Editing Hokkaido (section)

=== Feudal Japan ===
[[File:Palace reception near Hakodate in 1751. Ainu bringing gifts.jpg|thumb|300px|Palace reception near [[Hakodate]] in 1751. [[Ainu people|Ainu]] bringing gifts (''cf.'' ''[[omusha]]'')]]

During the [[Muromachi period]] (1336–1573), the Japanese established a settlement at the south of the [[Oshima Peninsula]], with a series of fortified residences such as that of [[Shinoridate]]. As more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into war. [[Takeda Nobuhiro]] (1431 – 1494) killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain,<ref name="Japan Handbook p760"/> and [[Koshamain's War|defeated the opposition]] in 1457. Nobuhiro's descendants became the rulers of the [[Matsumae clan|Matsumae-han]], which was granted exclusive trading rights with the Ainu in the [[Azuchi–Momoyama period|Azuchi-Momoyama]] and [[Edo period]]s (1568–1868). The [[Matsumae clan|Matsumae family]]'s economy relied upon trade with the Ainu,{{cn|date=March 2024}} who had extensive trading networks.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Lie
 |first1               = John
 |author-link1         = John Lie (professor)
 |year                 = 2009
 |orig-date            = 2001
 |title                = Multiethnic Japan
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=3aGeH0keCGUC
 |edition              = revised
 |publication-place    = Cambridge, Massachusetts
 |publisher            = Harvard University Press
 |pages                = 89–90
 |isbn                 = 9780674040175
 |access-date          = 15 March 2024
 |quote                = By the fifteenth century Ainu people were principally hunter-fisher-gatherers and engaged in far-flung trade with others, ranging from Aleutian islanders to the east, Russians and Chinese to the west, and Shamo (as the Ainu call Wajin, or Japanese people) to the south [....].
}} 
</ref>
The Matsumae held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period.{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}}

[[File:Samurai and Ainu Fuzoku Ema.jpg|thumb|The [[samurai]] and the Ainu, {{circa|1775}}]]

The Matsumae clan rule over the Ainu must be understood{{cn|date=March 2024}} in the context of the expansion of the Japanese feudal state. Medieval military leaders in northern Honshu (ex. [[Northern Fujiwara]], [[Akita clan]]) maintained only tenuous political and cultural ties to the imperial court and its proxies, the [[Kamakura shogunate]] and [[Ashikaga shogunate]]. Feudal strongmen sometimes defined their own roles within the medieval institutional order, taking shogunate titles, while in other times they assumed titles that seemed to give them a non-Japanese identity. In fact, many of the feudal strongmen were descended from [[Emishi]] military leaders who had been assimilated into Japanese society.<ref>Howell, David. "Ainu Ethnicity and the Boundaries of the Early Modern Japanese State", Past and Present 142 (February 1994), p. 142</ref> The Matsumae clan were of [[Yamato people|Yamato]] descent like other ethnic [[Japanese people]], whereas the Emishi of northern Honshu were a distinctive group related to the Ainu. The Emishi were conquered and integrated into the Japanese state dating back as far as the 8th century and as result began to lose their distinctive culture and ethnicity as they became minorities. By the time the Matsumae clan ruled over the Ainu, most of the Emishi were ethnically mixed and physically closer to Japanese than they were to Ainu. From this, the "transformation" theory postulates that native Jōmon peoples changed gradually with the infusion of Yayoi immigrants into the [[Tōhoku region]] of northern Honshu, in contrast to the "replacement" theory that posits the Jōmon was ''replaced'' by the Yayoi.<ref>Ossenberg, Nancy (see reference) has the best evidence of this relationship with the Jōmon. Also, a newer study, Ossenberg, et al., "Ethnogenesis and craniofacial change in Japan from the perspective of nonmetric traits" (''Anthropological Science'' v.114:99–115) is an updated analysis published in 2006 which confirms this finding.</ref>

[[File:Matumae Takahiro.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Matsumae Takahiro]], a [[Matsumae clan|Matsumae lord]] of the late [[Edo period]] (December 10, 1829 – June 9, 1866)]]

There were numerous revolts by the Ainu against feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was [[Shakushain's revolt]] in 1669–1672. In 1789, a smaller movement known as the [[Menashi–Kunashir rebellion]] was crushed. After that rebellion, the terms "Japanese" and "Ainu" referred to clearly distinguished groups, and the Matsumae were unequivocally Japanese.

According to John A. Harrison of the [[University of Florida]], prior to 1868 Japan used proximity as its claim to Hokkaido, [[Sakhalin]] and the [[Kuril Islands]]; however, Japan had never thoroughly explored, governed, or exploited the areas, and this claim was invalidated by the movement of Russia into the Northeast Pacific area and by Russian settlements on [[Kamchatka]] (from 1699), [[Sakhalin]] (1850s) and the [[Sea of Okhotsk Coast]] (1640s onwards).<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3740831 |jstor=3740831 |title= The Capron Mission and the Colonization of Hokkaido, 1868-1875 |last1=Harrison |first1=John A. |journal=Agricultural History |year=1951 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=135–136}}</ref>

Prior to the [[Meiji Restoration]] of 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate realized the need to prepare northern defenses against a possible Russian invasion and took over control of most of Ezochi in 1855-1858.<ref>Nakamura, Akemi, "[http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/07/08/news/japans-last-frontier-took-time-to-tame-cultivate-image/ Japan's last frontier took time to tame, cultivate image] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131104100311/http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/07/08/news/japans-last-frontier-took-time-to-tame-cultivate-image/ |date= 2013-11-04 }}", ''[[The Japan Times]]'', 8 July 2008, p. 3.</ref> Many Japanese settlers regarded the Ainu as "inhuman and the inferior descendants of dogs".<ref name="apjjf.org"/><ref>
Compare:
{{cite journal
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uu0YAQAAMAAJ
| journal = The American Asian Review
| publisher = Institute of Asian Studies, St. John's University
| publication-place = New York
| publication-date = 1995
| volume = 13
| issue = 1–2
| page = 77
| quote = Using the expressive sound 'ah', and the Japanese copula da ('it is'), wajin encountering an Ainu person would shout out the insulting pun, 'ah, inu da,' 'It's an Ainu' or 'Oh, it's a dog!' 
| access-date = 15 March 2024
}}
</ref>
The Tokugawa irregularly imposed various assimilation programs on the Ainu due to the Tokugawa's perception of a threat from Russia.<ref name="apjjf.org"/> For example, assimilation programs were implemented in response to perceived threats from Russia, which included the {{ill|Laxman expedition|ru|Посольство Адама Лаксмана в Японию}}  of 1793 and the [[Golovnin Incident]] of 1804.<ref name="apjjf.org"/> Once the respective Russian threats appeared to subside, the assimilation programs were halted until 1855.<ref name="apjjf.org"/> However, in 1855, once the [[Treaty of Shimoda]] was signed, which defined the borders between Russian Empire and Tokugawa Japan, the Tokugawa again viewed Russia as a threat to Japanese sovereignty over Hokkaido and reinstated assimilation programs on the Ainu.<ref name="apjjf.org"/>