Айны в истории российско-японских отношений XVIII–XIX веков

Abstract

The article summarizes the findings of the research on the role of the Ainu, the indigenous people of Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands and Hokkaido, in the establishment and development of Japanese-Russian relations in the 18th-19th centuries. The authors substantiate the need to use a wide range of sources in Japanese to study this issue. Periodization of the Ainu history in the context of Japanese-Russian relations is suggested in the article. The first stage (early 18th - early 19th centuries) is marked by the active participation of the Ainu in the Japanese-Russian relations. A comparative review of the documents of the Russian and Japanese expeditions allowed to identify at least four functions of the Ainu in this process: guides, interpreters, informants, and trade intermediaries. The article provides details of each function, including the significant role of the Ainu in the mapping and naming of geographical objects in the Sea of Okhotsk region during the Russian and Japanese expeditions. At the second stage (mid-19th - early 20th centuries) the Ainu are transformed from the subject of Japanese-Russian relations into a passive entity, and their lands - a subject of negotiations and war trophies. The authors study the question of the Ainu status during the Japanese-Russian negotiations on territorial demarcation in 1853-1875. Attempts by the Russians to separate the issues of Ainu citizenship and belonging to certain territories nevertheless did not spare the Sakhalin and Kuril Ainu from being forcibly relocated by the Japanese authorities after the Treaty of St. Petersburg in 1875.