The Ainu are an indigenous people who live in Hokkaido and surrounding areas,

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Casi means “fence” in Ainu.

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The Ainu hunted in the mountains using tools such as arrows tipped with poison.

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Hundreds of plants were eaten and used for medicinal purposes in the Ainu tradition.

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One traditional everyday dish is ohaw (soup),

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In Tokachi, kimono were made with wood-fiber cloth,

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Houses are called cise.

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In the traditional belief of the Ainu,

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A ritual for sending back animals’ kamuy (god) spirits to the kamuy realm.

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After a child has grown to a certain extent,

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A boat made of bound boards.

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The Ainu in the Tokachi area built their cise (houses) with a window for kamuy (gods) to come and go.

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In the 19th century, Takeshiro Matsuura explored Hokkaido,

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The lives of the Ainu became difficult once they were assimilated as Japanese citizens by the Japanese government.

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The people of Tokachi have made efforts to preserve Ainu traditions. In order to hand down traditional dances,

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The Ainu aided the mainland Japanese settlers in various ways,

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The Blakiston’s fish owl is known as kotankorkamuy (“the god who possesses the village”).

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The Japanese emperor oak is a common tree in Tokachi.

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Cironnop means “that which we kill many of”. There were many uses for the Ezo red fox.

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