LETTER FROM HOKKAiDO
In the struggle of the Ainu to regain their dignity, the question of respect for the dead occupies a central place. Passed under Japanese rule at the end of the 18th centurye century, the minority who lived on a vast territory covering Sakhalin (current Russia), the Kuril Islands, Hokkaido and the north of the island of Honshu, saw its culture recovered for mercantile purposes: its craftsmanship has been at the heart since the 1er October of an expo-sale at the Marui Imai department store in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, and the manga Golden Kamui saw international success, both on paper and in an animated version.
These “cultural” promotions tend to obscure the tragedies experienced by the minority, mixed with attacks on the dignity of their dead. It is therefore difficult to find traces of the tragedy that affected the Ainu camp set up in 1875 along the Ishikari River, which crosses the industrial zone of Ebetsu, a small town near Sapporo. At the time, Japan had just signed the Treaty of Saint Petersburg with Russia. The agreement returns all of Sakhalin to the Russians in exchange for Japanese sovereignty over the Kuriles. The Japanese living on Sakhalin must be evacuated. The Ainu of the island too. Eight hundred find themselves parked on the banks of the Ishikari. Affected by a cholera epidemic, nearly half of the community dies.
Today, the memory of this drama passes after the honors rendered by the authorities to personalities such as Takeaki Enomoto (1836-1908), negotiator of the Treaty of Saint Petersburg, who promoted the policy of colonization of Hokkaido by sending mass of “pioneers” from all over Japan.
Ebetsu’s tragedy unfolds in bits and pieces. It is mentioned on a plaque erected in a small park a few hundred meters from the Ainu camp, which has become a baseball field, and in the town’s small history museum. A yellowed map specifies that the Ainu have come “of their own free will”.
Perpetuation of a painful memory
In the municipal cemetery, two stone mausoleums were erected in memory of the victims. Now the stelae blackened by time bear the mention “dojin”. This word, which can be translated as ” native “, is considered by the Ainu to be insulting and discriminatory.
And then, “the Ainu never erected stone burials”, recalls Kimiko Naraki. The Septuagenarian Voluble is also from Sakhalin. “My parents were repatriated to Hokkaido at the time of the Soviet attack in 1945.” His origins lead him to come often to the cemetery, to sing and play the mukkuri – an Ainu instrument similar to the jew’s harp – for the souls of the dead of Ebetsu.
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