ABSTRACT
The Ainu are one of the indigenous peoples in Japan. From the mid-nineteenth century, their culture was forbidden and ignored through the actions of the assimilation policy and their land and natural resources were taken away by the Japanese government. The 1980s marked the rise of the Ainu rights movement, in the face of severe marginalization. This chapter outlines the process of the rights movement and cultural revitalization of Ainu culture from the experiences of colonization. It consists of four parts. The first part deals with the process of dispossession from the late nineteenth century for the purpose of providing an historical background. The second part is on the process of organizing a rights movement for obtaining status as indigenous peoples, particularly after the 1960s, and the social situation of the Ainu. In the third part, I will explain the kind of cultural revitalization that has been realized by the Ainu accompanying increasing rights movements, such as the registration of Ainu culture as national cultural property. In the fourth part, I will discuss current cultural activities following the adoption of the Ainu Culture Promotion Act in 1997.
