First Peoples Of Japan: Ainu Civilization And Its Unknown Origin

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - The origin of the Ainu people in Japan is unknown. Although the word Ainu means "human", it has to be stated that these people speak a language that resembles no other language on Earth.

The great majority of the Ainu live on Japan's second largest island, the Hokkaido, but they also inhabit the Northern island of Hokkaido as well as the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin.

The Ainu people are unique in many ways. In contrast to the Mongoloid tribes of Far East, the Ainu are light-skinned, blond, their eyes are not slanted, and they often wear heavy wavy beards.

Scientists have not been able to determine where these people come from.

Some speculate that the Ainu are descendants from the same race as the native people of North America. Other scholars are of the opinion that they are primordial East Asian race, that gave rise to the Japanese themselves. A third and rather simple solution offered by the scholars is that the Ainu migrated from some eastern part of the world.

The ideas are many, but there is lack of evidence to support any of these claims.

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