“Description of Ezo” by Arai Hakuseki

Abstract

The Description of Ezo is the first Japanese historical and geographical description of the Ainu, a people who lived to the north of the Japanese, in Hokkaido, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. It was written in 1720 by the famous scholar and statesman Arai Hakuseki (16571725). In the second half of the Edo period (16031867), owing to the figure of the author and lucidity of the text, The Description virtually acquired the status of an official document. It was a significant source for many later works on the Ainu. The article presents the first full translation of the text into Russian.