Ainu in London, 1910: Power, Representation and Practice of the Ainu Village

Abstract

For centuries, Ainu people lived in Hokkaido peacefully and developed their distinctive culture, until they were subjected to Japanese government policy in the Meiji era. This paper focuses on the Ainu people and their process or trail. Ingold states that the knowledge of inhabitants, far from being assembled into the received categories of a system of classification, is continually forged in the process of moving around. The living Ainu display at the St. Louis Fair was a part of anthropological research, and anthropologists from the University of Chicago and the Field Museum recorded various aspects of Ainu in documents or photographs as 'scientific' study. My research has focused on process and practice revealed by the Ainu people who went to London. They worshipped at the Imperial Palace, there were no Christian(s) included in their groups, all spoke Japanese, and they included the first Ainu soldier and a successful trader. Keywords:Ainu; anthropological; Hokkaido; London; photographs