Ainu

[Byssus]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Flag_of_the_Ainu_people.svg/265px-Flag_of_the_Ainu_people.svg.png
Designed by Bikki Sunazawa, 1973.

Indigenous Range
Hokkaidō
Northern Honshū
Kuril Islands
Much of Sakhalin
Southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula

Population
50,000 people with half or more Ainu ancestry (practically none unmixed)
150,000 Japanese people with some Ainu ancestry (exact number unknown, some estimates claim up to 1,000,000)
Pre-Japanese era: ~50,000, almost all pure Ainu


Genetics & Origins
Historical anthropological view: Ainuid type = "quite fair skinned Protoeuropids, coarse build, short-statured, high-skulled, strong beard, curly haired, for sure many subtypes" (Lundman)
Modern standpoint: Ainu may originally have been descendants of precursors to indigenous Australian peoples ("depigmented australoids")
Steve Olson's Mapping Human History, p. 133: discovery in Japan of remains, dating back 10,000 years, of Jōmon, group with facial anatomy similar to indigenous peoples of New Guinea & Australia
New wave of immigration, prob. from Korean Peninsula, some 2,300 years ago, of Yayoi people, displacing pure-blooded Jōmon into northern Japan
Genetic data suggest that both Yayoi & Jōmon = ancestral to modern Japanese
Mainly Y-haplogroup D. Only places outside of Japan in which Y-haplogroup D is common = Tibet & Andaman Islands.
About one in eight Ainu men = Haplogroup C3, most common Y-chromosome haplogroup among indigenes of Russian Far East & Mongolia (certain degree of unidirectional genetic influence from the Nivkhs?)
mtDNA lineages mainly consist of haplogroup Y (21.6%) and haplogroup M7a (15.7%).


Language & Ethnonyms
Ainu アイヌ イタク, aynu itak; Japanese: アイヌ語 ainu-go
Language isolate
Japanese linguist Shichiro Murayama & others = Ainu possibly linked both by vocabulary & cultural comparisons to Austronesian languages
Alexander Vovin (1993) presented evidence suggesting distant connection with Austroasiatic (this hypothesis = preliminary)
Joseph Greenberg (2000–2002): Ainu belongs to the "Eurasiatic languages"; highly controversial hypothesis
Aynu = "human" (as opposed to kamuy, divine beings) in the Hokkaidō dialects of the Ainu language
Emishi, Ezo, or Yezo (蝦夷), Japanese terms believed to derive from ancestral form of the modern Sakhalin Ainu word enciw or enju ("human")
Utari (ウタリ) = "comrade" in Ainu
Alexander Vovin: in 1996, only 15 fluent speakers remained, last speaker of the Sakhalin dialect had died in 1994
Most Ainu today = native speakers of Japanese or Russian language
Revitalization movement (primarily in Hokkaidō): increasing number of second-language learners
New interest = largely due to efforts of late Ainu folklorist, activist, & former Diet member Shigeru Kayano (native speaker)


http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb240/Byssus_album/800px-Carte_ainu.jpg

[Byssus]

http://www.sakhalin.ru/Region/images/ainu.gif

http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/j/Ainu.jpg

http://www.yorku.ca/kdenning/images/bioanthropology/ainu.jpg

http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/cubist/613/images/ainu.jpg

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/1580/3tn6.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/AinuGroup.JPG/800px-AinuGroup.JPG

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e181/Borntobeking/Aninutypes.jpg

http://library.osu.edu/sites/rarebooks/japan/images/full/supplement/16.jpg

[Byssus]

http://img.timeinc.net/time/asia/features/ontheroad/roadtrip_ainu.jpg

http://photoimg.enjoyjapan.naver.com/view/enjoybbs/viewphoto/thistory/1651000/20060503114661063626881100.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/21/31129057_6396fce65a_o.jpg

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/1856/ainu2zo1.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/7/6293121_906dea074d_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/7/6292606_f76c880152_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/76/201687550_cef9d5911c_o.jpg
(Man on right)

http://static.flickr.com/6/6293529_db6401e506_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/6/5616288_afd0f015f8_b.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/4/6293590_93fe436f7d_b.jpg

[Crowley]

Some of them look Australoid, others Japanese. One lady looks like she gets her fashion ideas from the Joker. I think there are very few pure Ainu left.

[Byssus]

http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb240/Byssus_album/2.jpg
Pure Ainu are believed by some to rank among the most hirsute people on Earth. Ceasing to shave after a certain age, the men had full beards and moustaches. Men and women alike cut their hair level with the shoulders at the sides of the head, but trimmed it semicircularly behind.

http://artsci.wustl.edu/~copeland/ainu4.jpg
Ainu women traditionally tattooed their mouths, arms, clitorides, and sometimes their foreheads, starting at the onset of puberty. The soot deposited on a pot hung over a fire of birch bark was used for color.

[OVERWATCH]

These people were considered to be a lower race by the Japanese; the subjugated Ainu were made to face the ground and bear the back of their neck when passing by a samurai or noble Japanese man, in case a new blade needed to be tested....

The female facial tattoos are hideous, but interesting, nonetheless.

[The Retard]

Their skulls are almost indistinguishable from Caucasians skulls.

[Northern_Paladin]

"Some commentators[attribution needed] believe that the Ainu derive from an ancient proto-Northern Mongoloid stock that may have occupied parts of Central and East Asia before the Han expansion."

"Genetic testing of the Ainu people has shown them to belong mainly to Y-haplogroup D.[2] The only places outside of Japan in which Y-haplogroup D is common are Tibet and the Andaman Islands.[3"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people

What makes these people different is it seems they evolved in a temperate environment like Europeans rather than one of extreme cold like other East Asians.

"In Cavalli-Sforza's genetic clustering work (1988) South Chinese join Southeast Asians in genetic clustering while the North Chinese genetically cluster with Koreans, Japanese, Ainu, Bhutanese and Tibetans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Mongoloid

In some aspects they do look like Australoids. But the Ainu seem much less proganthic which is why some Ainu resemble Caucasians.

[calvin]

Does anyone know the average Ainu IQ? Their robes have designs that are similar to those of North West coast American Indians, these Indians often have moustaches.

[shanemac]

They look a bit like the maori of New Zealand. The designs on their clothes are similar too.

http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/karl/Australia/Maori.JPG

[Isra'il Yahya]

Does anyone know the average Ainu IQ? Their robes have designs that are similar to those of North West coast American Indians, these Indians often have moustaches.

It is possible that they are from the same migratory group and got cut off from each other.

[Byssus]

They look a bit like the maori of New Zealand. The designs on their clothes are similar too.
The Ainu facial tattoos are oddly reminiscent of those sported by the women of certain tribes of Taiwanese aborigines. Present-day Taiwan, by general consensus, is the homeland of Austronesian languages (of which Polynesian tongues are a subset). Amongst the Atayal, such tattoos apparently signify "female chastity and beauty, identity with the tribal community and heroic pride and connection with the ancestral spirit (source (http://yesterday.sg/detail/tribes_and_tattoos/))."

Old Atayal woman:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1063/834679711_baccbc6cb8.jpg

More Ainu (contemporary photos from this gallery (http://www.ainupride.com/ainurebels/gallery/2007/index.html)):

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/fi1/ainu2.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y121/fi1/Ainu.jpg

http://img480.imageshack.us/img480/4221/marainiainu45bk.jpg

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/7379/ainukh2.png

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/9224/ainu1wt2.png

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7517/ainu2by8.png

[Byssus]

http://photoimg.enjoyjapan.naver.com/view/enjoybbs/viewphoto/thistory/1651000/20060503114661062208274800.jpg

[Byssus]

http://www.geocities.jp/general_sasaki/kirishima_jingu-sho/ainu-gakusei.jpg
Ainu students studying in Tokyo at the beginning of the Meiji Era.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6531/ainuqi0.jpg http://oldphotosjapan.com/images/23.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3271/2746187012_3522752372.jpg http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p104/kinnchii/ainu2.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/6292703_3d78c188e4.jpg

[Byssus]

http://i.imgur.com/fqtNG.jpg

http://imgur.com/nv9bP.jpg

http://imgur.com/90LVK.jpg

http://imgur.com/4DjEm.jpg

http://imgur.com/yUQ57.jpg

http://imgur.com/ml9YM.jpg

http://imgur.com/3vKBG.jpg

http://imgur.com/kGRko.jpg

http://imgur.com/vwtbE.jpg

http://imgur.com/BNgc2.jpg

http://imgur.com/FwEMy.jpg

I regret not being able to give localities or dates for the black-and-white photos, both of which are relevant to likely degrees of Yamato Japanese admixture.

Does anyone know the average Ainu IQ?
William Elliot Griffis writes in The Japanese nation in evolution (1907):
Nevertheless, in the working of their minds, in apprehension of our ways and thoughts and needs of daily life (though not in abstract science), as American and British travellers in our day and generation tell us, they are decidedly Aryan, more so than the smarter Japanese. Mr. Archibald Gowan Campbell, in 1898, besides remarking on their fine physique, says of the Ainu, "they have a distinct bias for veracity and will frequently tell the truth to their own disadvantage," and that both sexes are devoid of the insatiable curiosity of the Japanese; that many Ainu are distinctly handsome, and the children are singularly European in their ways, that the Ainu intelligence is limited, but it seems to be of the same kind as our own and not of the Asiatic order; that an Ainu readily understands European signs, while a Japanese invariably gets them upside down; that it is easier to make a novel request to an Ainu than to a Japanese, owing to the simplicity of the one and the conventionality of the other.
He also comments:
Wash and scrub the unwashed and odorous Ainu, and you hardly recognize them. They become "white folks" at once. I found the Ainu students in Tokio, after the application of soap and water, were genuine white men, looking exactly like fresh arrivals at Ellis Island, New York City.In light of genetic findings, by the way, European travelers' sense of brotherhood with the Ainu is about as well-founded as pan-Africanist claims of kinship with Melanesians, negritos, and Olmec stone heads. As Western dealings with the Kalash and the "blond Indians" of the Darien also attest, this is not an unnatural impulse.

From Alone with the hairy Ainu by Arnold Henry Savage Landor (1893):
Precise laws as to the degree of quickness of perception, power of reasoning, and learning of the Ainu race cannot be given, for, as I have mentioned before, almost each individual would require a special rule for himself. My readers may have noticed that, while some Ainu were but little above monkeys, others were sharp, and gave answers very much to the point. ... There are in this world clever monkeys and stupid monkeys: some can never be made to learn any tricks; others will learn them in no time. Intelligence is instinctive, and not acquired, though of course it can be greatly developed with education; thus, the Ainu are instinctively intelligent, but I wish my readers clearly to understand that their intelligence does not go much further than that of an intelligent monkey, though of course the Ainu have the advantage over beasts of being able to talk...
Landor goes on about Ainu character:
The Ainu are cool-blooded. They are not subject to strong emotions, and therefore they are not much affected by dreams and nightmares. They are not affectionate except for a momentary impulse; but, like most animals, they are faithful when they love. Mothers are fond of their children till they have reached puberty; but after that the affection seems to fade away. Paternal love is much less strong.

The pure Ainu are comparatively honest people, which may be due to the incapacity for being dishonest. ... Their desire is stronger than their conscience, such as it is; and having no laws of their own to rule them worth speaking of, they often do according to their desire, without deserving the accusation of conscious dishonesty. It is exactly the same case as when a dog jumps on the dining-table when everybody is absent and carries off the leg of mutton which he knows he ought not touch; but the temptation was too strong, and he could not resist it. The Ainu are fond of independence, though in many instances I found them gentle, and apparently submissive to a stronger will than their own. The field of their brain-power is of course very narrow, and the same rough, rude, primitive thoughts and ideas are constantly repeated in their conversation as well as in their designs.
Frank Gilbert Bruner, an auditory anthropologist of sorts, weighs in (The hearing of primitive peoples, 1911):
Much of the auditory inferiority of the Ainu is undoubtedly to be accounted for on purely psychological grounds. They seem to be an excessively stupid people, ranking next to the lowest of all the primitive peoples collected on the Exposition grounds. Their minds seemed unresponsive and lethargic. They apprehended meanings poorly. Things once apprehended, moreover, held their attention for a moment only when they seemed imediatly to relapse into a state of mental indifference. I never could feel quite certain that they were hearing even when they said they were, inasmuch as in the region of the threshold values the number of false statements was exceedingly large.
From Rethinking Japan (v. 2) by Adriana Boscaro, Franco Gatti, Massimo Raveri (1991), a more charitable view:
Krasheninnikov (English translation 1764) speaks highly of the Ainu's respect for old people, their affection for each other, and their hospitality (Bickmore 1868:370). In his World History, Gatterer (1764/65:II:438) describes them as having well-proportioned faces (baced on de Fries), charming eyes, a pleasant nature and great politeness.

[...]

La Perouse was reminded by the Ainu of the patriarchs of the Old Testament (Dröber 1909:18). He was convinced of their intelligence and observed that their natural culturedness (Bildung) placed them high above the common uncultured man in Europe.
Some Japanese assessments, from Race, resistance, and the Ainu of Japan by Richard Siddle (1996):
Studies were also carried out on the intelligence of Ainu children. In 1926, research on Ainu and Japanese children in Karafuto found that Ainu children were inferior to Japanese children on virtually all the tests carried out. A detailed survey was conducted in wartime Hokkaidō by a Hokkaidō Imperial University team... On the one hand, there were those who thought that Ainu backwardness was due to adverse factors in the social environment such as disease and discrimination in education. The opposing view stressed that Ainu inferiority was due instead to 'innate' (sententeki) and 'characteristic' (sōshitsuteki) difference. The report stressed, however, that this latter view was the correct one. On intelligence tests, Wajin children performed best, followed by 'mixed-blood children' (konketsu jidō ); 'full-blood children' (junketsu jidō ) were consistently at the bottom in all tests.

[...]

[Concerning an 1893 proposal in the Diet for a Protection Act]: Katō argued that the Ainu were not an inferior race, since, for instance, 'if you look at the results of those who go to school, there are some who now know how to count well and can do commercial calculations'. Other Dietmen, however, were worried that 'because they are innately stupid they will spend any money they are given on alcohol and other things', or would eat any seeds given to them instead of planting them. The bill failed.

[...]

[Concerning a similar proposal in 1898]: When asked about education, the leading government member, Shirani Takeshi, argued that while the 'inferior race' (rettō no jinshu) could not compete with the Japanese race, basic education would alleviate the present situation of natives 'unlearned, illiterate and living for the moment'. Whereas Ainu children were equal to Wajin children at reading, they were inferior at mathematics and could never attain the scores of naichijin children.

[KerguelenExileDissident]

Thanks a lot for the pictures they are highly interesting.

4 Different theories I have held traditionally.

1. They are some type of proto-Asians related someway to Amerindians.
2. They are are of Proto-Negroid stock (Australoids)
3. They are a seperate isolated evolution.
4. Either descended from Caucasians or related somehow.

[Brechun]

Since that book that mentions IQ tests on the ainu is only from 96', do you think you could look up the citations?

Regardless, studies from *that* long ago in such a remote, disparate place probably aren't that valid.

[Dreadnought]

2. They are are of Proto-Negroid stock (Australoids)

Negroes did not come from Australasian peoples, they arose separately.

[Brechun]

Some of those pictures remind me of Australian Aboriginals.

That comparison has often been made. Aborigines in general often resemble "caucasoid" peoples, to the point of some old anthropologists positing a close relationship. Lots of aborigines look strikingly similar to south indians. That's why they've often been classified similarly.

But by and large, aborigines differ markedly in appearance. I'd venture to say they're one of the most phenotypically diverse people on the planet.