immemorial, the Vods lived south of the Gulf of Finland, on the territory of the so-called Vodskaya Pyatina, which is mentioned in the chronicles. The nationality itself was formed in the 1st millennium AD. The basis of life was agriculture. They grew rye, oats, barley, raised livestock and poultry, and were engaged in fishing. They lived in barns, like Estonian ones, and from the 19th century - in huts. The girls wore a sundress made of white canvas and a short “ihad” jacket. Young people chose their own bride and groom. Married women had their hair cut short, while older women shaved their heads and wore a paykas headdress. Many pagan remnants have been preserved in the rituals of the people. Now Vodi culture is being studied, a museum has been created, and the language is being taught.

Kereki

Vanishing people. There are only four of them left throughout Russia. And in 2002 there were eight. The tragedy of this Paleo-Asian people was that from ancient times they lived on the border of Chukotka and Kamchatka and found themselves between two fires: the Chukchi fought with the Koryaks, and the Ankalgakku got the worst of it - that’s what the Kereks call themselves. Translated, this means “people living by the sea.” Enemies burned houses, women were taken into slavery, men were killed.

Many Kerek people died during the epidemics that swept the lands at the end of the 18th century. The Kereks themselves led a sedentary lifestyle, obtained food by fishing and hunting, and killed sea and fur-bearing animals. They were engaged in reindeer herding. The Kereks contributed to dog riding. Harnessing dogs in a train is their invention. The Chukchi harnessed dogs in a fan style. The Kerek language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka language. In 1991, there were only three people left in Chukotka who spoke it. To preserve it, a dictionary was recorded, which included about 5,000 words.

What to do with these people?

Everyone remembers well the movie “Avatar” and that nasty character who said that “they are sitting on my money.” Sometimes one gets the impression that those companies that are trying to somehow regulate relations with people living in those places where they can mine and sell something, treat them this way, that is, these are people who are simply getting in the way. The situation is quite complicated, because everywhere, in all cases, where something like this happens (this could be some sacred Lake Nouto, where the Khanty or Forest Nenets live, it could be Kuzbass with its coal deposits, it could be Sakhalin with its oil reserves), there is a certain clash of interests, more or less clearly expressed, between the indigenous peoples of the North, between the local population, in principle, everyone. Because what’s the difference between you, an aborigine, and a Russian old-timer who behaves exactly the same way, living on the same land, doing the same fishing, hunting, and so on, and suffering in the same way from dirty water and other negative consequences of mining or development? something fossil. The so-called stakeholders, in addition to the aborigines, include government agencies and the companies themselves that are trying to make some profit from this land.

If you are not on this list of indigenous peoples of the North, then it will be much more difficult for you to defend your land and your rights to the way of life that you want to lead. It is important to preserve your culture, because if you do not have a territory where you live compactly with your fellow tribesmen, then it will be very difficult to ensure that your children learn their native language and pass on some traditional values. This does not mean that the people will disappear, disappear, but in the way you perceive the situation, there may be such an idea that if my language disappears, I will cease to be some kind of people. Of course you won't stop. Throughout Siberia, a huge number of peoples of the North have lost their languages, but this does not mean that they do not speak any language. In some places the Yakut language has become their native language, and almost everyone speaks Russian. Nevertheless, people maintain their ethnic identity, they want to develop further, and the list gives them this opportunity.

But there is one interesting twist here that no one has thought about yet. The fact is that it is increasingly heard among the younger generation of the indigenous peoples of the North, which, strictly speaking, have lost their ethnic specificity (they all speak Russian and do not wear traditional clothes): “We are indigenous peoples, we are indigenous peoples.” A certain community appears, perhaps it is a class identity, as in Tsarist Russia. And in this sense, it apparently makes sense for the state to take a closer look at the processes that are now taking place in the North, and perhaps, if we talk about assistance, it may not be for specific ethnic groups, but for that new class community called the indigenous peoples of the North .

Why are the northern peoples disappearing?

Small nations differ from large ones not only in numbers. It is more difficult for them to maintain their identity. A Chinese man can come to Helsinki, marry a Finnish woman, live there with her all his life, but he will remain Chinese until the end of his days, and will not become a Finn. Moreover, even in his children there will probably be a lot of Chinese, and this manifests itself not only in appearance, but much deeper - in the peculiarities of psychology, behavior, tastes (even just culinary ones). If one of the Sami people finds himself in a similar situation - they live on the Kola Peninsula, in Northern Norway and Northern Finland - then, despite the proximity to their native places, after some time they will essentially become a Finn.

This is what happens with the peoples of the North and Far East of Russia. They preserve their national identity while they live in villages and engage in traditional farming. If they leave their native places, break away from their own people, then they dissolve in another and become Russians, Yakuts, Buryats - depending on where they end up and how life turns out. Therefore, their numbers are almost not growing, although the birth rate is quite high. In order not to lose national identity, you need to live among your people, in their original habitat.

Of course, small nations have intelligentsia - teachers, artists, scientists, writers, doctors. They live in the district or regional center, but in order not to lose touch with their native people, they need to spend a lot of time in the villages.

To preserve small nations, it is necessary to maintain traditional economies. This is the main difficulty. Reindeer pastures are shrinking due to growing oil and gas production, seas and rivers are polluted, so fishing cannot develop. Demand for reindeer meat and furs is falling. The interests of the indigenous population and regional authorities, large companies, and simply local poachers come into conflict, and in such a conflict, power is not on the side of small nations.

At the end of the 20th century. the leadership of districts and republics (especially in Yakutia, Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets districts) began to pay more attention to the problems of preserving national culture. Festivals of cultures of small nations have become regular, at which storytellers perform, rituals are performed, and sports competitions are held.

All over the world, the well-being, standard of living, and preservation of the culture of small national minorities (Indians in the Americas, Aborigines of Australia, Ainu of Japan, etc.) are part of the country’s calling card and serve as an indicator of its progressiveness. Therefore, the significance of the destinies of the small peoples of the North for Russia is disproportionately greater compared to their small numbers, amounting to only 0.1% of the country’s population.

State policy

It is customary for anthropologists to criticize government policy towards the small peoples of the North.

Policy towards the peoples of the North has changed over the years. Before the revolution, they were a special class - foreigners who had self-government within certain limits. After the 1920s The culture, economy and society of the northerners, like the rest of the country, have undergone major transformations. The idea of developing the peoples of the North and bringing them out of the state of “backwardness” was accepted. The economy of the North became subsidized.

In the late 1980s - early 1990s. ethnographers have formulated a rationale for the direct interdependence of traditional cultural identity, traditional economy and traditional habitat. Economy and language were added to the romantic thesis of soil and blood. The paradoxical idea that the condition for the preservation and development of ethnic culture - language and customs - is the conduct of a traditional economy in a traditional habitat. This virtually hermetic traditionalism concept became the ideology for the SIM movement. It was the logical rationale for the alliance between ethnic intellectuals and emerging businesses. In the 1990s. Romanticism received a financial base - first, grants from foreign charitable foundations, and then from mining companies. The industry of ethnological examination was enshrined in the same law.

Research by anthropologists today shows that economic activity can exist and develop without preserving language. At the same time, languages can also emerge from live family communication during housekeeping. For example, Udege, Sami, many dialects of Evenki and many other indigenous languages are no longer heard in the taiga and tundra. However, this does not prevent people from engaging in reindeer husbandry, hunting, and fishing.

In addition to cultural figures and businessmen, an independent layer of leaders and political activists has formed among the indigenous indigenous peoples,

There is a point of view among SIM activists that benefits should not be selective, but apply to all representatives of the SIM, no matter where they live or what they do. As arguments, for example, arguments are offered that in the body the need for fish in the diet is laid down at the genetic level. An option to solve this problem is to expand the areas of traditional residence and traditional farming throughout the entire region.

The countryside in the Far North is not an easy place to live. People from different ethnic backgrounds work there in agriculture. They use the same technologies, overcome the same difficulties, face the same challenges. These activities should also receive government support regardless of ethnicity. The state guarantee of the protection of the rights of the peoples of Russia primarily guarantees the absence of any discrimination on ethnic and religious grounds.

As the analysis shows, the Law “On Guarantees of the Rights of Indigenous Minorities of the Russian Federation” stands out in its approach from the entire Russian legal system. This law considers peoples as subjects of law. The inability to lead provides the basis for the formation of an estate - a group of people endowed with rights due to their ethnic origin. Local executors of laws will long face attempts to legally close a fundamentally open social system.

The principal way out of this situation may be to overcome the romanticism of traditionalism and separate the policy of supporting economic activity and supporting ethnocultural activity. In the socio-economic part, it is necessary to extend benefits and subsidies to indigenous minorities to the entire rural population of the Far North.

In the ethnocultural part, the state can provide the following types of support:

Scientific support, represented by research organizations and universities, in their development of programs and training of specialists.
Legal support in the form of development and adoption of norms for the preservation and development of ethnocultural heritage.
Organizational support in the form of development and implementation of ethnocultural programs of cultural institutions and educational institutions.
Financial support for NGOs developing ethnocultural initiatives in the form of grant support for promising projects.

Obviously, this presupposes a fundamental change in the Law “On Guarantees of the Rights of Indigenous Minorities of the Russian Federation.”

As research has shown, the Ainu, or KAMCHADAL SMOKIANS, did not disappear anywhere, they just did not want to recognize them for many years. But Stepan Krasheninnikov, a researcher of Siberia and Kamchatka (XVIII century), described them as Kamchadal Kurils. The name "Ainu" itself comes from their word for "man", or "worthy man", and is associated with military operations. And as one of the representatives of this nation claims in a conversation with the famous journalist M. Dolgikh, the Ainu fought with the Japanese for 650 years. It turns out that this is the only people remaining to this day who, from ancient times, restrained the occupation, resisted the aggressor - now the Japanese, who were, in fact, Koreans with perhaps a certain percentage of the Chinese population, who moved to the islands and formed another state.

According to experts, in Japan the Ainu were considered “barbarians”, “savages” and social outcasts. The hieroglyph used to designate the Ainu means “barbarian”, “savage”, now the Japanese also call them “hairy Ainu”, for which the Japanese do not like the Ainu.
And here the Japanese policy against the Ainu is very clearly visible, since the Ainu lived on the islands even before the Japanese and had a culture many times, or even orders of magnitude, higher than that of the ancient Mongoloid settlers.
But the topic of the Ainu’s hostility towards the Japanese probably exists not only because of the ridiculous nicknames addressed to them, but also probably because the Ainu, let me remind you, were subjected to genocide and persecution by the Japanese for centuries.

In appearance, representatives of the Ainu people very little resemble their closest neighbors - the Japanese, Nivkhs and Itelmens.
The Ainu are the White Race.

According to the Kamchadal Kurils themselves, all the names of the islands of the southern ridge were given by the Ainu tribes who once inhabited these territories. By the way, it is wrong to think that the names of the Kuril Islands, Kuril Lake, etc. originated from hot springs or volcanic activity.
It’s just that the Kuril Islands, or Kurilians, live here, and “Kuru” in Ainsk means the People.

It should be noted that this version destroys the already flimsy basis of the Japanese claims to our Kuril Islands. Even if the name of the ridge comes from our Ainu. This was confirmed during the expedition to the island. Matua. There is Ainu Bay, where the oldest Ainu site was discovered.
Therefore, according to experts, it is very strange to say that the Ainu have never been in the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, as the Japanese are doing now, assuring everyone that the Ainu live only in Japan (after all, archeology says the opposite), so they, the Japanese, supposedly the Kuril Islands need to be given back. This is completely untrue. In Russia there are Ainu - the indigenous White People who have the direct right to consider these islands their ancestral lands.

American anthropologist S. Lorin Brace, from Michigan State University in the journal Science Horizons, No. 65, September-October 1989. writes: “a typical Ainu is easy to distinguish from the Japanese: he has lighter skin, thicker body hair, beards, which is unusual for the Mongoloids, and a more protruding nose.”

The story of the Ainu classes is reminiscent of the story of the upper castes in India, where the highest percentage of the White man's haplogroup is R1a1

Brace further writes: “.. this explains why the facial features of representatives of the ruling class are so often different from modern Japanese. The real Samurai - the descendants of Ainu warriors - gained such influence and prestige in medieval Japan that they intermarried with the rest of the ruling circles and introduced Ainu blood into them, while the rest of the Japanese population were mainly descendants of Yayoi.

It should also be noted that in addition to archaeological and other features, the language has been partially preserved. There is a dictionary of the Kuril language in “Description of the Land of Kamchatka” by S. Krasheninnikov.
In Hokkaido, the dialect spoken by the Ainu is called saru, but in SAKHALIN it is called reichishka.
As it is not difficult to understand, the Ainu language differs from the Japanese language in syntax, phonology, morphology and vocabulary, etc. Although there have been attempts to prove that they are related, the vast majority of modern scientists reject the assumption that the relationship between the languages goes beyond contact relations, involving the mutual borrowing of words in both languages. In fact, no attempt to link the Ainu language to any other language has gained widespread acceptance.

In principle, according to the famous Russian political scientist and journalist P. Alekseev, the problem of the Kuril Islands can be solved politically and economically. To do this, it is necessary to allow the Ainu (partially evicted to Japan in 1945) to return from Japan to the land of their ancestors (including their ancestral habitat - the Amur region, Kamchatka, Sakhalin and all the Kuril Islands, creating at least following the example of the Japanese (it is known that the Japanese Parliament only in 2008 did it recognize the Ainov as an independent national minority), the Russian dispersed autonomy of an “independent national minority” with the participation of the Ainov from the islands and the Ainov of Russia.
We have neither the people nor the funds for the development of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, but the Ainu do. The Ainu who migrated from Japan, according to experts, can give impetus to the economy of the Russian Far East by forming national autonomy not only in the Kuril Islands, but also within Russia and reviving their clan and traditions in the land of their ancestors

Japan, according to P. Alekseev, will be out of business, because there the displaced Ainu will disappear, but here they can settle not only in the southern part of the Kuril Islands, but throughout their entire original range, our Far East, eliminating the emphasis on the southern Kuril Islands. Since many of the Ainu deported to Japan were our citizens, it is possible to use the Ainu as allies against the Japanese, restoring the dying Ainu language.
The Ainu were not allies of Japan and never will be, but they can become allies of Russia. But unfortunately, we still ignore this ancient People.
With our pro-Western government, which feeds Chechnya for free, which deliberately filled Russia with people of Caucasian nationality, opened unhindered entry for emigrants from China, and those who are clearly not interested in preserving the Peoples of Russia should not think that they will pay attention to the Ainu, only a CIVIL INITIATIVE will help here.