The Mist-Covered Borderland – Early Modern Ainu-Japanese-Russian Relations in Ezo

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel

Abstract

From the 1750s, the region known as Ezo (encompassing present-day Hokkaidō, Kunashir, Iturup Urup, Shikotan and the Habomai Islands), homeland of the Ainu, and the rest of the island chain stretching north to Kamchatka (known as Chishima in Japanese, and the Kurils in Russian), witness the establishment of Russian and Japanese settlements. For the next century, economic and territorial sovereignty over these isles is the object of speculation, negotiation, and rising tensions. Ezo’s unique status as a bridge and a borderland, a locus of inter-ethnic contacts, played a crucial role in the development of distinctive cultures and practices, political, economic and diplomatic systems, and currents of thought.

This trans-disciplinary and multinational panel analyzes key moments in 18th and 19th century Ezo and Kuril/Chishima history, contextualizes the national and transnational implications of economic and political control of the region, and examines its nature as a transcultural borderland and site of cultural, diplomatic and political performance. Vasilii Shchepkin explores the 1778-1779 Antipin-Shabalin trade delegation’s initiation of informal dialogue with regional Japanese merchants and the collection of tribute from local Ainu. Noémi Godefroy examines late 18th century Ainu-Japanese-Russian relations, economic interdependencies and tensions through the lens of the Kunashiri-Menashi Uprising. Viktor Shmagin investigates the second Russian American Company Urup colony (1828-1855) as the lynchpin of a transcontinental borderland and investigates its role in Russo-Japanese relations. Ann-elise lewallen analyzes Ezo as a cultural borderland by focusing on the role of Ainu women as transmitters of traditional culture during Japanese colonization.

Area of Study

• Interarea-Border Crossing

Session Organizers

• Viktor Shmagin, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Noémi Godefroy, Centre d'Etudes Japonaises

Chair

• Ann-Elise Lewallen, University of California, Santa Barbara

Individual Presentations

• A Comparative Study of Russian and Japanese Primary Sources on Antipin and Shabalin’s Expedition to Hokkaidō in 1778–1779 - Vasilii V Shchepkin, Russian Academy of Sciences

• Otters, Herring and Sake: Ainu-Japanese-Russian interdependencies and the Kunashiri-Menashi Uprising of 1789 - Noémi Godefroy, Centre d'Etudes Japonaises

• Intercontinental Borderland: The Second Russian-American Company Colony on Urup in the Performance of Russo-Japanese Relations - Viktor Shmagin, University of California, Santa Barbara

• Gendered Resistance: Japanese Assimilation Policy and Early Ainu Response in Hokkaido - Ann-Elise Lewallen, University of California, Santa Barbara

Discussant

• Akihisa Tanimoto, University of Hokkaidō