Apunno Peace Among The Indigenous People of Japan in a Daily Dose of Peace
A Daily Dose of Peace. Each week, I focus on Love, Joy, and Peace in the world languages. February’s second week focuses on words of peace that start with the Letter “A” around the word.
Reclaiming Ainu Apunno
“Apunno” peace in Ainu
written in Japanese phonetic characters
reclaiming status as indigenous peoples
in Northern Japan, parts of China and Russian islands
あぷんの peace in Ainu
written in Japanese phonetic characters
is also scripted with the characters
reserved for non-Japanese words
アプンノ peaceful meeting 800 years ago
The Japanese traded with the peoples
of the northern island called Ezogashima
soon Wajin settlements dotted the southern tip
of Ezogashima and Wajin
literally Japan people
changed the character for wa
to 和 so that Wajin meant harmony
peace and balance people
The Wajin differentiated themselves
from other indigenous people the Ainu
Ryukyuans Nivkh and Oroks
as well as Koreans Taiwanese
and Taiwanese aboriginal people
the Austronesian Taiwanese
or the Gaoshan people
Powerful Ainu leaders engaged in trade
during the Edo period (1603–1867)
with both hostile and friendly encounters
with the Japanese or Wajin, the Nivkh in Sakhalin Islands
the Russians and the Chinese
Learning the languages of their neighbors
while still speaking Ainu
a language isolate
with three main dialects named for the islands
Hokkaido Sakhalin and Kurile
A rich oral tradition includes epic sagas called yukar
documenting the history of a people
descended from the Stone Age Jomon communities
or later immigrants with stronger ties
to other Northern aboriginal peoples
the Uilta and Nivkh of Sakhalin
Today the Ainu people hope that the symbolic gesture
designating them as indigenous people
will go beyond the symbols and address problems
of social and economic marginalization and discrimination
ending forced land acquisition
cultural repression and forced assimilation
and fostering an increased sense of pride within
the Ainu communities
restoring a sense of “Apunno” peace in Ainu
transmitting knowledge
reclaiming ancestral customs and language
within a contemporary context
Exercise
If it fell to you to divide the land so everyone had a home, how would you divide the land between the descendants of the first people in the land, the conquerors of populated lands and new immigrants?
Consider when did you or your family arrive in the city where you currently live. When did you or your family arrive in the country where you currently live? When did you or your family arrive on the continent where you currently live?
Originally Published in Peace Poetry Dictionary, The Meaning of Peace and Calm in 5000 Languages on February 21, 2021.
