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Further Reading

             Here is a list of some reading that could help you learn more about Ainu history. Clicking on the title or the description will take you to either the reading or somewhere you can purchase the reading. Some articles may not have links attached because they require a subcription to access.

"Rights Make Might" by Kiyoteru Tsutsui

             This book provides an overview of the histories of the social movements by the Ainu, the Zainichi, and the Burakumin, and points out exactly how these social movements by Japanese minorities have been able to acheive success.

"The Ainu in United States-Japan Relations" by Yujin Yaguchi

             This dissertation dicusses how the Ainu are situated in the middle of US-Japan relations, and reveals the largely unknown but important history of Americans playing a major role in the colonization of the Ainu. 

"A colonial trans-pacific partnership: William Smith Clark, David Pearce Penhallow and Japanese settler colonialism in Hokkaido" by John L. Hennessey

             This article focuses on two of many Americans hired by the Japanese ogvernment to conquer the Ainu land of Hokkaido: William Clark and David Pearce Penhallow. This article shows that these two did not play passive roles in the colonization of the Ainu, but rather played very much major roles.

"Horace Capron, Gilded Age Capitalism, and the Development of Hokkaido" by J. Austin Schaefer

             This article focuses on the experience of Horace Capron, another major American advisor to the Hokkaido Colonization Office. Records from the Capron Mission provide a window into both the history of Japanese development and the history of America’s commercial expansion and foreign infuence.

"Engineering Japanese Settler Colonialism in Hokkaido: A Postcolonial Reevaluation of William Wheeler's Work for the Kaitakushi" by John L. Hennessey

             This article reexamines one of the American advisors to the colonization of Hokaido, William Wheeler, and his contribution to the plight of the Ainu. This article investigates the writings of  William Wheeler to look for clues about his attitudes towards and role in Japanese settler colonialism in Hokkaido. Textual evidence reveals Wheeler’s awareness of and complicity in this undertaking.

"Our Land Was a Forest: An Ainu Memoir" by Kayano Shigeru

             Based on the author's own experiences and on stories passed down from generation to generation, this book chronicles the disappearing world―and courageous rebirth―of the Ainu. Kayano describes the personal conflicts he faced as a result of the tensions between a traditional and a modern society and his lifelong efforts to fortify a living Ainu culture. A master storyteller, he paints a vivid picture of the ecologically sensitive Ainu lifestyle, which revolved around bear hunting, fishing, farming, and woodcutting.

"The Conquest of Ainu Lands: Ecology and Culture in Japanese Expansion, 1590-1800" by Brett L. Walker

             By framing his study between the cultural and ecological worlds of the Ainu before and after two centuries of sustained contact with the Japanese, the author demonstrates with great clarity just how far the Ainu were incorporated into the Japanese political economy and just how much their ceremonial and material life―not to mention disease ecology, medical culture, and their physical environment―had been infiltrated by Japanese cultural artifacts, practices, and epidemiology by the early nineteenth century.

"Making "Useful Citizens" of Ainu Subjects in Early Twentieth-Century Japan" by David L. Howell

             This article dicusees how the Meiji Japanese government sought to ideologically unify their diverse colonial empire with Ainu and Okinawans through assimilation policies. The article also points out how becoming "useful citizens" was the only way for the Ainu to survive. 

"Race, Resistance, and the Ainu of Japan" by Richard M. Siddle

             This book explores the ways in which competing versions of Ainu identity have been constructed and articulated, shedding light on the way modern relations between the Ainu and the Japanese have been shaped.

"Ainu Ethnicity and the Boundaries of the Early Modern Japanese State" by David L. Howell

          This article traces roots of Japanese homogeneity to the Tokugawa period, and analyzes the status of Ainu ethnic identity during the Tokugawa and Meiji periods to better undestand the place of ethnicity in contemporary Japan. 

"Ethnicity and Culture in Contemporary Japan" by David L. Howell

             This article provides an overview of the contemporary situation for minority groups in Japan, including the Ainu. The article discusses how the Japanese state and society has eroded the status of such minoirty groups and provides a framework in which both the tenacity of the myth of Japanese homogeneity and the persistence of ethnic and racial discrimination can better be understood.

"Golden Kamuy" by Satoru Noda

             Although this is less of an academic reading and more of a leisure reading as it is a manga comic series, "Golden Kamuy" is a very important piece of reading in the context of raising Ainu awareness. The story follows a Japanese veteran of the Russo-Japanese War who partners with an Ainu girl in order to find a hidden Ainu treasure. The story delves deeply into Ainu culture, presenting it with a level of depth and respect that's rare in mainstream media.This manga series has sold millions of copies worldwide, won several awards, and now has an anime television series adaptation that will reach an even wider audience. There is no question that "Golden Kamuy" has made the existence of the Ainu people and their culture known to many people from around the world who did not know about the Ainu prior.

             Also here is a much longer list of resources created by a user on Reddit which contains lots of information on all aspects of the Ainu.
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