ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that these elements of Ainu puri still remain vital to this day in the hearts, minds, and actions of Ainu adults and Elders, but stand in danger of being eradicated completely by the assimilative policies of colonization and the influences of urbanization and globalization. It shows how children are raised according to the Ainu philosophy will be touched upon, followed by a consideration of the prospects for an Indigenous Ainu philosophy of education in contemporary Japan. The Ainu are the Indigenous people of the northernmost island of current Japan, Hokkaido, as well as the surrounding Kurile archipelago and the southern half of the island of Sakhalin, now both in Russian possession, as well as having formerly inhabited the northern part of the Japanese island of Honshu. The chapter examines this Ainu spirituality/philosophy by portraying it in the context of traditional Ainu society.
