Ainu Art & Time
Welcome to Ainu Art & Time, a platform where we explore the Ainu culture, an indigenous population from northern Japan, and its art in relation to time. I hope this website will guide you to discover the Ainu culture as well as how indigeneity plays a role in the contemporary world.
The Ainu people
The Ainu people are Japan's indigenous people who mainly live in Hokkaido, a northern island in Japan, and a portion in northern mainland Japan, Kurile Island, and Sakhalin Island in Russia.*3 Despite having a complicated history of facing colonialism and being assimilated by the Japanese government for centuries, their legacies live on, especially through the efforts of trying to preserve and spread the Ainu art all around the world.
Features
I have sectioned them to facilitate a smoother navigation through the Ainu's placement within space and time.
Acknowledgement
The Ainu heritage is something I grew up learning about (despite it being merely enough), but it is not a part of, therefore, I am researching this topic from a respectful standpoint. As this is a working website that will keep evolving, please contact me if there are any concerns, issues, or misinformation that shall be changed or removed. I appreciate your input. Thank you.
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I will often be referring to the works made by the Ainu people as Ainu art. I will use the term to shorten the description in this website, and I acknowledge that this is a Western framework and not a categorization I intend to take part in.