Early history During the
Jōmon period, the local culture and the associated
hunter-gatherer lifestyle flourished in Hokkaido, beginning over 15,000 years ago. In contrast to the island of Honshu, Hokkaido experienced no conflict during this period. Jomon beliefs in natural spirits are theorized to have given rise to Ainu spirituality. About 2,000 years ago, the island was colonized by
Yayoi people, and much of the island's population shifted away from hunting and gathering towards agriculture. The
Ebetsu Kofun Cluster is a group of mounds dating from the latter half of the 8th century to the middle of the 9th century, and was surveyed by Juichi Goto in 1931. Along with the
kofun, or
'Emishi sword',
magatama, and
Sue pottery were discovered. Ebetsu Kofun is evidence for the presence of the Yamato people and trade between Hokkaido and Honshu before the eras of
feudal Japan. The , finished in 720, is often said to be the first mention of Hokkaido in
recorded history. According to the text,
Abe no Hirafu led a large navy and army to the northern areas from 658 to 660 and came into contact with the
Mishihase and
Emishi. One of the places Hirafu visited was , which is often believed to be present-day Hokkaido. However, many theories exist regarding the details of this event, including the location of Watarishima and the widely held belief that the Emishi of Watarishima were the ancestors of the present-day Ainu people. During the
Nara and
Heian periods (710–1185), people in Hokkaido conducted trade with
Dewa Province, an outpost of the Japanese central government. From the feudal period, the people in Hokkaido began to be called
Ezo. Hokkaido subsequently became known as or . The indigenous people of Ezochi mainly relied upon hunting and fishing and obtained rice and iron through trade with the Japanese.
Feudal Japan in 1751.
Ainu bringing gifts (
cf. omusha) During the
Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Japanese established a settlement at the south of the
Oshima Peninsula, with a series of fortified residences such as that of
Shinoridate. As more people moved to the settlement to avoid battles, disputes arose between the Japanese and the Ainu. The disputes eventually developed into a war. In 1457,
Takeda Nobuhiro (1431–1494) killed the Ainu leader, Koshamain, The Matsumae held authority over the south of Ezochi until the end of the Edo period. The Matsumae clan were of
Yamato descent like other ethnic
Japanese people, whereas the Emishi of northern Honshu were a distinctive group related to the Ainu. The Emishi were conquered and integrated into the Japanese state dating as far back as the 8th century and as a result began to lose their distinctive culture and ethnicity as they became minorities. By the time the Matsumae clan ruled over the Ainu, most of the Emishi were ethnically mixed and physically closer to Japanese than they were to Ainu. From this, the "transformation" theory postulates that native Jomon peoples changed gradually with the infusion of Yayoi immigrants into the
Tōhoku region of northern Honshu, in contrast to the "replacement" theory that posits the Jomon were replaced by the Yayoi. , a
Matsumae lord of the late
Edo period (December 10, 1829 – June 9, 1866) There were numerous revolts by the Ainu against feudal rule. The last large-scale resistance was
Shakushain's revolt in 1669–1672. In 1789, a smaller movement known as the
Menashi–Kunashir rebellion was crushed, after which the terms "Japanese" and "Ainu" referred to clearly distinguished groups, and the Matsumae were unequivocally Japanese. According to American professor of Japanese history John A. Harrison, prior to 1868 Japan used proximity as its claim to Hokkaido,
Sakhalin, and the
Kuril Islands. However, Japan had never thoroughly explored, governed, or exploited the areas, and this claim was invalidated by the movement of Russia into the Northeast Pacific area and by Russian settlements on
Kamchatka (from 1699),
Sakhalin (1850s) and the
Sea of Okhotsk Coast (1640s onwards). Prior to the
Meiji Restoration of 1868, Hokkaido was seen as a frontier land and the
Tokugawa shogunate realized the need to prepare northern defenses against a possible Russian invasion and took over control of most of Ezochi in 1855–1858. Many Japanese settlers regarded the Ainu as "inhuman and the inferior descendants of dogs". The Tokugawa irregularly imposed various assimilation programs on the Ainu due to the Tokugawa's perception of them as a threat from Russia. Shortly after the
Boshin War in 1868, a group of Tokugawa loyalists led by
Enomoto Takeaki temporarily occupied the island (the
polity is commonly but mistakenly known as the
Republic of Ezo), but the rebellion was defeated in May 1869. Through colonial practices, Ezochi was annexed into Japanese territory. Japanese proponents of Ezochi's colonization argued that it would serve as a strategic move to enhance Japan's standing and influence on the global stage, particularly in negotiations with Western powers, specifically Russia. The Meiji government invested heavily in colonizing Hokkaido for several reasons. Firstly, they aimed to assert their control over the region as a buffer against potential Russian advances. The resistance was eventually destroyed, and the lowlands were under the control of the commission. His parting words,
"Boys, be ambitious!", can be found on public buildings in Hokkaido to this day. The population of Hokkaido increased from 58,000 to 240,000 during that decade. Kuroda hired Capron for
US$10,000 per year and paid for all expenses related to the mission. Kuroda and his government were likely intrigued by Capron's previous colonial experience, particularly his involvement in the forced removal of
Native Americans from
Texas to new territories after the
Mexican–American War. Capron introduced capital-intensive farming techniques by adopting American methods and tools, importing seeds for Western crops, and bringing in European livestock breeds, which included his favorite
North Devon cattle. Japan established the Hokkaido Colonization Board in 1869, a year after the start of the Meiji era, with the goal of encouraging Japanese settlers to Hokkaido. Mainland Japanese settlers began migrating to Hokkaido, leading to Japan's colonization of the island. The act prohibited the Ainu from fishing and hunting, which were their main source of subsistence. The Ainu were valued primarily as a source of inexpensive manual labor, and discriminatory assimilation policies further entrenched their sense of inferiority as well as worsened poverty and disease within Ainu communities. These policies exacerbated diasporic trends among the Ainu population, as many sought employment with the government or private enterprises, often earning meager wages that barely sustained their families. Given the Meiji state's full political control over the island, the subsequent subjugation of its indigenous inhabitants, aggressive economic exploitation, and ambitious permanent settlement endeavors, Hokkaido emerged as the sole successful
settler colony of Japan. Before the
Japanese surrender was formalized, the
Soviet Union made preparations for an
invasion of Hokkaido, but US President
Harry Truman made it clear that the surrender of all of the
Japanese home islands would be accepted by US General
Douglas MacArthur per the
1943 Cairo Declaration.
Present Hokkaido became equal with other prefectures in 1947, when the revised
Local Autonomy Act became effective. The Japanese central government established the as an agency of the
Prime Minister's Office in 1949 to maintain its executive power in Hokkaido. The agency was absorbed by the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in 2001. and the of the ministry still have a strong influence on public construction projects in Hokkaido. == Geography ==