An indigenous people of Japan, primarily from the northern island of Hokkaido, or their language, which is unrelated to Japanese.
From Ainu 'aynu' meaning 'human' or 'person' in their own language. The Ainu have inhabited Japan for thousands of years, with a distinct culture, language, and history separate from Japanese civilization.
The Ainu have been largely invisible in Japanese history—their language was nearly extinct by the 1950s, with only a handful of native speakers remaining. Recently, there's been a renaissance of Ainu culture and language revitalization, making it one of the world's most endangered-but-recovering languages!
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