Hokkaido during the Kamakura era (in the 1140s), when exchanges were developing between Hokkaido and the Tohoku District. It also came to be known as the "Ainu-ken" since 1869 when a British gentleman T. Blakiston named the dog the Ainu Dog, after the Ainu, the former inhabitants of Hokkaido. "Ainu" means "human." Actually, the Ainu people were the indigenous people of Japan archipelago
who were driven to the remote northern island of Hokkaido on the arrival of the Yamato people. They were described by the new conquerors as a "strange, white, hairy-bodied" race". These traits were overly exaggerated, leading many scholars to think that the Ainu were actually Caucasians, who only seemed "hairy-bodied and strange" from the Japanese point of view.
The Ainu people managed to survive in the rugged, often freezing conditions as gathereres-hunters and from the earliest times had dogs with them who they revered and buried in the same fashion as humans.
They seem to have been sedentary fishers and marine hunters, and their dogs were apparently trained to catch salmon during the heavy spring salmon runs. The only land animal that was hunted was the bear where the the Ainu dog, with his fearless and sharp character also proved very helpful and was appreciated for its accurate judgment and great stamina.
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