Ainos

pl. (Anthrop.) The aborigines of Japan, an uncivilized race, now found only in Yezo, Saghalien and the Kurile Islands, but once occupying the whole archipelago, whence they were driven by the advancing Japanes, who seem to have entered the country from the southwest. It is believed by some that the A. came originally from Kamtchatka. They are markedly different from the surrounding Mongol i ans, having features resembling those of the Aryans, heavy beards and very hairy bodies. They are low in stature, but strongly built. Their chief occupations are hunting and fishing, while in disposition, they are mild and tractable. Their grade of mental development is low, and their religious ideas not above those of fetishism, yet the Japanese are gradually educating them into a higher stage of civilization. They number in all about 15,000. Complete vocabularies of their language have been made, but its affinities have not yet been traced.