In the fifth century, people with a significantly different culture than that of Hokkaido residents moved from Sakhalin (Karafuto) to the area along the Sea of Okhotsk in Hokkaido. This is called the Okhotsk culture.

This Okhotsk culture also spread to the area along the Sea of Japan, and its remains have even been found on Okushiri Island in southern Hokkaido.

However, although remains of the Okhotsk culture have been found in the area along the Sea of Okhotsk, such remains have not been found in inland areas. These people are also called “marine people.”

The people of the Okhotsk culture were engaged in fishing and hunting of whales, seals and other marine animals, they kept dogs and pigs, and traded with people from the continent and Honshu (the main island of Japan). They also established settlements in coastal areas, and lived in pentagonal or hexagonal pit dwellings, some of which were very large, measuring over 10 m in length. It is thought that more than 15 people lived together in such a large dwelling.

Ornaments on belts, nephrite, small bells and Japanese spears have been found at Okhotsk culture sites. These are similar to those found at Mohe culture (4th – 9th centuries) and Tongren culture (5th – 10th centuries) sites in the middle and downstream basin of the Amur River (Heilong Jiang).

This indicates that the Okhotsk culture was involved in trade and other exchanges with Sakhalin (Karafuto) and the continent.

Under the influence of the Honshu culture, Jomon pottery and stoneware were replaced with earthenware like Haji pottery in Honshu and ironware.

This culture is called Satsumon culture, and continued through the 7th to 12th centuries. Satsumon people lived in square pit dwellings with a cooking stove, which were also found in Honshu during the same period. In the 8th century, the people established settlements near estuaries, where they caught salmon and trout, gathered wild plants, and cultivated foxtail millet, millet and barley.

During this period, Hokkaido was actively engaged in exchanges with the Tohoku region and was influenced by it. Ironware obtained through trade rapidly spread, and stoneware was no longer in use. Smithery skills involved in the processing of the iron were also imported.

In Ebetsu City and Eniwa City, Makki Kofun (ancient burial mounds) reminiscent of those in the Tohoku region have been found, and contained such burial goods as ironware from Honshu.

The Okhotsk culture (5th to 9th centuries) and the Satsumon culture (7th to 12th centuries) met in Hokkaido somewhere between 8th and 9th centuries.

In the 10th century, after the Okhotsk culture had ended, pottery showing characteristics of both the Okhotsk culture and the Satsumon culture was created. This pottery style is called Tobinitai pottery. The dwellings also had characteristics of both cultures. Remains have not only been found in coastal areas, but also in inland riverside areas like the Satsumon culture.

This indicates that the Okhotsk people in this area began to adopt a similar lifestyle as that of the Satsumon culture. The subsequent Ainu culture inherited elements of both the Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures.

Meanwhile, the central government in the south began to incorporate powerful clans in Tohoku referred to as Emishi. In the 12th century, the Hiraizumi culture prospered with the Fujiwara clan in Oshu and other powerful clans in Tohoku.

In the 13th and 14th centuries, Japanese people began to live in southern Hokkaido. Chinaware and iron pots spread to Hokkaido, and earthenware was no longer being made. Pit dwellings were replaced by flat-land dwellings, and fireplaces were used instead of cooking stoves. The Satsumon culture changed into the Ainu culture.

In this way, the culture of Hokkaido was affected by other area’s cultures through trade and other exchanges with people from the north and the south.

Further Development of Jomon – Post-Jomon Culture

Hollow Clay Figurine (Chuku-Dogu)