Towards a Respectful Repatriation of Stolen Ainu Ancestral Remains

Abstract

It has been 85 years since Hokkaidō University began desecrating Ainu graves and removing the human remains of our revered ancestors. In 2012, several Ainu descendants decided to take action to achieve the repatriation of their ancestors’ remains. Banding together under the slogan, ‘Return the Ainu Remains to the Soil of the Ainu Kotan (village)’, they brought a suit against Hokkaidō University (see Figure 9).