| Research Abstract |
Since 1971, the rise of the movement for revival of Ainu culture has played a central role in the growth of an Ainu political movement to demand their indigenous rights. As a result, the Law of Protection for Former Natives in Hokkaido, which was established 1899, was abolished and replaced, based on Ainu demands, by the "Law Concerning Revival of Ainu Culture and Dissemination and Enlightenment of Knowledge about Ainu Traditions." This new law concerns Ainu culture, in contrast with old law, which dealt with the subsistence of the Ainu. This law was established through coordination, compromise and compliance between the minority group and the Nation-state. For the Ainu, however, feelings of ambivalence caused by the conflict between their ideals and reality can be seen in this law. This paper examined, from anthropological and ethnological viewpoints, the process in which the inter-ethnic conflict of the past, which even involved bombings by dissidents, changed to a non-violent movement making cultural and political demands, leading to the establishment of the new law through a conflict resolving method including a strategy of double interpretation in political discourse.
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