The Ainu aborigines of Japan and their Ainu Dog

The Ainu
http://www.indigenouspeople.net/JapaneseLit/

Ainu Dog
(Hokkaido Dog) (Hokkaidoken) (Hokkaïdo) (Ainu-Ken) (Ainu Inu)
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/ainudog.htm

The Ainu Museum
http://www.ainu-museum.or.jp/english/english.html

Ainu , aborigines of Japan who may be descended from a Caucasoid
people who once lived in N Asia. More powerful invaders from the
Asian mainland gradually forced the Ainu to retreat to the northern
islands of Japan and Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands in what is now
the Russian Far East; today, they reside mainly on Hokkaido. Reduced
in number, they live by hunting, fishing, and small-scale farming.
The Ainu have attracted the attention of tourists, and some now make
a living by selling reproductions of their cultural artifacts.
Physically, they seem related to European peoples, i.e., they have
much more body hair than typical East Asians, but intermarriage has
introduced Asian traits among them. Contact with the Japanese has led
also to culture change and assimilation, which the Ainu have resisted
in the past, with decreasing success. Their religion is highly
animistic and centers on a bear cult; a captive bear is sacrificed at
an annual winter feast and his spirit, thus released, is believed to
guard the Ainu settlements.

http://www.answers.com/ainu&r=67

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003,
Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press.
All rights reserved. http://www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/

Related ethnic groups
Though no specific ethnic groups have been proven to be related to
the Ainu, the term "Caucasoid" has been used historically, as a
general classification, to distinguish the Ainu from the Japanese,
and they are usually grouped with the non-Tungusic peoples of
Sakhalin, the Amur river valley, and the Kamchatka peninsula:
* Nivkhs
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=3ertkhgocn0ic?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Nivkh&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b
* Itelmens
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=3ertkhgocn0ic?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Itelmens&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b
* Chukchis
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=3ertkhgocn0ic?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Chukchi+%28people%29&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b
* Koryaks
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=3ertkhgocn0ic?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Koryaks&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b
* Aleuts
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=3ertkhgocn0ic?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Aleut&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b
(and sometimes Eskimos in general as well)
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=3ertkhgocn0ic?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Inuit&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc04b

The Ainu People
http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/redir.htm?advanced=1&top=1&nde=1&qcat=web&q_all=&q_phrase=ainu&q_any=&q_not=&Submit1=Go%2BFetch!#)=&dpcollation=1&qk=20&qafterm=01&qafterd=01&qaftery=1990&qbeforem=03&qbefored=30&qbeforey=2005&domaint=&familyfilter=0

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Ainu&btnG=Google+Search

Images of the Ainu
http://images.google.com/images?q=Ainu&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=ii&oi=imagest

Language
http://jguide.stanford.edu/site/ainu_3187.html

"Ainu" means "human." The Ainu people regard things useful to them or
beyond their control as "kamuy"(gods). In daily life, they prayed to
and performed various ceremonies for the gods. These gods include :
"nature" gods, such as of fire, water, wind and thunder ; "animal"
gods, such as of bears, foxes, spotted owls and gram-puses ; "plant"
gods, such as of aconite, mush-room and mugwort ; "object" gods, such
as of boats and pots ; and gods which protect houses, gods of
mountains and gods of lakes. The word "Ainu" refers to the opposite
of these gods.

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