The Fascinatingly Mysterious Origins of the Ainu

Hello YouTube community, I am an Ainu from Russia, Sakhalin. We are the native population of northern Japan and southeastern Siberia. We are descedants of the Northeast Asian Okhotsk and a paleolithic population from Central Asia which migrated to Japan more than 30,000 years ago. The Northeast Asian Okhotsk people were related to other Northeast Asians and Native Americans, while the paleolithic Central Asians are not closely related to any modern group. The paleolithic Central Asians contributed the "European-like look" as they share some genes with Europeans and Middle Easterners, but not all Ainu had such "European-like look". The majority always looked Northeast Asian or a mix of the two looks. The Ainu language and culture originated largely from the Northeast Asian Okhotsk people, thus we have many similarities to other Northeast Asians, Siberians and Native Americans. It is a misconception that all Ainu are hairy or look European. We do not. The majority of historical Ainu and of modern Ainu is similar to other people around the Sea of Okhotsk. Europeans exaggarated the "European" look among Ainu. To sum up: We Ainu people came from the combination of the Northeast Asian Okhotsk culture and a paleolithic population which arrived from Central Asia. I am happy that other people are interested in the Ainu history, culture and people. Thank you. :)

The female tattooing of the chin and lower lip seems almost ubiquitous among Polynesian cultures all the way from New Zealand to the Inuit, that's fascinating to me

I read a manga called Golden Kamuy that is centered around Ainu culture in the time period shortly after the Russo-Japanese war. The writers take a great amount of care into making the Ainu accurate, and at the end of each chapter there’s detailed explanations to any Ainu foods/clothes/tattoos/objects that were shown in that chapter. I learned a lot of little details along the way that I otherwise wouldn’t have ever learned about!

"The Ainu people are meek, modest, good - natured, trusting, polite, sociable, respectful of property, and brave when hunting. Faith in friendship and generosity, unselfishness, frankness – their usual qualities. They are truthful and do not tolerate deception " (Anton Pavlovich Chekhov).

I am Ainu and my uncle looks exactly like the old man you showed in the beginning and near the end but with his beard shaved off

Human evolution is so interesting. It's a shame how often people bring ideology into it.

My grandmother was full blooded Ainu. But my grandfather was modern Japanese. I never had the chance to meet my grandmother, but I did meet my grandfather. I know that once a year they have a big meeting of the Ainu people in Hawaii on the big island. And even the Inuet show up. They believe that they are from the same lineage.

I'm Ainu ,Yayoi and Welsh mixed. I've been absolutely Fascinated by the information about the Ainu people that is being discovered and I'm Grateful for those who are putting in the work . Thank you for the video!

Interesting Historical Fact for anyone interested: One of the most contributing person to the study of the Ainu was Bronislaw Pilsudski, who also happened to be the older brother of Jozef Pilsudski, who won Polands independence. Bronislaw was actually involved in an Assassination Plot on Tsar Alexander III, alongside Lenin's brother of all people, and was found guilty and was exiled to Sakhalin, where he would spend a decade. There he grew fascinated by their unique culture, and studied them for several years. In 1903 he recorded the Ainu language for the first time on audio. From these original recordings an Ainu dictionary of over a thousand words was made, which was translated into over ten languages. Pilsudski also wrote down the myths, culture, music and customs of the Ainu. He also married an Ainu woman, and had a son and daughter with her. Eventually he returned to Europe after the Russo-Japanese war started, and died in Paris in 1918. A funny result of this adventure was that since Jozef Pilsudski himself only had daughters, the only male member of the family was Bronislaws son, who moved to Japan, and so the last Pilsudski's are Japanese, not Polish.

The Jomon are well known in art history because of the unique ceramics they left behind. That culture made some really cool art works.

This is a great example of the complete ridiculousness of racism..we are all interconnected.. I have a friend who one of these old japanese cultures,super curly hair,dark and has Yellow eyes..he suffered alot of racism in Japan so left ...it's crazy to deny a countries cultural heritage to support a doctrine of superiority ..support indigenous cultures and learn from our history... Thank you for this very interesting doco

My dad is half Japanese and our Haplo group is D. Our Japanese family came from the coast near Osaka in the south of Japan. Interesting!

Strangely, JRR Tolkien used the word "Ainu" to describe angelic beings in his legends.

In eraly 1920s Bronislaw Pilsudski, a Poliish ethnographer, has recorded the language, songs, and customs of the Ainus. Incidentally, the guy's brother is better known. He was general Jozef Pilsudski who was instrumental in regaining independence for Poland (in 1918).

The man in the thumbnail looks like an Indigenous Australian to a degree. It makes sense Ainu would share some facial similarities to Indigenous Australians as according to scientific studies they share common ancestors before diverging approximately 50,000 years going in different directions across land bridges to their respective land masses.

Wow, Mononoke Hime is one of my favorite films ever, and I never understood that aspect of its story. It was an amazing moment when you said that, I paused the video and immediately so many details and themes of the film all fit into place, all had context and made more sense than they ever had before, despite having believed I understood it entirely already. Tears came to my eyes... it was really beautiful to "see" a work I have loved for so long, completely anew in that way.

So im half Ainu and its funny people always ask me if I'm mixed Japanese. But interestingly my girlfriend from Okinawa thought I were from Okinawa as well when she saw me at first time.

This is really cool, my grandfather on my mother's side was ainu. and its crazy to see something about something this obscure.

Funnily, when I lived in London with my family, some workers in the supermarket whom we suspected as Japanese turned out to be Nepali--where, based on the map in the video, people of haplo D gene exist. I was born to a fully Japanese family (and we are not related to Ainu either) where relatives share Jomon kind of features. I always get asked if I am from Okinawa (or if I am even fully Japanese), the southern island also known for the strongly remaining Jomon appearance.

I realize it's four, nearly five years late, but I found it very interesting. I don't know why human origins fascinate me, but it does, and the vast amount of new evidence which we have as a result on decoding the human genome just ads to the fascination. The migration and cultural differences in our species are, in my opinion, one of the greatest stories ever forged from scientific evidence, and as it unfolds before us, one can hardly help but be amazed.