In Jude Isabella’s blog entry, The Untold Story of Japan’s First People, she illustrates the archaeological work done by a Japanese archaeologist, Hirofumi Kato. Through Kato’s passionate labor, we are exposed to the truth about Japanese history and the development of their first people. Thorough excavation of the northern Japanese island of Rebun demonstrates the post-processual archaeology that Kato uses to explain the one-sided history of Japan. Kato mentions that throughout most of his life in Japan, he realized that the history of the Ainu people was never taught in Japanese schools. The current education system focuses too much on the main island of Honshu, and their beliefs were that the Japanese people had just always been there. The early archaeology in Japan greatly misrepresented the diversity of Rebun and neighboring islands of Hokkaido. Kato stated that the Japanese government spend great efforts to hide the existence of the Ainu people. The fact derived from Kato’s excavation evidently provides traces of the Ainu culture which had been around since the 1600’s. In a way that is similar in the west, the Japanese government in the 1800’s colonized the islands of Hokkaido thus forcing Ainu populations to assimilate into Japanese culture. This continued until 2006 when the Japanese government was pressured internationally to finally recognize the Ainu people as an indigenous population. To be honest, not many of us have even heard of this story. A group of people that have occupied a large territory for centuries was never documented properly in the archaeological record due to government agenda and biases. The blog describes the recent Japanese excavations as “telephone booth digs” as to illustrate their objectives in salvaging and construction path clearing. To me, it sounds almost too convenient for the Japanese government to get rid of any evidence of the Ainu’s existence. Any artifacts found seemed to be intentionally misinterpreted or ignored if it did not relate to traditional Japanese history. This style of archaeology heavily leans towards processual archaeology. Artifacts were excavated and recorded subjectively. Science today tells us that Japanese people originated from northern Asia, and their descendants spread among the native people of Hokkaido. Before the samurai clans too control of the settlements in southern Hokkaido, the Ainu were prominent traders that supplied goods to Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Russian merchants. Despite their major contribution to the Asiatic economy, the Japanese government covered up their story to the point where the Ainu were nearly unheard of. Personally, the theme of this story resonates across all ancient history around the world. The victors of war write the story. I do not particularly like the nature of this theme, but I respect its power in shaping culture. This biased processual archaeology that the Japanese government implemented had emphasized their national pride and culture for centuries. However, for the sake of keeping records, and objective perspective is required to gather as much of the truth as possible about the history of our world.
Blog Link
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/ainu-prejudice-pride/