The museums in Hokkaido and the Ainu in Meiji to early Showa era : the establishment and the collection

The first museum in Hokkaido was established by Hokkaido Development Commission in 1877. The museums made by the Commission were transferred its management to the other ministries and schools some times afterwards, and as the time passed by and the ‘assimilation policy’ for the Ainu went on, its intention to make the Ainu collection and what they collected and its categorization which the artefacts was contained changed. The Ainu collection and the Ainu themselves were ‘exhibited’ at the expositions in Japan and overseas during the Meiji to Taisho period, and a museum where the Ainu show their cultures and represent themselves dawned in 1916. These museums’ development had been correlated with the relationships between the Ainu, Japanese and the foreigners. Its history shows the fact that they had always been under the conflict over the preservation of their cultures and representation of themselves