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Ainu Ethnogenesis and State Evasion (12th-17th Centuries)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Hosanna Fukuzawa
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Abstract

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Recent archaeological, anthropological, and historical studies have brought the relationships proto-Ainu/Ainu groups had with various neighboring states into light; notably the Yuan Dynasty, the Northern Fujiwara, and the Ando/Matsumae domains. In light of such scholarship, this article argues that Ainu ethnogenesis was marked by cultural practices of state evasion and resistance to state-like structures from emerging within. Moreover, it is argued that Ainu groups utilized their unique position to enrich their own culture by capitalizing on the productive capacities of neighboring states. By using other anthropological studies of state-evading cultures as a theoretical framework, this article examines different elements of Ainu cultures and their relations with states.

Keywords

Ainuethnogenesisstate evasiontradechieforality
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 20 , Issue 13 , July 2022 , e2
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2022

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