Lesser-Known Languages (LKL): Ainu
Who are the Ainu? A deep-dive in their history and the language structure.
Update: Added an explanation of how to use one form of the possession and corrected a mistake in counting from 20.
I’ve been fascinated by Ainu ever since I made a short presentation about it in 2012 during my exchange semester in Japan. To my surprise, most of my Japanese classmates knew close to nothing about the language and its history.
It turns out this wasn’t out of the ordinary. Most Japanese people know the word Ainu but not much more.
When I first encountered the language, I expected it to be a dialect of Japanese like the many we have in France, mostly similar to the official language but with a few different expressions here and there.
And then I discovered how to say thank you.
イヤイライケレ - iyairaykere
“Wait, what?” was my first reaction.
How could it be so different? Wasn’t it a dialect? It’s not even close to any form of Arigatou.
This was the beginning of a long journey in discovering everything Ainu. I’m still far from an expert but no matter what happens in my life, I keep returning to it over and over again.
I hope my research combined with my experience learning the language will tickle your curiosity and make you want to discover more about Ainu too.
But first, let’s talk about who the Ainu people are.
The origins of Ainu
Most people think Japan is an insular country with a homogenetic population. Seeing one Ainu person is enough to shatter that belief to pieces.
Ainu people are of darker skin color and have more facial hair than those we call “Japanese people.”1
To simplify the distinction between “Japanese people” and the Ainus, I’ll use the correct term for Japanese: Wajin (和人). Indeed, the Ainus were forced by the Japanese government to integrate and, over time, ended up considered “Japanese.”
The history of the Ainu people is long and complicated.
It’s the story of an ethnicity living in harmony with nature and spirits, and of a population that struggled to survive invasions.
Where the Ainu came from is unclear. Some say they arrived from Asia, some say from Siberia. All we know for sure is that they settled in and around what we now call Hokkaido some 28,000 years ago. The Wajin arrived only through the Korean peninsula some 2,600 years ago and settled in Honshu.
The Ainu people did not have a writing system until the 20th century so most of what we know today is what was orally passed down through generations. As a result, it’s also difficult to know exactly where they live in modern Japan but the name of certain cities on Honshu indicates Ainu influence.
While the story of the Ainu is mostly spoken in opposition to the Wajin and Japan, it would be wrong to limit it to this part. The Ainu people also lived on the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, now both part of Russia, and had commercial exchanges for centuries between islands.
A study from 2021 showed that 900 years ago’s Ainu people derived about 49% of their ancestry from the Hokkaido Jōmon, 22% from the Okhotsk, and 29% from the Wajin, also called Yamato Japanese.
The Okhotsk people seem to have had a major impact on the Ainu language and culture, most notably their worship of bears (more on that later).
A Dark Past
The first written account of the Ainu people only dates back to the 15th century, after having been influenced by the Okhotsk, although they were there long before.
The Emishi (蝦夷, literally “shrimp barbarian”), who lived in Tohoku and are said to be related to the Ainu, were the first to be in contact with the Wajin.
Fun fact: Hokkaido was called “Ezo” by the Wajin at the time, written with the same characters as Emishi (蝦夷). The Ainu called it “Ainu Mosir” (アイヌモシㇼ) or “Land of humans” as Ainu means “human” and Mosir means “land.”
In 1456, a quarrel between an Ainu man and a blacksmith ended up with the death of the Ainu man, prompting an Ainu leader to start an uprising the following year.
The Ainu lost that war and general Nobuhiro Takeda settled in Kakizaki. His clan, later renamed the Matsumae clan, handled the feud that lasted for nearly a century.
In 1550, the Law Concerning Traffic for Foreign Commercial Vessels was enacted in order to ease the tension. Commerce started and things calmed down for the following century.
In 1669, Shakushain, an Ainu leader called for the Ainu people in Ezo to wage an all-out war against the Matsumae clan. They were of equal force so it was later agreed to reconciliate but Shakushain was murdered during a banquet, therefore forcing the Ainu to follow the Matsumae clan’s orders.
The Ainu people were oppressed more and more throughout the following century and their effort to fight back in the Kunashiri trading post were eradicated.
In 1869, the Japanese government unilaterally made Ezo part of Japan by renaming it “Hokkaido.” In their newly created family registers, Ainu people were called “former aborigines” and were listed as “commoners.”
17 years later, the Hokkaido Government was established and in 1899, the Hokkaido Former Aborigine Protection Law was enacted, pushing further the assimilation of the Ainu to the Wajin culture and reducing their lands.
Over the 20th century, the Ainu people lost more rights and many of their customs became illegal.
A New Light
The Japanese government replaced the Hokkaido Former Aborigine Protection Law in 1997 with the Ainu Cultural Promotion Act. This was a first step, but it left to be desired as it failed to address many problems (such as resources or rights to land).
The local government began initiatives but the focus was on leveling the social disadvantage rather than discrimination or human rights.
In 2007, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This led the Japanese government to recognize the Ainu as an indigenous ethnicity of Japan in 2008. Still, this was more of a symbolic gesture rather than a true step forward.
The Cabinet, approved a policy in June 2014 to promote the revitalization of the Ainu culture.
Finally, the “Ainu Promotion Act” (アイヌ民族支援法) was enacted in May 2019, officially banning discrimination against the Ainu, establishing a grant, and setting up the Ainu Policy Headquarters in the Cabinet.
The efforts of the Ainu to be a recognized ethnicity of Japan were long and hard but finally paid off.
Still, there is much work to be done in the decades to come as many of its people are not even aware of their Ainu origins2.
Ainu culture
Beliefs
While my first interest in Ainu was through its language, discovering its culture and traditions has been a wonderful experience.
The Ainu people, as mentioned above, are an ethnicity connected to nature.
The Ainu believe there are spirits in every living and non-living thing. They call these kamuy (カムイ) a term translated as “god” in Japanese (kami, 神). Each had a ramat (ラマッ), a “spirit.”
The most important kamuy is called “Kamuy-huci” (カムイフチ), the Ainu goddess of the hearth. No matter to which kamuy they want to pray to, the Ainu need to first pray to kamuy-huci so she could convey the prayer to the other god.
Fire, as a result, is important in Ainu culture, which is why the hearth was located in the center of traditional Ainu houses, or cise (チセ). These houses were made of natural materials, using reed and dwarf bamboo for the walls and roofs.
Another important kamuy was called kim-un kamuy (キムンカムイ), the god of mountains and bears.
In fact, bears were so revered in Ainu culture, that a special ceremony called iomante (イオマンテ) was held yearly.
Iomante, literally meaning to “send something/someone off,” was a ceremony during which a brown bear cub that had been taken away from its mother during winter and raised as their own child for up to two years was killed following a specific ritual. Its skull was set in the village and became an object of worship.
As far as records show, it seems the connection with bears the Ainu have comes from the Okhotsk culture, found further north, and shared with other aboriginal cultures of the area (the Nivkh and Ulch people). The reason for this belief is due to a lack of bear-related ceremony traces from before the Ainu’s encounter with the Okhotsk.
Living
The Ainu clothes stand out for their intricate design unseen anywhere else in Japan. The Ainu believed making art that resembled reality would bring evil spirits but that the patterns on the cuffs and hems of clothes would, on the contrary, prevent evil spirits from entering through those openings.
These patterns can also be found in neighboring ethnic cultures, further demonstrating cultural exchanges in the region.
Dance and music are also important components of the Ainu culture.
Every ceremony and prayer was accompanied by specific dances and songs called Upopo (ウポポ) they could perform in the company of the kamuy. You can see a few in the 2009 UNESCO video below or hear more songs from a recent concert of the Ainu music band “Marewrew”.
One more type of song is worth mentioning though: yukar (ユカㇻ). These were Ainu sagas that were performed as a way to pass the knowledge down to other generations due to the lack of written form.
In the 20th century, many yukar were recorded in written form by a few people such as Kyōsuke Kindaichi and Yukie Chiri, therefore helping the culture survive amidst attacks from the Japanese government.
Finally, here are a few extra cultural aspects worth mentioning too:
Ainu Women needed to be tattooed around their lips after a certain age. You can see more information and images in this link and here.
Ainu men grew a long beard and had long hair.
The two typical Ainu instruments are the Tonkori, and the Mukkuri. To read more about them, head on here.
Many Ainu traditions are well depicted in the popular manga and anime series Golden Kamuy. Here’s just one of many great examples.
Ainu Language - Ainu itak
By now you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that the Ainu itak (アイヌ イタㇰ), the Ainu language, is not like Japanese at all. After all, it existed long before the Wajin even arrived in the land of the rising sun.
Some people have tried to connect it to other languages, but it was debunked each time. It’s now considered a “language isolate.”
This being said, Ainu is an old language and, as such, it has to live with words that didn’t exist before. As every Ainu person speaks Japanese, the natural result became to use Japanese words for those.
This is why a cellphone is called, like in Japanese, a keitai denwa (携帯電話 or even written in its katakana form ケイタイデンワ).
The Ainu language also impacted Japanese as some of its words entered Japanese. Most of these are related to nature and animals, such as:
ラッコ (rakko) = from ラッコ (rakko) = sea otter
トナカイ (tonakai) = from トゥナカイ (tunakay) = reindeer
As mentioned before, the Ainu people did not have a written script until the 20th century. To preserve the language, it was decided to use a modified version of the Japanese katakana as well as the roman alphabet.
The modified katakana includes extra letters that are smaller versions of other katakana. For example: ㇼ, ㇺ, or ㇱ.
These smaller versions allow to cut the vowel from the syllable and only retain its sound if you listen closely.
As such: リ is “ri” but ㇼ is only “r,” something that’s not possible in Japanese as the only consonant that can stand on its own is the “n” (ん).
Alright, let’s finally dive into the nitty-gritty.
Ainu basic grammar
The Ainu language typically follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) sentence order.
This being said, it’s a little bit more complicated than simply following said order. In fact, many sentences feel like an Object-Subject-Verb (OSV, considered to be the rarest word order in the world). The reason for this feeling is twofold:
The subject at the beginning of the sentence can be omitted if the context is clear.
The verb always needs a subject particle right in front of it.
As a result, some sentences will showcase the pronoun twice, even though the first may sometimes be omitted.
Pronouns
When written in the roman alphabet, the pronoun appearing in front of the verb is linked with an equal sign: ku=apkas (クアㇷ゚カㇱ) therefore means “I walk.”
Ainu has a few extra pronouns giving more precision. For example,
For intransitive verbs: an (アン) as a prefix means “we” including the listener, while chi (チ) means “we” excluding the listener.
For transitive verbs: an (アン) as a suffix (this seems to be the only case of pronoun suffix) means “we” including the listener, while as (アㇱ) means “we” excluding the listener.
Verbs
Verbs in Ainu are separated into the two categories we just saw above: intransitive verbs (that require no object, such as “to cry”) and transitive verbs (that require an object, such as “to build”).
There isn’t much conjugation done to the verbs but the verb “to go” is an exception: oman (オマン) is for the singular form and becomes paye (パイェ) in its plural form.
Apart from this, Ainu uses modifiers:
rusuy (ルスイ) comes after the verb and indicates a wish
kusu ne (クスネ) is a suffix to indicate a plan, an intention to do X
he? (ヘ？) comes as a suffix and turns the sentence in a question
shiri ne (シリネ) comes as a suffix to indicate the action is ongoing
a (ア) as a prefix can change a verb to its passive form
nu (ヌ) means “to hear” but anu (アヌ) means “to be heard.”
ka somo ki (カ ソモ キ) comes as a suffix to indicate a negation (1st method)
somo (ソモ) comes as a prefix to indicate a negation (2nd method)
Ainu usually doesn’t indicate the past tense. It will rely on context with words like numan (ヌマン, “yesterday”) or ukran (ウㇰラン, “last evening”).
Possession
There are two main ways to express possession in Ainu:
If the item is alienable from the possessor, the verb kor (コㇿ) which means “to have, to carry” is combined with the pronoun. For example, “my” translates as “that which I have” in ku=kor (クコㇿ)
“Your dog” becomes e=kor sita (エ コㇿ シタ), with e= meaning “you” and sita meaning “dog.”
If the item is inalienable from the possessor, the two nouns are connected one after the other, just like it’s done for verbs.
“My head” becomes ku=pake (クパケ)
“The rabbit’s ear” becomes isopo kisaraha (イソポ キサラハ)
In this second case, when the possession is not to a human being, the possessed object gets a suffix based on how long they have/had it:
Possessed for a short time: a vowel at the end of the word.
Possessed for a long time: a vowel at the end of the word followed by a syllable “h*” with * being the same vowel as added right before.
In the example of the “ear”, the original word is kisar (キサㇻ). It becomes kisara キサラ when possessed for a short time, and kisaraha (キサラハ) when held for a long time.
Numbers
Numbers are usually my Achille’s heel and Ainu is no exception but it’s less so than usual. You can find the “complete” list of numbers here but let me explain in short how numbers are made:
There’s a term for numbers from one to ten included and then one for twenty.
From 11 to 19, the Ainu say “X ikasma 10” with ikasma (イカㇱマ) meaning “over, above”
13 is re ikasma wanpe (レㇷ゚ イカㇱマ ワンペ)
18 is tupesan ikasma wanpe (トゥペサンペ イカㇱマ ワンペ)
For 30, 40, 50, and so on, the numbers are made in comparison to 20.
30 is “2 twenties minus 10” — wanpe etu hot (ワンペエトゥホッ)
40 is “2 twenties” — tu hotne (トゥホッネ)
70 is “8 twenties minus 10” — wanpe ine hot (ワンペイネホッ)
100 is “five twenty” — asikne hotne (アㇱクネ ホッネ)
Who said the French way to count was crazy? 😄
The Ainu language also has a similar system to the surrounding Asian languages’ way of counting: adding counters as suffixes. Here are two:
to (ト) indicates the days:
re-to (レト) means “three days”
pa (パ) indicates the years:
ine-pa (イネパ) means “four years”
There are dozens more of counters and, just like Japanese or Chinese, these may be overwhelming at first but become second nature with practice.
Particles
The Ainu language doesn't use as many post-particles as Japanese does, but it does use a few. Here are three as examples:
wano (ワノ) indicates a departure of time and can be translated as “from” or “since”
nenpara wano (ネンパラ ワノ) literally means “from when”
wa (ワ) indicates a departure of place and can be translated as “from”
ney wa (ネイ ワ) literally means “from where”
oren (オレン) indicates a direction
kotan oren ku=oman (コタン オレン クオマン) means “I go to the village.”
Example sentences
To conclude this introductory explanation of the Ainu grammar, let’s see a few sentences so you can see the language in action and learn a few words.
irankarapte (イランカラㇷ゚テ) → Hello, Hi.
nisatta wano kotan oren ku=oman kusu ne. (ニサッタ ワノ コタン オレン クオマン クスネ) → Tomorrow, I plan on going to the village. (lit.: “tomorrow-from, village-to, I-go, to plan to”)
ku=ipe rusuy (クイペ ルスイ) → I want to eat (lit.: “I eat, to want to”)
ku=sinki (クシンキ) → I am tired (lit.: “I, to be tired”)
cimip ci=kar (チミㇷ゚ チカㇻ) → We (not including the listener) make clothes. (lit.: “clothes, we=make”)
ku=kor aca ek (クコㇿ アチャ エㇰ) → My father came. (lit.: “I=to carry, father, to come”)
numan apto as ka somo ki (ヌマン アㇷ゚ト アㇱ カ ソモ キ) → It didn’t rain yesterday. (lit.: “yesterday, rain, to fall, negation”)
numan apto somo as (ヌマン アㇷ゚ト ソモ アㇱ) → It didn’t rain yesterday. (lit.: “yesterday, rain, negation, to fall”)
e (エ) → Yes // somo (ソモ) → No
issyorore (イッショロレ) → It’s been a while! (fixed expression)
arikiki (アリキキ) → Good luck! Do your best!
hinna (ヒンナ) → Thank you for the food. (Expression to say before eating, featured in Golden Kamuy, often repeated twice)
Where to learn Ainu?
The Ainu language is an intricate language worth digging into. Unfortunately, resources in English are limited so speaking Japanese would make the journey a lot faster.
Still, here’s all I’ve gathered throughout the years.
From English
English translation, by me, of the first 14 lessons of the Ainu radio course (on my old blog), with literal translation and comments.
Omniglot’s basic explanation of the Ainu language
Many basic Ainu words and expressions are mentioned in the manga and anime Golden Kamuy.
Link to the Drops app’s Ainu course
From Japanese
アイヌ語ラジオ講座: 1-year-long radio classes by STV Radio from 2000 to today with PDF and audio files. The most complete collection of information about the Ainu language.
Textbooks per Ainu dialect from beginner to intermediate
Regions of Hokkaido have slight variations in the Ainu they use.
Two useful two-page grammar cheatsheets: Green one, yellow one
Official Ainu cultural association YouTube Channel: 公益財団法人アイヌ民族文化財団
Includes short animation movies in Ainu or Japanese with subtitles in Ainu, English, or Japanese
Basic Ainu introduction book: ポン カンピソㇱ
Japanese to Ainu online dictionary with audio and example sentences
List of a few hundred words (From and To Japanese)
YouTube channel with lessons and conversations: しとちゃんねる
Final words
I’ve spent at least 100 hours researching the Ainu language and culture in the past decade, including the 20ish hours it took me to research this piece, write it, and edit it, and I’m still far from being an expert on the topic.
There’s so much more to learn.
I highly recommend you to study it a bit, at least for the gymnastics your mind needs to do to create sentences.
If you’re learning or already speak Japanese, All the more reasons to study it. There are a lot more resources in Japanese to learn from and the Radio course had some pretty great yearly courses.
But, hey, if you want to learn more about the Ainu culture and language, I highly recommend you to watch Golden Kamuy (here’s a link to episode 1 on bilibili) where you’ll learn a lot more tiny and important habits I haven’t mentioned here.
Not only this, learning an endangered language (any) is also taking part in something bigger than ourselves. It’s embracing people who have been oppressed at one time (and may still be).
And on this, I leave you with a magnificent Ainu song by the Ainu Rebels: e=katuhu pirka.
Suy u=nukar an ro! (スイ ウヌカㇻ アン ロー！) → See you next time!
This is a generalization and this isn’t even the case as much as it used to, due to mixing with Japanese and other ethnicities.
Ainu parents often hid their origin from their children so they wouldn't be discriminated against. A practice only recently changing.