Editing Ainu people (section)

==Population==
The [[Demographic history of Japan before the Meiji Restoration|population of the Ainu during the Edo period]] was a maximum of 26,800; it has since declined, due in part to the spread of infectious diseases. It was traditionally regarded as a Tenryō territory.

According to the 1897 Russian census, 1,446 Ainu native speakers lived in Russian territory.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97.php?reg=o |script-title=ru:Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |title=Prilozheniye. Spravochnik statisticheskikh pokazateley. |trans-title=Appendix. Handbook of statistical indicators. |work=Demoscope Weekly |access-date=March 16, 2019 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703203312/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97.php?reg=o |archive-date=July 3, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97.php?reg=113 |script-title=ru:Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей. |title=Prilozheniye. Spravochnik statisticheskikh pokazateley. |trans-title=Supplement. Handbook of statistical indicators. |work=Demoscope Weekly |access-date=March 16, 2019 |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701150105/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_lan_97.php?reg=113 |archive-date=July 1, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Currently, there is no Ainu category in the Japanese national census, and no fact-finding has been conducted by national institutions. Therefore, the exact number of Ainu people is unknown. However, multiple surveys have been conducted that provide an indication of the total population.

According to a 2006 Hokkaido Agency survey, there were 23,782 Ainu people in Hokkaido.<ref name="ainutyousa">{{Cite web |url=http://www.ainu-assn.or.jp/about03.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518015015/http://www.ainu-assn.or.jp/about03.html |script-title=ja:北海道アイヌ協会 |title=Hokkaidō Ainu kyōkai |trans-title=Hokkaido Ainu Association |language=ja |archive-date=May 18, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Report Ainu Policy and National Understanding (PDF) |author=[[Science Council of Japan]] Area Studies Committee Anthropology Subcommittee (日本学術会議 地域研究委員会 人類学分科会) |date=September 15, 2011 |access-date=January 8, 2021 |publisher=[[Science Council of Japan]] |url=http://www.scj.go.jp/ja/info/kohyo/pdf/kohyo-21-h133-1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.scj.go.jp/ja/info/kohyo/pdf/kohyo-21-h133-1.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> When viewed by the branch office (currently the Promotion Bureau), there are many in the Iburi / Hidaka branch office. The definition of "Ainu" by the Hokkaido Agency in this survey is "a person who seems to have inherited the blood of Ainu" or "the same livelihood as those with marriage or adoption." Additionally, if the other person is declared not to be "Ainu", then it is not subject to investigation.

A 1971 survey determined an Ainu population of 77,000. Another survey yielded a total of 200,000 Ainu living in Japan.{{sfnp|Poisson|2002|p=5}} However, there are no other surveys that support this high estimate.

Many Ainu live outside of Hokkaido. A 1988 survey estimated that the population of Ainu living in Tokyo was 2,700.<ref name="ainutyousa" /> According to a 1989 survey report on Utari living in Tokyo, it is estimated that the Ainu population of the Tokyo area alone exceeds 10% of Ainu living in Hokkaido; there are more than 10,000 Ainu living in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

In addition to Japan and Russia, it was reported in 1992 that there was a descendant of Kuril Ainu in [[Poland]], but there are also indications that they are a descendant of the Aleut.<ref>「しかしアキヅキトシユキは実際には1975年の樺太・千島交換条約の際に千島に住んでいた90人のアレウト族の末裔だったのではないかと推測している。そのアイヌがどこのだれのことを示しているのかということに関してそれ以上の情報はでてこなかった」<!--In 1992 there were press reports that descendants of the Kuril Ainu were found in Poland, but Akizuki Toshiyuki (personal communication, 1992) speculates that the "Kuril Ainu" in Poland are actually descendants of the ninety Aleuts who lived in the Kurils at the time of the Sakhalin-Kuril exchange of 1875, and whose whereabouts are otherwise unknown.--></ref>{{sfnp|Howell|2005}}<ref>{{cite book |author=小坂洋右 |script-title=ja:流亡: 日露に追われた北千島アイヌ |title=Ryūbō: Nichiro ni owareta Kitachishima Ainu |trans-title=Exile: The Ainu of the Northern Kuril Islands Driven by Japan and Russia |language=ja |publisher=北海道新聞社 |year=1992 |isbn=978-4-89363-943-1<!-- |date=March 16, 2019-->}}</ref> On the other hand, the descendant of the children born in Poland by the Polish anthropologist [[Bronisław Piłsudski]], who was a leading Ainu researcher and left a vast amount of research material, such as photographs and wax tubes, was born in Japan.

According to a 2017 survey, the Ainu population in Hokkaido is about 13,000. This is a sharp drop from 24,000 in 2006. However, this is partially due to a decrease in membership in the [[Ainu Association of Hokkaido]], which is cooperating with the survey. Additionally, interest in protecting personal information has increased. It is thought that the number of individuals who cooperate is declining and that it does not match the actual population of Ainu people.<ref name=ainu-nik>{{cite news |script-title=ja:北海道のアイヌ、10年余で４割減 実態反映せず |title=Hokkaidō no Ainu, 10-nen amari de 4 warigen; jittai han'ei sezu |trans-title=Hokkaido's Ainu population declines by 40% in 10 years, not reflecting reality |language=ja |newspaper=[[日本経済新聞]] |date=August 27, 2018 |url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO34630960X20C18A8CR8000/ |access-date=September 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906195633/https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO34630960X20C18A8CR8000/ |archive-date=September 6, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Subgroups===
These are unofficial subgroups of the Ainu people, with location and population estimates.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Subgroup !! Location !! Description !! Population
!Year
|-
| Hokkaido Ainu ||[[Hokkaido]]
||[[Hokkaido]] Ainu (the predominant community of Ainu in the world today): A Japanese census in 1916 returned 13,557 pure-blooded Ainu in addition to 4,550 multiracial individuals.{{sfnp|Siddle|1996|p=92}} A 2017 survey says the Ainu population in Hokkaido is about 13,000. It decreased sharply from 24,000 in 2006.<ref name=ainu-nik />
|| 13,000
|2017
|-
| Tokyo Ainu 
||Tokyo
|| Tokyo Ainu (a modern-age migration of Hokkaidō Ainu highlighted in a documentary film released in 2010<ref name="2kamuymintara.com" />): According to a 1989 survey, more than 10,000 Ainu live in the Tokyo metropolitan area. 
|| 10,000
|1989
|-
| {{extinct}}Tohoku Ainu 
||[[Tōhoku region|Tohoku]]
|| Tohoku Ainu (from Honshū; no officially acknowledged population exists): Forty-three Ainu households scattered throughout the Tohoku region were reported during the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PhVpRXZlw9UC&pg=PA7 |title=Harukor: An Ainu Woman's Tale |author=本多勝一 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-520-21020-2 |page=7}}</ref> There are people who consider themselves descendants of Shimokita Ainu on the [[Shimokita Peninsula]], while the people on the [[Tsugaru Peninsula]] are generally considered Yamato but may be descendants of Tsugaru Ainu after cultural assimilation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.juen.ac.jp/shakai/kawanisi/research/touhoku/touhoku_6.html |script-title=ja:VI 〈東北〉史の意味と射程 |title=VI 〈Tōhoku〉-shi no imi to shatei |trans-title=VI. The Meaning and Scope of Tohoku History |website=[[Joetsu University of Education]] |language=ja |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722071748/http://www.juen.ac.jp/shakai/kawanisi/research/touhoku/touhoku_6.html |archive-date=July 22, 2011 |access-date=March 2, 2011}}</ref>
|| Extinct
|17th century
|-
|Sakhalin Ainu
|[[Sakhalin]]
|[[Sakhalin]] Ainu: Pure-blooded individuals may be surviving in Hokkaidō. From both Northern and Southern [[Sakhalin]], a total of 841 Ainu were relocated to Hokkaidō in 1875 by Japan. Only a few in remote interior areas remained when the island was turned over to Russia. Even when Japan was granted Southern Sakhalin in 1905, only a handful returned. The Japanese census of 1905 counted only 120 Sakhalin Ainu (down from 841 in 1875, 93 in Karafuto, and 27 in Hokkaidō). The Soviet census of 1926 counted 5 Ainu, while several of their multiracial children were recorded as ethnic Nivkh, Slav, or Uilta.

* North Sakhalin: Only five pure-blooded individuals were recorded during the 1926 Soviet Census in Northern Sakhalin. Most of the Sakhalin Ainu (mainly from coastal areas) were relocated to Hokkaidō in 1875 by Japan. The few that remained (mainly in the remote interior) were mostly married to Russians, as can be seen from the works of [[Bronisław Piłsudski]].{{sfnp|Howell|2005|p=187}}
* Southern Sakhalin ([[Karafuto]]): Japanese rule until 1945. Japan evacuated almost all the Ainu to Hokkaidō after World War II. Isolated individuals might have remained on Sakhalin.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_26.php?reg=1420 |script-title=ru:Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года. Национальный состав населения по регионам РСФСР. дальне-Восточныи: Саxалинскии округ |title=Vsesoyuznaya perepis' naseleniya 1926 goda. Natsional'nyy sostav naseleniya po regionam RSFSR. dal'ne-Vostochnyi: Saxalinskii okrug |language=ru |year=1929 |publisher=Central Statistical Office of the USSR |trans-title=All-Union Population Census of 1926. National composition of the population by regions of the RSFSR. Far East: Sakhalin District |via=Демоскоп Weekly |access-date=March 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805133706/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_26.php?reg=1420 |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1949, there were about 100 Ainu living on Soviet Sakhalin.<ref name="wurm">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=glU0vte5gSkC&pg=PA1010 |title=Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas: Maps |last1=Wurm |first1=Stephen Adolphe |last2=Mühlhäusler |first2=Peter |last3=Tyron |first3=Darrell T. |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |year=1996 |isbn=978-3-11-013417-9 |page=1010}}</ref>
|100
|1949
|-
|{{extinct}}Northern Kuril Ainu
|Northern [[Kuril islands]]
|Northern Kuril Ainu (no known living population in Japan; existence is [[#Official recognition in Russia|not recognized]] by the Russian government in Kamchatka Krai): Also known as Kurile in Russian records. They were under Russian rule until 1875; they first came under Japanese rule after the [[Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875)]]. The majority of the population was located on the island of [[Shumshu]], with a few others on islands like [[Paramushir]]. Together, they numbered 221 in 1860. These individuals had Russian names, spoke Russian fluently, and were [[Russian Orthodox]] in religion. As the islands were given to the Japanese, more than a hundred Ainu fled to Kamchatka along with their Russian employers (where they were assimilated into the [[Kamchadal]] population).<ref name="wurm" /><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-I_pId0AuhIC&pg=PA163 |title=Japan's Competing Modernities: Issues in Culture and Democracy, 1900–1930 |last=Minichiello |first=Sharon |publisher=[[University of Hawaii Press]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8248-2080-0 |page=163}}</ref> Only about half remained under Japanese rule. To [[Russification|derussify]] the Kurile, the entire population of 97 individuals was relocated to [[Shikotan]] in 1884, given Japanese names, and the children were enrolled in Japanese schools. Unlike the other Ainu groups, the Kurile failed to adjust to their new surroundings; by 1933, only 10 individuals survived (plus another 34 multiracial individuals). The last group of 20 individuals (including a few pure-blooded Ainu) was evacuated to Hokkaidō in 1941, where they soon vanished as a separate ethnic group.{{sfnp|Howell|2005|p=187}}
|Extinct
|20th century
|-
|{{extinct}}Southern Kuril Ainu 
|Southern [[Kuril islands]]
|Southern Kuril Ainu (no known living population): This group numbered almost 2,000 people (mainly in [[Kunashir]], [[Iturup]], and [[Urup]]) during the 18th century. In 1884, their population had decreased to 500. Around 50 individuals (mostly multiracial) who remained in 1941 were evacuated to Hokkaidō by the Japanese soon after World War II.<ref name="wurm" /> The last full-blooded Southern Kuril Ainu was Suyama Nisaku, who died in 1956.<ref name=Harrison2007>{{cite thesis |last1=Harrison |first1=Scott |year=2007 |title=The Indigenous Ainu of Japan and the 'Northern Territories' Dispute |hdl=10012/2765}}</ref> The last of the tribe (partial ancestry), Tanaka Kinu, died on Hokkaidō in 1973.<ref name=Harrison2007/>
|Extinct
|1973
|-
|{{extinct}}Kamchatka Ainu
|[[Kamchatka]] 
|Kamchatka Ainu (no known living population): Known as Kamchatka Kurile in Russian records. They ceased to exist as a separate ethnic group after their defeat in 1706 by the Russians. Individuals were assimilated into the Kurile and [[Kamchadal]] ethnic groups. They were last recorded in the 18th century by Russian explorers.{{sfnp|Shibatani|1990|pp=3–5}}
|Extinct
|18th century
|-
|{{extinct}}Amur Valley Ainu
|[[Amur River]]
(Eastern Russia)
|Amur Valley Ainu (probably none remain): A few individuals married to ethnic Russians and ethnic Ulchi were reported by Bronisław Piłsudski in the early 20th century.{{sfnp|Piłsudski|2004|p=[{{GBurl|NX0W2N8pgWQC|p=816}} 816]}} Only 26 pure-blooded individuals were recorded during the 1926 Russian Census in Nikolaevski Okrug (present-day [[Nikolayevsky District, Khabarovsk Krai]]).<ref>{{cite book |url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_26.php?reg=1410 |script-title=ru:Всесоюзная перепись населения 1926 года. Национальный состав населения по регионам РСФСР. дальне-Восточныи: Николаевскии округ |title=Vsesoyuznaya perepis' naseleniya 1926 goda. Natsional'nyy sostav naseleniya po regionam RSFSR. dal'ne-Vostochnyi: Nikolayevskii okrug |language=ru |publisher=Central Statistical Office of the USSR |year=1929 |trans-title=All-Union Population Census of 1926. National composition of the population by regions of the RSFSR. Far East: Nikolaevsky District |via=Демоскоп Weekly |access-date=March 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805133727/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/rus_nac_26.php?reg=1410 |archive-date=August 5, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> They were probably assimilated into the Slavic rural population. Although no one identifies as Ainu today in [[Khabarovsk Krai]], there are a large number of [[Ulch people|ethnic Ulch]] with partial Ainu ancestry.<ref>''Shaman: an international journal for Shamanistic research'', Volumes 4–5, p.155.</ref>{{sfnp|Piłsudski|2004|p=[{{GBurl|NX0W2N8pgWQC|p=37}} 37]}}
|Extinct
|20th century
|}