Hokkaido

Lore & Background

The Ebetsu Kofun Cluster, a group of mounds surveyed in 1931, dates from the latter half of the 8th century to the middle of the 9th century. Artifacts discovered there, including Emishi swords, magatama, and Sue pottery, provide evidence of the Yamato people and of trade between Hokkaido and Honshu prior to the feudal period. An entry in the *Nihon Shoki* records a military campaign led by Abe no Hirafu that forced the Ainu from Tohoku to Yezo, the former name for Hokkaido. During the Jōmon period, a hunter-gatherer culture flourished on the island for over 15,000 years without conflict, and Jomon beliefs in natural spirits are theorized to have influenced Ainu spirituality. Around 2,000 years ago, Yayoi people colonized the island, shifting much of the population toward agriculture. During the Nara and Heian periods, people in Hokkaido traded with Dewa Province, an outpost of the central Japanese government. In the feudal period, the indigenous people became known as Ezo, and the land as Ezochi. They relied on hunting and fishing, obtaining rice and iron through trade with the Japanese.

Reader's Guide

Hokkaido is the second-largest and northernmost of Japan’s four main islands, separated from Honshu by the Tsugaru Strait and connected to it by the Seikan Tunnel. Its largest city and capital is Sapporo, the island’s only ordinance-designated city. To the north lies Sakhalin, Russia, while the Kuril Islands stretch to the east and northeast; these are administered by Russia, though Japan claims the four southernmost. The island’s northern position gives it a colder climate with heavy winter snowfall, yet it serves as an agricultural breadbasket for many crops. Historically known as Ezo, Ezochi, and Ezogashima, Hokkaido was primarily inhabited by the Ainu people before Japanese settlers controlled only the southern tip from the 16th century. Following the Meiji Restoration in 1869, Japan annexed, colonized, and renamed the entire island Hokkaido, dispossessing the Ainu of their land and forcing assimilation. By the 21st century, the Ainu are almost totally assimilated, resulting in the near-erasure of their cultural practices, traditions, and language. The name Hokkaido was chosen by the Meiji government from proposals by Matsuura Takeshirō, who derived “kai” from the Ainu name for the region, possibly influenced by the Nivkh exonym for the Ainu. In 1947, Hokkaido became a full-fledged prefecture, with its government styling itself the “Hokkaido Government.” Debates over an Ainu-language name have emerged, with phrases such as “land of the humans” or “onshore land” proposed, though their original referents differ from the modern geographical entity.

Did You Know?

• Hokkaido is separated from Honshu by the Tsugaru Strait and connected by the Seikan Tunnel.
• The largest city on Hokkaido is its capital, Sapporo, which is also its only ordinance-designated city.
• The Ainu call the region Kai, which influenced the name Hokkaido.