Living a Modern Life in Hokkaidō as a Young Ainu Dancer

Abstract

I live in an Ainu village in Hokkaidō where a number of Ainu people once made their living by hunting, fishing and trading. I was born in 1987 to a Japanese mother and an Ainu father; my mother raised me as an ethnic Japanese. As time passed, I came to identify the Ainu-ness in my blood. Today, I spend time learning about Ainu traditional embroidery and manual work and make a living by performing Ainu traditional dance at the Ainu theatre ‘Ikor’ at Akan Lake in Kushiro. I have met some people who say that Ainu culture is dying, or who utter that there may not be any Ainu. They have the following assumptions: Ainu culture is a relic of the past; Ainu live in traditional houses and wear their traditional clothes and speak the Ainu language. Are those assumptions right?