About This Proposal
When people hear “Ainu culture,” many may now associate it with entertainment works such as Golden Kamuy, which have helped make the culture feel more familiar than before.
However, looking beyond these representations reveals a culture and worldview that developed through a deep relationship with Hokkaido’s harsh yet abundant natural environment.
A way of life that perceives mountains, rivers, animals, and landscapes as kamuy (spirits) can be understood not simply as an ethnic tradition, but as a cultural layer inseparable from nature itself.
This proposal suggests re-evaluating Hokkaido as an integrated “mixed heritage,” where natural and cultural values are not separated but understood as one unified landscape.
Hokkaido’s vast natural environment is also a place where Ainu history and oral traditions are deeply interwoven.
Explanation of Value
1. Northern Natural Environment
Hokkaido features a northern natural environment distinct from that of mainland Japan. Due to the “Blakiston Line,” which divides the fauna across the Tsugaru Strait, a unique ecosystem has formed where species such as brown bears and Ezo deer thrive. Mountains, forests, wetlands, volcanoes, and coastlines together create a diverse landscape that remains largely intact today.
The Northern Wilderness
Hokkaido: Japan’s alternate ecosystem
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Hokkaido is a region with a natural environment distinct from mainland Japan. The Blakiston Line running through the Tsugaru Strait separates animal distributions, creating a clear ecological divide.
The region is home to many northern species such as brown bears, Ezo deer, and Blakiston’s fish owl. In the Daisetsuzan mountain range, alpine flora characteristic of cold climates still survives, preserving landscapes reminiscent of the Ice Age.
In addition, vast primeval environments remain in places such as the Kushiro Wetlands, Shiretoko, and the Hidaka Mountains. Lakes and hot spring areas formed by volcanic activity also characterize Hokkaido’s landscape.
Such natural environments are not limited to scenic beauty alone. They are deeply connected to the formation of human life, beliefs, and culture.
2. Interaction with the Northern World
In Hokkaido, cultures distinct from mainland Japan have developed since ancient times. People associated with the Okhotsk culture and the Satsumon culture lived in contact with Sakhalin and Northeast Asia through seas and rivers, forming their own unique cultural traditions. These accumulated cultural layers later had a significant influence on Ainu culture.
Hokkaido Connected to the Northern World
Culture spread across the seas
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Even after the Jomon period, Hokkaido continued to follow a cultural trajectory distinct from mainland Japan. In particular, the Okhotsk culture supported a lifestyle based on marine mammal hunting and northern trade, with strong connections to Sakhalin and the Amur River basin.
Later, the Satsumon culture—strongly influenced by mainland Japanese cultures—spread across the region, creating a society where northern and archipelago cultures blended. Through this accumulation of exchanges, the cultural foundation that would later become Ainu culture was gradually formed.
In addition, archaeological sites such as chashi fortifications and settlement remains show features of both northern cultures and mainland Japanese cultures. These sites indicate that Hokkaido was not a peripheral frontier, but rather a hub of interaction within the Northeast Asian world.
In this way, Hokkaido formed a unique cultural sphere through exchanges with the northern world, and this historical background was inherited by later Ainu culture.
3. Ainu Culture Living with Nature
The Ainu people have long believed that kamuy (spirits or deities) inhabit all aspects of nature, including mountains, rivers, and animals. Their way of life and spiritual beliefs, deeply connected to Hokkaido’s natural environment, have been passed down as a unique cultural tradition to the present day.
A Culture Living with Nature
A world shared with Kamuy
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The Ainu people have lived by respecting all elements of nature as kamuy (spiritual beings). Animals such as brown bears and Blakiston’s fish owls, as well as fire and water, were regarded as important beings closely connected to human life.
Their way of life, based on hunting, fishing, and gathering, was adapted to Hokkaido’s natural environment. Practices such as salmon fishing and deer hunting were closely tied to the seasonal cycle.
In addition, oral traditions known as yukar often feature nature and animals as central figures in storytelling. Scenic places such as Pirka Noka are also deeply connected to mythology and spiritual culture.
In this way, Ainu culture is inseparable from Hokkaido’s natural environment, preserving a history of coexistence between humans and nature.
Comparison with World Heritage Sites
By comparing this proposal with existing mixed and cultural landscape World Heritage Sites, the value of the Ainu cultural landscape in Hokkaido becomes even clearer. Click"click""tap" the images to view the comparisons.
Common point: The natural landscape itself is deeply connected to Indigenous spiritual beliefs and mythology
Difference: Uluru is a sacred landscape centered on a monumental rock formation, whereas the Ainu cultural landscape spans mountains, rivers, and wetlands as a broad living environment
Common point: A mixed heritage site where nature is closely linked to mythology and belief systems
Difference: Tongariro is centered on volcanic sacred mountains, while the Ainu cultural landscape is connected to a broader northern ecosystem and everyday subsistence culture
Common point: A cultural landscape formed by Indigenous peoples adapting to cold northern environments
Difference: The Laponian Area is based on reindeer herding culture, while the Ainu culture is centered on hunting, fishing, and gathering
Common point: A cultural landscape showing Indigenous coexistence with forests and lakes
Difference: Pimachiowin Aki focuses on forest-based land use, while the Ainu cultural landscape spans diverse northern environments including sea, rivers, and mountains
Next is a comparison with World Heritage Sites in Japan. Again, click"click""tap" the images to view the comparison.
Common point: Both represent regional cultures within the Japanese archipelago that developed unique relationships with nature, belief systems, and society
Difference: The Ryukyu Kingdom represents a maritime trading culture centered on castles, while the Ainu culture is an Indigenous culture rooted in coexistence with northern nature
Existing mixed heritage and cultural landscape World Heritage Sites include sacred landscapes such as Uluru and Tongariro, as well as Indigenous cultural landscapes like the Laponian Area and Pimachiowin Aki, which demonstrate coexistence between people and nature. In contrast, the “Ainu Cultural Landscape of Hokkaido” is characterized by its integration of a northern ecosystem, the spiritual culture and daily life that emerged from it, and the historical context of exchange with Northeast Asia. As a landscape where nature, culture, and Indigenous history are unified, it holds a highly distinctive value on a global scale.
Why Hokkaido?
So, compared with other regions and cultures, why does the “Ainu Cultural Landscape of Hokkaido” still hold a unique value? The reasons can be summarized in three points. Click"click""tap" to view the details.
This proposal focuses not only on Indigenous culture itself, but on a cultural landscape formed in unity with Hokkaido’s northern natural environment. The unique ecosystem shaped by the Blakiston Line, along with mountains, wetlands, and coastal areas, has formed the foundation of Ainu life and spirituality. Therefore, nature and culture are not separated, but evaluated as one integrated system.
Hokkaido is not only part of the Japanese archipelago, but also part of a wider northern world connected to Sakhalin and Northeast Asia. The historical flow from the Okhotsk culture to the Satsumon culture and eventually to Ainu culture reveals a long history of maritime exchange and cultural fusion. This proposal emphasizes Hokkaido as a “crossroads of cultures,” rather than a single isolated tradition.
This proposal does not focus on a single site or settlement, but instead emphasizes the interconnectedness of natural landscapes and cultural heritage across Hokkaido. By viewing chashi fortifications, settlement ruins, Pirka Noka landscapes, and national parks as a continuous system, it presents a wide cultural landscape where nature, daily life, and spirituality are deeply intertwined. Therefore, rather than individual tourist sites, the entire space of Hokkaido is understood as a single cultural sphere.
In this way, by viewing Hokkaido as a whole—where northern nature, exchange with Northeast Asia, and a continuous cultural landscape coexist— the uniqueness and universal value of Ainu culture become even clearer.
Components of the property
Here we introduce the component assets that form this proposal.
However, these are only representative examples, and should not be understood as the “definitive answer.”
Rich Natural Environment
Traces of Human Activity
Criteria
Let us now organize the values discussed so far in relation to the World Heritage “selection criteria.” This helps clarify the significance of the Ainu cultural landscape in Hokkaido.
Cultural Exchange
Cultural formation shaped by contact and exchange with the northern world
Ainu culture was formed not only within the Japanese archipelago, but also through interaction with the northern world, including Sakhalin and Siberia. The movement of tools, trade goods, and cultural elements demonstrates that Hokkaido functioned as a cultural interface with the northern Eurasian world.
Testimony of Cultural Tradition
Ainu spiritual culture and way of life based on coexistence with nature
The Ainu people have traditionally regarded all elements of nature as kamuy (spirits or deities), forming a unique culture based on hunting, fishing, and gathering in harmony with nature. Oral traditions such as yukar and ritual practices serve as important testimonies of this spiritual culture, which has been transformed through modernization yet continues to be passed down today.
Human–Environment Interaction
Sustainable lifestyle adapted to the northern natural environment
Ainu culture developed in close connection with Hokkaido’s cold northern environment. By utilizing diverse landscapes such as mountains, wetlands, coastlines, and rivers, the Ainu built a sustainable way of life based on seasonal mobility and ecological knowledge. Chashi sites and settlement remains demonstrate this spatial use of the environment.
Natural Beauty and Landscape
Majestic northern landscapes connected to mythology
The natural environments of Hokkaido—such as Daisetsuzan, the Hidaka Mountains, Kushiro Wetlands, and Shikotsu-Toya—have long been associated with Ainu mythology and oral traditions. These landscapes are not merely natural scenery, but sacred spaces inhabited by kamuy, inseparably linked to human worldviews.
Ecosystems and Evolution
Unique ecosystems shaped by the Blakiston Line
Hokkaido has a distinct ecosystem separated from Honshu by the Blakiston Line, supporting northern species such as brown bears, Ezo deer, and Blakiston’s fish owls. Mountain ecosystems centered on the Daisetsuzan range and wetland environments represent valuable records of natural evolution shaped since the post-Ice Age period.
Biodiversity Conservation
A conservation landscape within a continuous northern Asian ecosystem
Hokkaido’s network of national parks (Daisetsuzan, Akan-Mashu, Kushiro Shitsugen, Hidaka Mountains–Erimo, etc.) forms an interconnected ecosystem of forests, wetlands, mountains, and coasts. These areas are continuous with the broader northern Asian ecological zone and play an important role as habitats for rare and endangered species.
In Closing
The vast natural landscapes of Hokkaido are now widely admired as scenic destinations and places of breathtaking beauty. Many people have been deeply moved by these remarkable views.
Yet for the Ainu people, nature was never something to simply admire from afar.
Mountains, rivers, and animals were revered as Kamuy, and passed down through myths and Yukar (heroic epic tales). The landscapes of Hokkaido still carry the memory of people who lived together with nature.
By tracing the footsteps of the Ainu people, we may begin to see the landscapes of Hokkaido not merely as nature, but as places where culture and spirituality still live on.
Ways of life shaped alongside the northern wilderness. Landscapes intertwined with myth and prayer. These places, where the worldview of the Ainu people still endures, form the heart of this proposal.
A “World Heritage Site” like this—why not?
