Ainu Culture Exhibition

The exhibition titled 'Aynu: An Indigenous Culture of Japan' emerges in the context of the revitalization of Ainu culture. In 2023, the National Ainu Museum established a connection with the Ethnological Museum and Cultures of the World through a research project focusing on Ainu collections found in Catalonia. This fruitful collaboration has resulted in a joint exhibition project between the Ethnological Museum and the National Ainu Museum of Shiraoi. The Ainu people, indigenous to northern Japan's archipelago, inhabit regions including Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. Historically, these areas have seen their Ainu population surpassed by the Wajin community, the ethnic Japanese majority. Since the mid-19th century, the modernization process in Japan has profoundly affected the Ainu people, who continue to struggle to preserve their identity as an ethnic group, including their language, culture, and worldview.