482 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Ainu people and Hokkaido in general. I take this opportunity to 

 express again my deep appreciation to both these men for their many 

 kindnesses and their valuable help. 



Ever since the opening of Japan to Westerners in the mid-1 800's, 

 students have speculated about the identity and relationships of the 

 Ainu people of northern Japan. Anthropologists who have studied 

 them have arrived at no firm conclusions as to their nearest kin, their 

 original home, or their prehistory. Among Japanese students the 

 belief has long been current that the Ainu were the aborigines of 

 Japan proper, and that they were forced northward to their present 

 homes in Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuriles by the overwhelming 

 power of the Japanese race — the Yamato people. 



The teaching of State Shintoism during the years between the 

 Restoration (1868) and the end of World War II stressed the divine 

 descent of the Japanese from the mythical deities, Izanagi and 





OKHOTSK 



3EA 

 JAPAN 



OF 



MAntl'ZAW4\ Q 



25 



Z5 SO 75 MILES 



Figure 1. — Map of Hokkaido, Japan. 



