User:Joobian/sandbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 ancient indigenous people of the Japanese isles (Hokkaido [known as Yezo/Yezu to the Ainu], and formerly northeastern Honshu) and Russia (Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and formerly the Kamchatka Peninsula).[4] The Ainu speak the Ainu Language of which only the Hokkaido variant remains. The Ainu were already living on the isles with several other ethnic groups when the Wajin arrived on their boats from mainland Asia and were progressively displaced further and further north by conflict with the Japanese.
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Group of Ainu people, 1902 photograph | |
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Japan | 25,000–200,000 |
Russia | 109[1]–1,000 Kamchatka Krai: 94 -900[1] |
Languages | |
Historically Ainu and other Ainu languages; today, most Ainu speak Japanese or Russian.[2] | |
Religion | |
Animism, Buddhism, Russian Orthodox Christianity, Atheism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Kamchadal, Ryukyuan people,[3]Yamato people |
Many Ainu today have completely assimilated into Japanese identity. Official numbers of Ainu is 25,000 but unofficially 200,000, due to the fact that many Ainu had completely assimilated into Japanese identity or have no knowledge of their ancestry.